We've had a few sessions since I last posted. Since my players split the party yet again -- three in first class, two in second class -- running the train scenes and the stop scenes has required a ton of jumping about and some delicate chronology management to keep everything straight. I seem to be managing so far, though.
Viveen's player's notes are actually a solid summary of what's been going on. She takes them stream of consciousness as we play, so they're largely unedited, but they definitely cover the bases.
[sblock=Beaumont]After switching boats, the rest of the journey is uneventful. We arrive in Beaumont two days before the train is scheduled to depart -- the 9th of winter. Due to the excellent nature of our forged documents, we have no trouble with the feds. Vesta happens to know from his research that a conference of noted military historians and strategists is taking place at the local military academy, Lamarr University. He also knows that noted burlesque artist Victoria Fanning is performing here this week only.
Bela seeks out a coffee house to sit in a dark corner and listen. Viveen and Reginald seek out lodging. High end lodgings tend to be inland in Beaumont. Since the city is quite close to the mountains, there are neighborhoods on the foothills. We hire a carriage and head out. Bela ends up in a similar neighborhood.
Murdoch goes to check out the industrial corridor. Beaumont is a mix of scenic and industrialized. The area is older, with a long history of heavy industry. Many of the factories have changed hands several times.
Vesta and Dr. Meredith do some research -- they look for a museum or archive that might related to her interests that wouldn’t have been available in Flint.
Murdoch and Bela notice that Beaumont doesn’t have any of the little magical flourishes that you see everywhere in Risur. There’s no signs that sparkle, or lights that are magical instead of fire based. There are beat cops on patrol, about the same number we’d expect back home. In the industrial areas the density and age has created more smog than in Flint. The prevailing winds don’t blow the stacks out to sea as well, and there’s more industry.
Bela’s shadow trick still works, but it’s a bit harder than at home. He thinks the enchantments on his pistols will still work, but he suspects that when we actually enter the malice lands that will change.
Reginald and Viveen find lodgings for 5 gp a night. Reginald will look into getting some drugs, Viveen will stop him.
We are in Danor, and there are a lot of teiflings. Some of them look at us weird, but we don’t have any real problems.
Bela checks out the railroad and looks for the fan club. At the rail office, he meets an elderly teifling who is not in the employ of the rail line. He is an officier of Friends of the Rail, and is happy to talk about the trains. Bela asks what’s unique about this railroad as compared to the other one. The speed is it’s most obvious feature. The rail in Risur takes several days merely to go from Flint to the Southern Mountains, where as the Avery Coast railroad travels 3000 miles in a mere 6 days. Bela asks if it’s just the speed that guarantees it’s always on time? Yes -- it is able to go so much faster than necessary that it’s never late. It’s also never early. One of the things he admires most about the operators of the railroad is their dedication to punctuality. Being from Risur, he imagines that you may know that the engines of that train are fueled by burning fire gems. Obviously here in Danor the magical properties of fire gems are somewhat muted, so the train achieves it’s amazing speed while running on actual coal from Beaumont to Trekor. From there on, it runs on fire gems, since they’re cheaper. It’s quite an accomplishment, the dual fuel source in a steam locomotive. No one else seems to be staking out the station.
Murdoch hangs out near the conference. At lunch time, a group of several people who look like academics show up for food. She eavesdrops. There is actually an academic from Risur here giving a talk about a magical technique used to forge a bond between combatants and their weapons. The name of the academic is Jayne Cobb -- one of her favorite professors. She runs away.
Vesta looks for lectures that would be of interest to the kinds of people we are trying to find. The conference seems to be dominating the academic agenda in Beaumont right now. As to her other research, there is surprisingly little scholarship about the ancients available. From talking to curators and librarians, there is no Hans Weber here -- no one with enthusiasm for inquiry into the nature and practices of the ancients. They’re not hiding anything, it’s just not a thing here. What are the local academic focuses? Largely industrial in nature. Colleges of science & engineering, alchemy, herbalism to an extent. Focused on supporting the city’s industries.
