Saturday, May 22, 2010

Eberron Mystery Theatre - The Plot Thickens, Mission Implausible, and Trainspotting

In today's instalment of Eberron Mystery Theatre, our heroes - Chris the Warlock (ghosted), Picadilly the Paladin, Sister Mary the Nun, Stab the Spellthief and Diaspo the Monk are drawn deeper into the web of conspiracy and murder.

Having availed themselves of Sister Mary's magical divinations, the party decided to consult a cleric at the Temple of the Sovereign Host to question Victor's remains. Surprise surprise, it turns out that the corpse isn't Victor, but Herbert d'Medani, a cousin of the Medani House. Herbert, as it turned out, was one of Zelina's entourage, and he had been bludgeoned to death by a hobgoblin - the same one who, together with a dangerous looking half-orc, had somehow spirited Zelina away.

Sitting down at yea tavern, the party decided to go through the clues they had amassed so far, they noticed that Victor had, in fact, been siphoning money into an orphanage in the Gate of Gold district called Aureon's Gate. Sensing something amiss, they decided to follow up on this lead, and ended up running afoul of the Daask Gang in the Gate of Gold.

The party was accosted by Daask thugs - a bard with a penchant for bad singing and loud music, as well as his roguish groupies, but soundly defeated them. They uncovered silver jewelry on the bard's body, jewelry which implicated the thug in the murder of the silversmith in Cassan Bridge district. However, before they could go to the watch, the Daask Gang confronted the party, demanding reparations for the slaying of their gang members.

A standoff ensued, where Sister Mary demonstrated her excellent skills at deflecting crossbow bolts. However, the gang of thieves was not impressed, and their leader even ensorcelled Stab the Spellthief into stabbing Sister Mary with a confusing spell. Sensing that the tables were about to turn, the party retreated.

Later, they reported to the Baron, and managed to convince the Baron to not only alter his travel arrangements to Wroat, but also to lend them magical aid in bringing the criminals and Victor to justice. The party engineered a ploy - Stab would disguise himself as the Baron, and the party would pretend to be his guards. They would lure the would-be murderers out into the open and arrest them when they are about to carry out the lightning rail train plot.

As the party rested and prepared for the confrontation to come, Stab was convinced (or rather coerced) into sneaking into the Gate of Gold. With the help of magic stolen from Sister Mary, several potions, and his own sneakiness, Stab crept into the Gate of Gold in the guise of a bugbear, and proceeded to scout out Aureon's Gate, which had been turned into an abandoned schoolhouse.

Disabling an Alarm trap, Stab entered through an unstuck window, and witnessed Victor and his conspirators at work, going over the details of the train plot. However, when he was sneaking away, Stab was heard by one of the conspirators, and forced to flee for his life. Thankfully, he was still under the effects of Sister Mary's spell, and was able to alter his features to avoid capture. Some innocent bugbears nearby though, were not so fortunate and were killed.

In the morning, the party proceeded to the Terminus Station, disguised as Baron d'Medani and his group. As they entered the station, they noticed that it was incredibly crowded, and that there had been some form of train disruption, which required the presence of a group of House Orien engineers to fix. Picadilly and Diaspo spotted several suspicious looking individuals in the group, but lost track of them before they could follow or sound the alarm.

The party proceeded to Baron d'Medani's chartered rail car, where they waited in case the culprits would show up. True enough, Sister Mary spotted movement coming up the tunnel from the train yards, and everyone heard a loud keening sound as an unscheduled train approached the platform. Diaspo ran to the Station Master, while Picadilly and Sister Mary dashed towards the passages leading to the train yard. Stab and the Baron's guards retreated, and not a moment too soon.

The runaway train car crashed into the platform only scant seconds after, causing the Baron's train car to explode. As both cars exploded, the elementals that powered the vehicles escaped, and started threatening the guards and civilians in the station.

Just then, Picadilly and Sister Mary caught sight of the suspicious engineers again, and this time, they dispersed, splitting up and joining the crowd as they ran away from the station. Sister Mary tried to pursue one of them, a bugbear, and caught up with one, only to realize that she'd gotten the wrong man. The real engineer had fled, and had even changed his form into that of an elf during the confusion.

The party decided to take on the air elementals, to prevent them from causing harm to the civilians (and also for XP). Sister Mary's dispelling magic proved potent, and restored the senses of one of the elementals. The elemental departed for its native plane, leaving the other, angry and hurting, to assault the party. Diaspo attacked it with his sonic breath, Picadilly swung at it, and Stab hurled his flaming dagger, to little avail. Sister Mary peppered it with more spells and magic missiles from her wand, which Stab also snatched and utilized. Eventually, the heroes won through.

And that was when somebody decided to take a potshot at the Baron, in this case Stab in disguise. An arrow stabbed Stab in the chest, and with it was a note.

The note said:

"Mwahaha. I am the genius detective Victor Saint-Demain. Your pathetic adventurers cannot hope to defeat me! Come midnight tonight, on the wildest night of Wildnight, your daughter Zelina will die when the bells toll. It will spell the end of everything for you and your house."

It seemed there wasn't a moment to spare. Time was ticking away.

And thusly, the plot thickens.

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Treasure and Experience

1. All adventurers gained 3,900 xp total, putting them at 15,900 xp. Stab gained 250 xp more than everyone else, putting him at 16,150 xp.

2. Everyone gains a Level and attains Level 6. Your Action Points are refreshed to 8.

3. You acquired the following treasure:

a. 330 gp (8o gp each) from the sale of items looted from the rogues in Gate of Gold district.

b. 6 daggers, which were picked up by Stab

c. Wand of Summon Monster II (5 charges), picked up by Sister Mary

d. 2 vials of Alchemist's Fire, picked up by Diaspo

e. A scroll containing the following spells - Fog Cloud, Shield, Acid Arrow, Glitterdust, Lightning Bolt, awarded by the Baron to aid in your investigations, picked up by Sister Mary.

f. A wand of Magic Missile (3rd), awarded by the Baron to aid in your investigations. This wand was used in battle, and has 45 charges remaining, picked up by Sister Mary.

g. A potion of flying (5th), potion of gaseous form (5th), and a potion of shield of faith +2 (5th), awarded by the Baron to aid in your investigations, picked up by Stab.

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