ZEITGEIST [ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.

[gideonpepys]

I've yet to see any parties allow the bomb to go off. Maybe I'll get lucky some day. *grin*

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'save or die'. A potential TPK is a nice way to top and tail heroic tier.

Having said that, the bomb is really the principal threat in the encounter. Other DMs would be wise to up the ante somewhat if they want to spend longer engaged in combat than they do drawing the map. If the players focus on the engine car, the encounter is over, unless you have the dwarves start offing the hostages in response. Zubov is definitely a threat, but the encounter allows the PCs to get the drop on him, and that is curtains for most monsters at this level.

The piercing clamp traps are a waste of time, visible to the passive perception of any halfway decent scout, and dishing up an attack so feeble it wouldn't matter if they walked down here blindfolded. They serve only to alert the party to the fact that there are traps in the area, meaning none of the traps get sprung (even if you impose a -5 to spotting traps in the thick of combat as I do).

In hindsight, I should have made the cultists two-hit minions, as well as giving the prophet extra hit points and powers. I've no objection to the PCs having an easy ride every now and then, but like I say the map took a while.

I really do like the inclusion of Azon to link that little plot thread in #4 to #5. If nothing else, I'll see if I can drop some more hints about eschatological radicals in 4.

That really did come out of nowhere and ended up working very nicely. The idea of linking him to the eschatologists developed only after Rumdoom (being rather lazy) gave Azon a huge amount of control over the Rumschatology sect he had created. My initial idea was that Azon is a charlatan who used Zubov's name and muscle to fleece the sect of their cash. I intended for him to have absconded with that cash again by the time the unit caught up with the cult at Soknik's Repairs. But there comes a time to admit that there are too many unresolved plots in the air, and Rumdoom already has one nemesis in the shape of Khaled Valchek, so Azon bought the farm early.

But I would wholeheartedly recommend linking any eschatologist PC to the cultists in some way - through contacts possibly, or simply a background character who has interacted with them positively up to this point. In some ways I missed a trick: I think it would have been even more fun to have an NPC the players liked get involved with them, someone they would be sad to have to oppose, perhaps even kill. A character with a tragic background that explains their radicalism, perhaps. Wish I'd thought of that earlier.

 

[gideonpepys]

Session 96e - Tyger, Tyger

This was a one on one epilogue to the session involving only me and Malthusius' player:

Malthusius rode back to the Governor's Mansion in Stanfield's official carriage. The Governor busied himself instructing his aides how they should deal with the morning's events. It wasn't possible to discuss sensitive matters until they reached the privacy of Stanfield's office. Even when they reached the mansion, over an hour after they set off, there were countless distractions and duties that left Malthusius hanging around like a spare part. Stanfield apologised for keeping him from his important work, and even suggested they talk 'at the Opening of Peace Conference'. (Odd, thought Malthusius, as he would not be in attendance at the event. In fact, they hoped to be moving on the Ob on the night of the 13th. Stanfield was clearly distracted.) But having lost so much time already, he decided to wait. Four hours after they left the subrail station, Stanfield's closest aide, a intense little man nicknamed Grimalkin, showed Malthusius into the Governor's huge study.

The room was the most impressive in the whole mansion, filled with warm, yellow light from gas lamps. Stanfield sat at his desk and apologised once again for the delay. Malthusius quickly brought him up to speed on the Kell initiative and told him what Augst had revealed about the rusted iron rings in the Stanfield Canal. Stanfield was horrified. Malthusius asked for permission to scour the records of the canal's construction for any clues. Stanfield acquiesced at once and nodded for Grimalkin to make the necessary arrangements. Then he stood and paced over to the enormous window that looked out over the city.

"That canal was the first great public work to bear my name. It is an offense," he said, as he turned back, "that something intended for the public good should be tainted in such a way."