Reginald and Viveen take a cable car up the mountains to a scenic restaurant for lunch. Reginald gets squished copper souvenirs. Reginald checks for Apet/Bleak gate energy and doesn’t find any. The burlesque show is pretty impressive for being staged without magic. Viveen sees several contingents from out of town in the audience, and makes note to watch for them on the train. Reginald has no trouble charming his way past Victoria’s assistants and into her dressing room, where she is more than happy to give us autographs and is thrilled we enjoyed the show. (She is human, and speaks with a Danoran accent, and looks like Betty Page.) Reginald chats her up. She is from Orethia, which is in the no magic zone. She had a boyfriend that took her to a show when she was younger, and she thought is was so cool that she talked to the performer after. She didn’t start right away, but it stuck with her. She tours within Danor, and occasionally goes to Crysiler, but has never been to Risur. Reginald thinks she’s be well received, and she’s heard that Flint is a lovely city.
Vesta looks for someplace other Eladrin might be found. No luck.
Bela keeps an eye out for a firearms dealer. There are several, each with somewhat unique twists on their wares. One catches his eye that has introduces a cartridge based system for rapidly reloading their weapons. Bela talks shop with them.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Train Day 1]On the morning of the 11th of winter, the train is set to depart at 7:30 AM.
Time to choose what class passage we have on the train:
Bela: Second Class
Murdock: First Class
Vesta: Second Class
Viveen: First Class
Reginald: First Class
We are going to get on the train. It is super impressive, as is the station. The symbol of the line is a pair of train tracks woven in an infinity symbol. The conductor introduces himself as Xorin Marchand to the first class passengers. There are around 10 first class passengers. He offers to personally escort the first class passengers to the rear of the train. The porters take our luggage. We board car 19, the lavish first class dining car. On our way we are introduced to the first class chef, Kov Marik, and to Doris Gavagne, the pianist. After brief introductions and showing off of the fineries, he escorts us to car 17. While the porters are depositing our bags he suggests we may enjoy a complimentary breakfast in the dining car shortly after we get under way.
The other first class passengers are a family of half-orcs. As Xorin is giving us the tour, they’re oooing and ahhing, seem to be tourists unused to this form of travel. (Parents and 2 kids.) Reginald does not see Apet energy anywhere. Damata Giento peppers Xorin with questions about engineering. His wife and the kids gawk at everything.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party boards the train and find their way to their 2nd class seats. They carry their own bags. Once everyone is sorta settled an attractive dark skinned uniformed woman passes through the cars, checking tickets and making sure everyone is in the right section of the train. As she passes through Bela & Vesta’s car she stops at their seats and they notice she’s stopped at a couple other people’s seats along the way. Bela tries to eavesdrop -- she seems to be talking about some kind of safari. When she gets to his seat she asks if he will be staying with the train on to Trekkom, and says that it is traditional for distinguished guests to enjoy a safari in the Malice lands. They sit on top of the train with muskets and with assistance of the security force can shoot at any Malice beasts they see. Bela is in. Her name is Malia Baccarin, and she offers to acquire a fine rifle in a prior stop if he wishes, for 100 gold. There is a developing industry in Drakkar of weapons manufacturers collaborating with wizards in the creation of new weapons, and all manner of interesting devices are available. Their weapons are known as some of the finest around.
She continues through the cabin, talking mostly to passengers who appear wealthy or tough. Bela notes which ones near him she speaks to. Vesta is in too.
She makes the same pitch to first class. Damata is in. Viveen & Reginald pass. Murdock’s in.
Shortly after the security check the train starts. Soon the scenery of pastoral Danor is flying by at a staggering 60 mph. We head for the lounge for breakfast. The Gientos are there, one of the children is bouncing around near a tall blonde woman who looks about 50 and has a jagged scar around the circumference of her right arm. At the bar Kov is bring out plates of delicious breakfast food from the kitchen.
Reginald introduces us to the woman, she introduces herself as Bree. She’s meeting someone. She’s somewhat taciturn. Reginald and Viveen say nice to meet you and excuse ourselves to get breakfast.
Murdoch wonders if the woman might be meeting a hookup or something, but isn’t sure.
