ZEITGEIST Several questions in preparation for Always on Time

[EarthSeraphEdna]

1. The three-PC party has completed Digging for Lies on the 10th of Autumn, rather than the 31st. This means that they effectively have 21 more days (three more weeks) to prepare for the train mission. How should this extra time be handled?

2. Is it possible for the PCs to requisition the Impossible to bring them to Beaumont? What about requisitioning the Impossible to bring them to Beaumont, and also meet up with them in Vendricce on the 20th of Winter? What about requisitioning the Impossible to bring them to Beaumont, then follow them along the Avery Coast, ending in Vendricce on the 20th of Winter?

3. Is it possible for the PCs to requisition two or more allied soldier units to stay aboard their ship during the trip to Beaumont, and then come back by ship to Vendricce on the 20th of Winter?

4. How do Unseen Court prestige favors work in this adventure? Can the PCs request Unseen Court favors while in Danor, the Malice Lands, the Border States, and Crisillyir?

5. The party plans on befriending Finona Duvall and having her accompany the party. How does this actually work, and what benefits does it meaningfully confer if Caius Bergeron is already dead? Did Caius Bergeron send word in advance that he would be bringing along one Finona Duvall? How would the conspirators even recognize Finona Duvall? Are the PCs at risk if they claim to be friends of Finona Duvall, as opposed to the PCs pretending to not know Finona Duvall? What are the odds that Finona Duvall chooses to favor the Obscurati rather than the PCs?

6. What can Sijhen, if somehow captured and contained, actually tell the PCs about Caius Bergeron's train ride?

7. One PC, a female eladrin, intends on using the following fake "backstory"/cover story. Supposedly, she was an eladrin who had been purchased as a trophy concubine by some Danoran tiefling nobleman, who subsequently perished. Some abstruse and unusual legal loophole caused her to inherit the family name and estate, and the rest of the tiefling family quietly swept the terribly awkward incident under the metaphorical rug. She bumped into Finona during the latter's travels in Risur and Ber, and Finona thinks that this eladrin has potential under the late Caius's project.
Is this a remotely plausible "backstory"/cover story, or are there obvious holes in it that would arouse suspicion and that Delft would point out?

 

[Karma Kollapse]

2. Is it possible for the PCs to requisition the Impossible to bring them to Beaumont? What about requisitioning the Impossible to bring them to Beaumont, and also meet up with them in Vendricce on the 20th of Winter? What about requisitioning the Impossible to bring them to Beaumont, then follow them along the Avery Coast, ending in Vendricce on the 20th of Winter?

It's important to remember this is a spy mission, and showing up in Danor with a well known military vessel is a good way of calling attention to yourself! Not to mention the Danorans might look unkindly at a warship showing up at their shores unannounced.

With regards to Sijhen, worth remembering that the geas that stops Caius from telling people about who he works for will also block Sijhen from accessing his memories. Sijhen would probably only know a limited amount about the conspiracy (as much as Xambria could tell the party), and probably a good way of playing him is to give him some flavour knowledge about Caius (what Caius's motivations might be, without revealing anything about what the Ob really is about).

As for Finona - the adventure assumes she should be dead, and doesn't really flesh her out that much. Obviously this isn't the case for your group, so she might be more of a wildcard. I'd play her as fairly loyal to the conspiracy and unlikely to swap sides; but maybe your players are more attached to her?

I'm curious as to what happened that Finona is alive, Sijhen is *captured*, and everything wrapped up super early. Is Xambria still alive?

 

[Andrew Moreton]

1. It's really up to you. If you give the players more dice rolls to set things up they are vastly more likely to achieve the best possible results . Do you want this? or if their skills are poor then more dice rolls may just get them up to standard. Only you know what is likely and what you want, as the time for each dice roll is an abstraction either give them more dice rolls or not on your judgment or whim the players will never know the difference. I would probably go with the normal number of chances unless my players would need the help

2. The rules cover requisiting the impossible it depends on their status and skill checks. As Karma Kollapse pointed out the Impossible may be a poor choice and it's speed is of little value anyway so go with the dice rolls or if the players really want it give them it it won't hurt the plot.

3 See above , if they have the status they can. Although you are reaching the level were allied soldiers are just future collateral damage in any fight as they are so far out of their league. I would probably not let them as it looks like annoying extra minions to track in a fight for little value but again if you players are keen let them get some with effort.

4. Can't remember where is it mentioned but in one of the later books it tells you that the dreaming is messed up in Danor and the malice lands by the same effect which messes up magic so there are not many fey and they are usually mad or dark , so make it harder . They fey don't work for the same court but will respect the players so let them get less help with more effort, and of course they won't find fey near the train track or enclaves due to all the machines so it will be hard to get much help. On the other hand in Elfaivar I would expect them to be able to get more aid.

5. All of this is up to the GM . Fiona is a member of the Ob as she has a ring however she will be unknown to anyone on the train as they are from difference cells and the whole point of a cell structure is to make the cells unknown to each other. However if she did make contact the ring would be potential proof of ID, however in practive this probably won't matter till the end of the journey. Senior members of Bergerons cell (Gold cell I believe) So Lya would know and potentially recognise Fiona and could scry on her. If she is recognised anyone who knows of Gold cell and its structure would need an explanation for how Caius died and why she is there (scrying wil reveal his death to the Ob easily). As to can she be trusted that depends on why she is helping them, if she thinks she can escape, what she thinks of the pc's etc and only you know these things. She is not deep in the Ob she only knows they study ancient ruins, Caius would have introduced her to their goals etc on the trip and clearly he thinks she would be a supporter of the Ob goals.

6. Not much he only knows what he got from Caius and I would prevent him knowing too much via the geas so he cannot tell the pc's more than they need to know. The actual train journey Caius just knows what train to catch and may know a name of who he is meeting bear in mind he died months in advance and so most details will not have been determined so cannot be discovered. Also why would Sijhen tell a bunch of food animals anything? He cannot easily be captured as an incorporeal being, he cannot be tortured or magically interrogated and I don't see normal interrogation getting anything from an alien being who just wants to eat your thought energy.

7. As the players are not a professional spy agency and do not have the assets they have for setting up cover stories I expect all pc cover stories to be a bit dodgy. I look forward to the story I get explaining a Goblin, Kobold,Dwarf, Eladrin and Half elf. That story has a few holes but sounds like it could be fun so unless your players start picking holes in it go with it, unless their covers are really terrible work with them and use them to make the story more fun, if they have done research to find a real danoran tiefling family who could be possible put a family member on the train or have the slave dealer have done business with them in the past etc just to keep things interesting.