38 lines
No EOL
3.4 KiB
Markdown
38 lines
No EOL
3.4 KiB
Markdown
**Setup**
|
|
|
|
- [[Hierophant Vezra Gearbloom - Obsidian Archives|Vezra]]'s let room at the party's own inn, **[[The Splintered Snake]]**, two doors down the hall. The mild "mine-safety assessor" who took this room and the fiery [[Cogwrights Collective Overview|Cogwright]] **Hierophant** the party knew in [[Voxiu]] are one man — and both faces are masks over a [[House of Suits Overview|House of Suits]] agent. The party has pulled that mask off.
|
|
- Left as-is, not tossed — he never returned after being made. Door unlatched, bed made, wine skinning over on the desk, coat on the hook, travel case latched at foot of bed.
|
|
- He was told to _burn this_ and didn't. Party survives on his bad luck.
|
|
|
|
**Clue tiers (3-clue rule — a missed check still points the same way)**
|
|
|
|
- _No check:_ Coat holds disguise kit, spirit-gum, forged "mine-safety assessor" papers → confirms a planted professional, cover tied to the shaft. Papers also contain the ledger cipher key. Tucked in the kit: a Cogwright spiral-cog token and a spare brass feather for an automaton sparrow → the "assessor" is the Voxiu Hierophant **[[Hierophant Vezra Gearbloom - Obsidian Archives|Vezra Gearbloom]]**. The machine-rights preacher was the cover; the Suits agent was the man.
|
|
- _Investigation DC 12:_ Travel case (unlocked), false bottom → **field map**: range marked with Suits' sigil (bisected circle); site **III** circled in red, labeled "_the Reach._" Rune-numerals quietly track the ley lines.
|
|
- _Investigation/Perception DC 15 (auto if desk pried):_ Desk panel → **letter** + **coded ledger**. Cipher cracks on Arcana/Investigation DC 13, or instant if disguise kit found.
|
|
|
|
**The igniter**
|
|
|
|
- Desk panel rigged. Thieves' Tools DC 15 to disarm.
|
|
- Fail → green alchemical bead sparks, letter + ledger catch fire. Dex save DC 13 to snatch **one** of the two; other is lost.
|
|
- Map is safe in the case regardless — destination always survives.
|
|
- Clean disarm → keep all three.
|
|
|
|
**The letter (handout)**
|
|
|
|
> _V— The diggers say the third line is nearly sealed. Two more and the Reach goes quiet for good — then the rest of Baltun'ia drinks from our cup, or doesn't drink at all. Your work in [[Brefield]] is to keep the curious blind. The flooded shaft holds, the condemnation papers are filed, [Hale] earned his coin. If the contractors keep sniffing, walk them out gentle. If gentle fails — we have other tailors. Be at the Reach before the season turns. Burn this. —T._
|
|
|
|
- Seeds ley lines ("third line nearly sealed"), sets clock ("before the season turns"), hooks ledger ("Hale earned his coin"), keeps "—T." / "tailors" ambiguous (Taylor? or Suits motif?). Don't resolve here.
|
|
|
|
**Personal stake**
|
|
|
|
- Thin dossier tucked with ledger: surveillance notes on party since Voxiu, sketch of one PC, margin note flagging one as "_a problem_" / "_possibly useful._"
|
|
- Chill = he was watching from two doors down, not across the city.
|
|
|
|
**Takeaways for the party**
|
|
|
|
- Reveal: the "assessor" is [[Hierophant Vezra Gearbloom - Obsidian Archives|Vezra Gearbloom]] — Voxiu's Cogwright preacher is a [[House of Suits Overview|Suits]] agent
|
|
- Destination: [[The Collapsed Reach|the Reach]] / site III
|
|
- Clock: before the season turns
|
|
- Money-trail: [[Magistrate Corvin Hale - Brefield|Magistrate Corvin Hale]] (corrupt, frightened, Suits-marked for removal) → up to the Reach
|
|
- Mystery seed: "lines being sealed"
|
|
- Dread: surveilled from down the hall, under a "Tailor" |