Reginald eavesdrops on the orks. Damata is trying to get his son to stop pestering Bree about her scars. The discussion about the scars seems to be upsetting the daughter. Bree smiles and tells Taro if his sister’s arm ever gets cut off he should hang on to it in case they can sew it back on.
Viveen talks to Kov -- she compliments the food and asks how long he’s been on the run. Almost since it’s inception. He likes to travel in this style, but wouldn’t want to travel by boat. Train is civilized.
Back in second class. Bela is in car 16, Vesta is in 14. Vesta checks out the people in his compartment. There’s a tiefling -- Bethany Cousineau. She is a native of Danor. Another native is Dan Boyene, a traveling opthamologist. He shows Vesta his suitcase full of eyeglasses. None of them are magic, but they’re all science!
With Bela there is a group of Danoran soldiers led by Lt. Emile Davion, who is taking them to enroll in a martial university in Cherage. Bela tells them he admires their advancements to firearms and their contributions to those sciences. They are impressed! Emile notes that the prevailing sentiment in Danor is that foreigners tend to deride their accomplishments. They have a nice chat.
The train stops about once an hour at small cities, waiting only about 10 minutes for people to board or disembark. No one joins first class initially, but the ranks of 2nd shuffle. At 11:17 we stop at the agricultural hub of Keskay. About 3 hours of Beaumont. Out the windows we can see a couple of people who stand out a bit. A pair of travelers joined at the wrist by ornate bracelets of gold. A broad woman in a flowing gown with a look of disdain, and a figure wrapped entirely in black, so much that we can’t tell gender. Even their eyes are covered. They come to first class. There is also a tall tiefling wearing a red velvet vest and two beautiful women draped over his shoulders. His horns sprout through a rough hat that shields his eyes from the sun. He is in car 14, but not Vesta’s suite, stows his luggage and makes straight for car 13, the common food car. There is also a dwarf, who boards in coach. Vesta does not detect energy traces.
As soon as the two women board they head for the dining lounge while the porters take their luggage. The unveiled one demands food, the veiled one sits across from her silently. Viveen can’t tell anything about them. Reginald doesn’t know anything about the bracelet thing.
Shortly after lunchtime one of the soldiers comes back to the suite where Bela is and says some guy in the common dining car choked on a nut and died. Bela heads down to the car after a while, by that point things have been cleaned up, there’s no sign of whatever happened. He finds someone who looks like they’ve been there for awhile and chats. The fellow is Alexi Mohrbacher. He’s from Darkor and is a businessman on his way home. He was here when the fellow choked, and has been nursing a drink since then. The guy just seemed to be enjoying a bowl of nuts and then suddenly was choking. The security staff (Malia) took him away pretty quickly after it happened. The person who died was a young human, middle height, brown hair, nothing too remarkable about him.
[/sblock]
[sblock=Cherage]4/2/14: We are going into a city! Keep an eye on your things. It is a shining wonder of wealth and prosperity. The city has a curfew for visitors. Cherage is the capital of Danor, built around a bay. Different districts are separated by elevation. The railroad enclave is a few city blocks, surrounded by a 20’ wall. The enclave contains two hotels, literally on either side of the train tracks from each other (one is cheap and one is expensive).Those of us with suites can stay on the train. Reginald and Viveen go to the expensive hotel, Murdoch stays in her suite. Bela and Vesta go to the cheaper hotel.
(Beaumont was cold.) Vesta is going to the dance hall. It’s not really hopping, since it’s still pretty early. He goes for a walk instead. The wall isn’t really a wall, there are obvious gaps, open gates, security is not tight.
Reginald and Viveen get a room and check their valuables with the manager. The lobby is fairly crowded with other passengers. There isn’t a bar, but there are some people playing dice. Reginald checks the game out, but is not invited to join. They go for a stroll on the good side of the tracks. They pass the orc family. They seem to be seeing the sights.
Reginald consults Tooth & Claw. Respectable citizens are advised to stay away from the docks. The Dockers are a hard drinking hard fighting bunch, and there were riots some time ago. The curfew is taken fairly seriously, although bribes are sometimes accepted.
Murdoch goes to dinner.