Something in those words broke Malthusius' visions. Suddenly he realised that it was possible for someone to become morally compromised even as they strove to do good. Stanfield was an idealist, which was why Malthusius had always trusted him. Now, for an instant, he saw his calm, beatific face replaced by the snarling visage of a tiger - the tiger of his vision in the Ziggurat of Apet, a beast that had haunted his dreams ever since - and he flinched imperceptibly. Everything fell horribly into place, and Malthusius realised that his old friend was lying to him, and had been lying to him all along. His heart began to beat heavily and his first thought was to escape - to leave as quickly and discreetly as possible and warn Korrigan. If only he hadn't given his messenger wind to Dester Rathtine!

Before he could make his excuses and rise, he realised Stanfield was speaking to him, asking him if he was all right. The Governor had come to sit on the edge of his desk, just inches away from where Malthusius was sat and now leaned forward and placed a friendly hand on his arm.

"I've tried to avoid this, old friend," he was saying, "believe me, I have tried. But it's no use. You always were too clever for your own good." Malthusius tried to move, tried to speak, but he could not. "I want you to know that I do not bear you any malice. This has been exasperating, but it's not your fault. You are on the wrong side without even knowing it. Trust me when I say that everything I have done is for the best."

Grimalkin had not left the room at all, but had lingered by the door. Stanfield spoke to him now: "I don't have the heart for this. Please arrange for the inspector to be taken to Cauldron Hill at once. Let Quital deal with him."

 

[gideonpepys]

DM's Notes - Tyger Tyger...

The ongoing issues created by Malthusius' relationship with Stanfield had to end. It was bad enough in the run-up to Always on Time but as soon as I read Schism I realised something had to be done. Another even more delicate spy mission!

Malthusius then made the mistake of insight checking Stanfield. RangerWickett has already assured me that his bluff was 42. Unfortunately, Malthusius now has an insight of +25. Hilariously, his player is so convinced of Stanfield's innocence, that he only reached for the dice when I made a rather fudged job of stonewalling (failing to roleplay nigh epic-tier mendacity; but then that's okay, cos the player's passive insight is clearly nowhere near 35.) With a +2 bonus for all the visions he's been having, he rolled... 42.

Sadly for Malthusius, his own bluff is lamentable, far too low for him to hide his horror at this revelation, and so it was that he was disabled and disposed of.

The player and I discussed what will happen over the next few weeks, and had a good laugh about all the shenanigans, now that he knows he was being had. He was a very good sport about the whole thing. Fortunately, he was away this week, and the holidays give us some time to prepare the ground for a major plot development. I could say more, but I don't want to spoil it.

 

[RangerWickett]

So is this a secret from the players still?

 

[gideonpepys]

So is this a secret from the players still?

Absolutely. Hopefully it will remain so. I came up with a solution quite some time ago, and now that he knows about it, Malthusius' player is in agreement. I chose not to keep things from him because he is trustworthy, and this will be easier and more fun with his cooperation.

It's ideal because Malthusius and Korrigan had a falling out before he vanished; Uru and Malthusius have recently gone from thinly veiled hostility to raging bromance (they have plans to shore up the clergy vault one day and shut away all the evil artifacts they find there); and Malthusius' last words to the unit took the form of an admonishment of Rumdoom for doubting Governor Stanfield.

For his part, Stanfield is already doing his best to cover his tracks (by helping the unit to ace the Get Kell initiative, because he knows they've already won - he also knows that Kell doesn't really have anything to tell them now that they have Quentin Augst and Norm's wand).

Obviously, the Cauldron Hill facility will be on a heightened state of alert from this point, as Malthusius told Stanfield they were planning to use the canal route. I'm wondering whether the Jierres would even trouble to send a warning? I have another means for the group to find out about Han Jierre's involvement, but that leaves Brakken without a bombshell to drop.

 

[gideonpepys]

Session 97a - 12th Spring

While the rest of the unit were engaged at Sharon Baker Subrail Station, Leon led an assault on Machete Hill. The operation had gathered a lot of intel about this stronghold, and their preparations ensured the mission ran smoothly: Clockwork bombs made by Uru were used to blow a hole in the exterior walls, bypassing the gauntlet of cannon. The defenders surrendered immediately and the cannon were seized and brought back to RHC HQ.