Bela is going to go find a busy place with a dark corner. He hears some chatter about train related things, like there’s a duelist aboard headed to Milong to fight in the arena. Someone mentions an opthamologist. There’s some discussion of the person who choked on the nut. He recognizes a small group of Danoran militia members sitting at a table, drinking probably too much.
Vesta goes back to the dancehall, checks the layout and chats with the bartender. It is a little more populated than before. There is a mezzanine level with tables and a secondary bar, Vesta goes up there, and hangs out. There are a few familiar faces from the train, but not anyone he’s interacted with. He keeps an eye out for who they might be meeting with, or clusters of people that might be interesting.
Reginald and Viveen talk to the Grientoes, and say he’s obviously making this a super educational trip for his kids, and is he an architecture buff? He is an engineer by training, so he has an interest in this sort of stuff and is excited to share it with his family. They continue on. They see the group of Danoran soldiers, and Viveen hails them. They chat and go for a beer. The lieutenant is taking the 5 soldiers to the military academy here. Viveen wishes them luck in their academic endeavors, and a good night tonight, and she and Reginald take their leave. We see a police station, the office of the transportation authority, and several touristy museums along with the hotels, restaurants, and dancehall.
Murdoch goes to find dinner. She goes to the local place. She also sees some familiar faces, but no one she’s talked to. She slips the host a fiver to seat her near some people she wants to eavesdrop on. Someone she recognizes from the train is at the bar meeting with someone else. From the conversation he seems like a minor politician, and he’s here for a fundraiser.
Two humans who appear to have met on the train are talking about their errands, they are both going to Nalamn. A talk blond human is a duelist, going to fight in the arena. The other is a female college professor from Nalamn, who was doing experiments on how magic decays in various parts of Danor and is on her way home.
Bela wants to go skulk around the train station. He gets a hotel room with a balcony overlooking the station. A number of people enter and leave the hotel. Nothing interesting happens around the train, the workers are just sitting around shooting the
. But the dwarf who boarded the train at the first stop and the tiefling with the ladies both come in to the hotel, and the businessman he talked to after the dude choked on the nut. At about 8:00 he sees the tiefling saunter out and head towards the railroad. He follows. He is not really stealthy.
The tiefling heads from the fancy hotel to the other hotel. Bela doesn’t follow him in. About 10 minutes later he notices the dwarf arrive and go inside. Bela goes into the bar. The tiefling is flirting with everyone available, and the dwarf is drinking and playing dice. He does not seem to be winning. The tiefling, Boone, seems to be settling in with a buxom young woman. A cheer goes up from the dwarf’s table, and his stack of chips and gold gets larger. About 9:00 he stands up, quiets the room, and offers to buy a round for the room if they will join him in a toast. “To adventure, and never waking up in the same town twice. Or at least not in the same bed!” After the toast he heads over to the bar, obtains another mug, and brings it to Bela. He puts down the mug and suggests you play some dice. Bela accepts. The game goes back and forth, other people come and go, but it ends up about even. Bela thanks him for the game. Verzubak, the dwarf, looks tired. As he’s taking his leave Bela notices he compliments him three times in the span of a single sentence, which is a little odd. He then continues to work the room. Liza thinks this was a recognition signal and he’s totally a member of the conspiracy.
Murdoch doesn’t hit it off with the duelist and college professor she was eavesdropping on in the restaurant. They ditch her and enter the dance hall that Vesta is staking out. She encounters some Danor militiamen and discovers they are racist jerks (their group is composed of mostly humans and a tiefling). Vesta also eavesdrops on the duelist and college professor and intuits a budding romance.