In the aftermath of the hostage situation, Colonel Tucker was furious. He had a troop of men heading down from the battalion who were itching see some action. Matunaaga suggested that Tucker and his soldiers join them in their assault on Grand Suites later that day and Tucker jumped at the chance.

Back at RHC HQ, Delft was over the moon. The unit had done the RHC proud, he said. Flushed with enthusiasm, he predicted the fall of the Kell Guild within the next twenty-four hours. "But that's just a sideshow now," he said, spitting tobacco at a bin, which he missed by a few feet. "I've been thinking: we have everything we need to make our move. There must be more of those wands within the Gate. Let's plan to make our move tomorrow evening, regardless: right when the Peace Conference is opening!" The unit was slightly less enthusiastic, and hoped to glean more information from Kell himself.

Back in their office, Kvarti thanked Rumdoom for giving him the chance to exonerate himself. In return, he volunteered to help the unit against these 'Bleak Gate people', having picked up enough to know that there was something afoot. He also counselled Rumdoom against using the dread mordenkrad wielded by Zubov. "This weapon is a bane, and it were better it had stayed lost. I will make a hammer for you." He took Rumdoom's rune-scribed craghammer and said he would return it the following day. As was traditional in Drakr, he sealed their friendship by pouring out two mugs of a powerful dwarven spirit, and passing one to Rumdoom. Having been sober for months Rumdoom hesitated, but only for a moment. He downed the drink, and then another. For the rest of the day he struggled to work out what was going on.

With Tucker's men in tow, the unit moved on Grand Suites: Another resounding success. They returned to RHC HQ to prepare for their sting on the fake eladrin traffickers, and an astonishing sight greeted them. Having only just bidden farewell to one troop of soldiers, they saw another arriving: Twenty-four men dressed in the livery of the Governor, half of whom were mounted. Their leader called for Inspector Malthusius, but Malthusius had not yet returned. The unit were told that he had convinced Stanfield to commit everything at his disposal to the effort to destroy Lorcan Kell. Not only had these guards been made available, but Stanfield had ordered the police captains from each district to commit any men who had previously been assigned to the terrorist case. They would be gathering at RHC HQ over the next few hours. Along with the cannon seized at Machete Hill, Korrigan was now in charge of a small army.

While he made detailed plans, the rest of the unit went to bust up the trafficking ring. (Surely it could not be long before they heard from Dester Rathtine? Even Unit B were involved: Falkrow the Fixer had told them where they could find Vander Lepage, the tiefling crime boss and Kell associate who had given them the slip a few week's back. Given the way things had gone of late this would surely be little more than the icing on the cake, but it was a cake the ambitious Professor Marcione was keen to get a piece of.) The sting went well, and soon the unit were back at headquarters chalking up another victory.

Asrabey Varal arrived. He brought sad tidings: A mob of townsfolk had murdered Doyle Idylls, mayor of the Cloudwood! This, boomed the eladrin, is what came of ignoring Ekossigan's presence in their midst. He demanded that they accompany him on a last ditch effort to find the traitor. Korrigan was affected by the news as Doyle Idylls had supported him wholeheartedly in his political campaign. He was a good man; a man who struggled as Korrigan did, to marry the old traditions of Risur with the progress demanded by the King. Delft was affected too, but in a less introspective fashion. Seeming to forget all their successes of late he bemoaned the unit's failure to catch Ekossigan and reminded them that the King had promised the Unseen Court, under the laws of Kelland's Tribute, that every effort would be made to stop him before he disrupted the conference.

With that, Leon, Uru, Matunaaga and Rumdoom were dispatched to the Cloudwood with Asrabey, while Korrigan led his force against the Theatre of Scoundrels.

 

[gideonpepys]

DM's Notes - 12th Spring

By now success in the Kell thread was a foregone conclusion. With judicious use of task force tokens there was no way the group could fail. It would take just one more day to achieve their goal. But they didn't know that. What they did know was that they wouldn't be able to take the Theatre of Scoundrels until the 13th - but they had no way of knowing that by then that action would be redundant. So Stanfield and I decided to make life easy for the unit, by sending additional resources their way, enabling them to take the theatre the very same day, and hopefully throwing them off the scent following the disappearance of Malthusius. (They're not really worried yet. The player was absent this week anyway, as was Korrigan's.)