Reginald and Viveen go to the Crysilari restaurant. They do not see any familiar faces, but there is a man dining alone with a case that he seems somewhat paranoid about. When he goes to the restroom, Reginald waits a bit and follows, trying to jostle the case passing so he can apologize and strike up a conversation. He waits too long to make his attempt and the opportunity passes. He makes another attempt with after dinner drinks and succeeds, he joins us. They chat, the case is a trumpet. He was part of an orchestra for quite awhile. His name is Giles Bonhomme, and he is going to audition for an orchestra in Chrysilia. He’s traveling coach, so he’s very protective of his instrument. Reginald invites him to come have a drink with them in first class, and he’s appreciative. He’s a human of about 35. Reginald mentions he heard about someone choking in coach, and did he hear about it? Giles says yes, he was there, it was while people were coming on at the first stop. There were a lot of people moving around, and the guy was eating a bag of peanuts and all of the sudden he started choking and died. Viveen is aware that spells that asphyxiate you exist, but they would be hard to do in Danor.
As Bela is heading back to his hotel, he sees a shabby looking gentleman wearing nothing but a long coat covered in patches and holes runs past him, smelling pungently of bath oils, pursued by 4 enclave guards. He is running away from the hotel towards the train. He is much faster than the guards and then Bela would expect. He runs up the bridge, jumps over the train and run out of sight. Bela commits the details to memory. The guards continue to the train, but can’t see where he went. Bela asks them what’s up. They ask what he saw, and he obliges. They say they were sent up to the top floor mayoral suite at the fancy hotel, which was supposed to be unoccupied, and found this man bathing in the tub. He shoved his way past him, went somewhat slowly down the stairs, and then took off. Bela nods and shrugs. Then he asks if this is normal, and is the enclave secure? They reassure him. If he sees anything out of the ordinary he should report it to the front desk, and they will notify the authorities. Bela checks out where he jumps from. It is an impressive jump for a human to make.
Reginald and Viveen encounter the group of drunken militia members shouting at the Grientos, who appear to be attempting to return to their hotel. One throws a bottle. We approach. The daughter, who has been crying, shrieks and charges at the militiamen. We anticipate this, and Viveen reaches out and catches her as she runs by. Orc children tend to get physical when they throw temper tantrums. She hands her off to her father. Reginald attempts to diffuse the situation, and they shuffle off. The orcs are grateful, and we escort them back to the hotel.
The train is set to leave at 7:30 AM. We have porters bring our luggage back from the hotels. Bela keeps an eye out for other party members in the lobby. He sees Viveen and Reginald, and they walk to the train together and exchange information.
As we are all approaching the train, we see Malia the train guard followed by a pair of men carrying a huge chest marked with the logo of a prominent gun manufacturer. She directs them to put it in the first class lounge. As this is happening, a tall man with a case strapped to his arm drags her off for conversation. She brushes him off her arm, but talks to him quietly.
There are some new passengers! Bela and Reginald notice a flat face tiefling man with an air of boredom walking arm & arm with an eerily beautiful elf woman with geometric tattoos, marking her as an oracle of the clergy. They are both dressed in high fashion and their luggage is carried on by servants. Others react to them with open interest.
The stern-faced man with the briefcase goes to car 14.
The two women who were linked together are in the luxury lounge, and the heavyset one is gossiping loudly about some tiefling, saying she’s surprised to see him and she thought he was something of a shut in and hadn’t been seen around town for a few years. The tiefling and the elf woman are boarding, as they do she stops, and makes some unusual gestures with her hands, he replies with some gestures of his own, and then stops and thanks the porters in a stutter. The gestures are not religious or arcane in nature. Reginald turns to the gossipy lady and asks what’s their story. She says he’s clearly not from around here, he’s Luc Jierre, a famous arcana scientist, and she’s surprised to see him in the company of a comely young lady because he hasn’t been seen in town for several years. She assumes she’s his wife and is disappointed, as having not been invited/involved in the arrangements. Viveen asks if she’s a matchmaker then, and she says in a manner of speaking, and it’s interesting. Her name is Elanor Yanette, and the young lady is Isobel. We introduce ourselves.
It is time for the train to get underway! Through the day it will stop roughly every hour until 4:51 PM, until it reaches a station at a fort that marks the border between Danor and the Malice Lands.[/sblock]
Managing the night in Cherage as a DM was pretty crazy. I had to keep track of where each PC was relative to the key NPCs while jumping from PC to PC frequently enough to keep each player engaged. It seemed to work, although I had to go a bit slower than I would have preferred. I think now that I have the hang of it, the next stops will be easier.