In my campaign the Ob have given Kell a gatecrasher charm, but they have no intention of using a wand on him when he gets to the other side, so Stanfield is quite keen for Kell to run.

Worth noting also is the consequence of the players having far too much on their plates and having to manage with very tight resources: They have totally ignored the Ekossigan thread, despite imprecations from Delft, the Crowns, Asrabey, and reminders from the newspapers and Unit B. They'll be lucky to arrive before midnight at this rate...

 

[gideonpepys]

Session 97b - Casing the Cloudwood‏

Asrabey, Leon, Matunaaga, Uru and Rumdoom took a carriage as far as they could into the Cloudwood. Asrabey seemed uncomfortable in the vehicle and at length demanded that the driver stop so he could make his way on foot. Matunaaga joined him and they kept pace with the carriage over rough terrain. At length, they reached the environs of the mayoral manse. Groups of people sat about weeping, or drifted along the road disconsolately. In the grounds they found many corpses, laid out in rows and covered over by rough blankets. The police had returned, having abandoned the mansion to the mob, and had begun rounding up the ringleaders.

Leon spoke to Sergeant Langlois, a boistrous Danoran ex-pat, who defended his men. They had no choice but to flee or fire upon their friends and neighbours. (Fact was, they had fired on their friends and neighbours, killing several, and had fled only in the face of overwhelming numbers. Many police were among the dead - their eyes clawed out, hair ripped out in chunks, beaten to death with sticks and run through with farming implements.) Interviewed in their cells, the mob leaders were vague as to their purpose, and faintly regretful. If they thought hard they remembered that Idylls was said to be a witch and a child-murderer. They were no longer so certain. He had been accused by a young girl named Circe, who was among the first to be shot.

Why a 'child murderer'? Langlois reminded the unit that a young boy had been found dead in the forest - strangled, mutilated and daubed in strange sigils. Unit B had heard about this, but never found time to investigate. So Unit A went to look at the body and found that the sigils were part of an ancient fey curse that would cause discord and hatred among the child's family. But nobody recognised the boy. He had been hung from a rope, not strangled, that much they could ascertain, and his fingers had been chewed by wild cats. They went to examine where his body was found discarded in a brook as it trickled through the jungle. In the dark it took a while to find it, and even with Asrabey's help Uru could not pick up a trail.

They went from door to door asking questions. People were vacant, pale-faced - clearly in shock. Some had torn clothes or were spattered with blood. They spoke of strange events of late. They feared the local fey had turned against them, since the mayor had tried to ban old traditions and focus the community on the city and its needs (the need for lumber and food from farming) rather than their time-honoured, self-sufficient ways. Lately, folk had tried to appease the fey with offerings of milk and other treats, which had been gathered silently and hungrily at night. But no tracks could be found, and no such activity was evident now.

It was nearing midnight when a group of foresters arrived and found the unit. They told them that the dead boy had come from Gallo's School for Boys - an old orphanage run by a druidic order, which the local community had all but forgotten about. Poor, abandoned children were found by the staff and raised there, in the Old Faith. It was a beautiful place, but recently the woodsmen had been afraid to approach it. The fey were at large in the woods and had grown jealous and spiteful.

Quick inquiries established that the orphanage was funded by a small stipend from the mayor's office. As a ward of the state, that meant the boy's 'family' was the whole community in the Cloudwood. The death of the mayor had clearly ended the curse. But what was going on at the orphanage? They set off at once to find out.

 

[gideonpepys]

Session 97c - Gallo's School for Boys‏

Three miles into the jungle their suspicions that Ekossigan was at large were confirmed: A familiar voice arrested the unit on a switchback trail not far from the school. Despite the howling wind, they could hear Gale's warnings as intimately as whispers. Ekossigan was not to be trifled with, she said. She enjoined them to advance no further, and there was a tremor of sadness and pain in her voice. Gale made it clear that if they advanced she would be forced to take action, but she pleaded with them not to force her hand. "I am bound to serve Ekossigan of Spring," she said, "and cannot allow you to approach him."

They told her that they could not do so while Ekossigan threatened the Peace Conference. Gale replied, "All the more reason to depart. Ekossigan has no such plans. He has come to take care of a problem you have too long overlooked. A year ago I warned you of the canker that bloomed in the Bleak Gate and you have done nothing. Now Ekossigan means to cut it out!"

Leon asked if they could speak with Ekossigan, but Gale replied that it was too late for that now. Warily, they pressed on. Asrabey said that he would not risk harming a female eladrin, and could take no part in opposing her. Leon responded with the assurance that she would be taken alive. They needn't have feared:

From her vantage high up in the canopy, Gale beset them with magic: whirling cyclones, blinding mists and livid arcs of lightning. They were thrown about like rag dolls and struggled to advance any further. When they managed to pinpoint Gale, she flew to another hiding place. Their ranged attacks were futile, and not one made contact with the sorceress, even on the rare occasions when they could see her. Had she maintained her bombardment they would surely have been forced to flee. But when a conjured tornado dropped Rumdoom to the ground with such force it would have killed a normal man, Gale gave an agonized cry of frustration and vanished, taking the winds with her. Leon now saw that Gale was under some sort of compulsion, similar to that which had almost affected Uru when he was called to serve Ekossigan by Ellik and had been forced to renounce his Regalia to avoid servitude. Uru knew a thing or two about fey curses and began to think how to break it. It seemed as though Gale was reluctant to harm them and that Rumdoom's fall had enabled her to break off the attack. He wondered if Leon, master of subterfuge, might fake his own death if she reengaged.

After some healing, Rumdoom got to his feet and straightened his helmet. The others patched up their wounds and together they pressed on towards a huge tree, that they now realised must hold the orphanage: an old wooden sign declared as much, and a vertiginous spiral staircase wound around the massive trunk. From the undergrowth they heard high-pitched squeals and cries, growing closer.

"Ekossigan calls an army to him," said Asrabey. They ran for the great tree, dispatching a few gremlins that hurled themselves in their path. Darts spat out from the foliage, and rained down from above as when they gained the stairs. Tiny missiles, they were coated with a fiery poison. They ignored the pain, and climbed on. The stairs wound up for a hundred feet and gave on to a railed walkway surrounding the main school building. It was well kept, but the presence of the fey had seen the wooden walls warp and sprout fresh shoots. Through the spaces they could see movement in the darkness beyond. An unpleasant odour wafted from within - the smell of dead things and rot. Wooden bridges led to small, round dormitories whence the muffled sobs of children could be heard. All around them was a steady background hum, modulated and repetitive. It seemed as if the air itself was chanting.

At once they were assailed by tiny pugwampi gremlins and their larger, rougher nuglub kin. These were lesser fey, but they drew power from their master. They hurled more poison darts through the cracks in the buildings, and cursed the metal worn by the intruders so that it heated and began to burn. Asrabey warned them that a huge throng of such creatures was now swarming up the spiral stairs from below. He stood at the top, lion shield firm, sword blazing, fleet braced.

Rumdoom kicked open the doors to the school and hurled a grenade inside. Leon, Uru and Matunaaga dispatched a few more gremlins, but more appeared, some from inside the dormitories. Gale's voice reached them again. "You should not have come here," she said. "It is too late."

But Gale did not reveal herself right away. Instead, a wooden mask appeared, floating in mid-air. Huge antlers or branches swept back from its jaw. Its eyes were hollow, head titled back as if appraising them. The ambient chant was louder, closer now. Slowly, a hood faded in behind the mask, giving the impression of an unseen head, with a mantle of leaves over the shoulders of this invisible being.

"Greetings," said a mellifluous voice inside their heads. "I am Ekossigan of Spring."

 

[skotothalamos]

I've yet to see any parties allow the bomb to go off. Maybe I'll get lucky some day. *grin*

With my group in the mix, it may only be a matter of time. :/