DnD-Campaign-Two/4. Session Prep/Brefield - Vezra's Room - 6-22-26.md

# Session Prep — Brefield: Vezra's Room

*Prep date: 6-22-26 · Party location: [[Brefield]], [[Falduhir]] — inside [[The Splintered Snake]], about to search [[Vezra's Room]].*

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## Where We Left Off

Session 6 ([[6. Taylor's Manor - 9-22-25|Taylor's Manor]]) ended in [[Voxiu]]: the party survived an ambush at [[Commander Taylor]]'s manor, then heard his pitch — **rig the Crown Elect election** so the [[Vexen|Vexens]] beat the [[Belter Overview|Belters]]. Since then they've traveled north into [[Falduhir]] to the mining town of [[Brefield]], where the [[House of Suits Overview|House of Suits]] agent who'd been tailing them since Voxiu — **[[Hierophant Vezra Gearbloom - Obsidian Archives|Vezra]]** — let a room in their own inn, **two doors down the hall**, then vanished after being made. The party has **exposed** that this "mine-safety assessor" is the same man as Voxiu's beloved Cogwright Hierophant. They're about to toss the room he was ordered to burn and didn't.

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## Likely Scenes / Locations

- **[[Vezra's Room]]** — *the cold, abandoned room of a professional who left in a hurry.* Door unlatched, bed made, wine skinned over, coat on the hook, travel case at the foot of the bed. The clue-delivery scene; see tiers + trap below.
- **The Mine-Warden's Office** ([[Magistrate Corvin Hale - Brefield|Magistrate Corvin Hale]]) — *a velvet-coated bureaucrat sweating behind a condemnation seal and a decanter.* The room's evidence points straight here; the session's likely centerpiece.
- **The Ore-Scales** ([[Hobb Tallow - Brefield|Hobb Tallow]], scale-master) — the weighing station that's been logging the Suits' equipment caravans manifest-free. The second money-thread.
- **[[The Collapsed Reach]] / Shaft III** — the dig site every clue converges on. *Not* this session — the horizon you're pointing them at.

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## NPCs in Play

- **[[Hierophant Vezra Gearbloom - Obsidian Archives|Vezra Gearbloom]]** *(Gnome — absent, but everywhere in this room).* The "assessor" cover and the Voxiu machine-rights preacher are one man, both masks over a Suits agent. His dossier holds a **sketch of one PC** and a margin note flagging someone *"a problem / possibly useful."* **Dread beat:** he watched from down the hall, not across the city.
- **[[Magistrate Corvin Hale - Brefield|Magistrate Corvin Hale]]** *(Human, 54 — Mine-Warden).* Soft hands, pomaded gray hair, overdressed, decanter at his elbow.
    - **Voice:** officious and too-loud when bluffing; drops to a dry rasp once frightened.
    - **The tell:** keeps glancing at door and window — *not* watching the party, watching for the Suits.
    - **Wants:** to survive and keep telling himself he "only condemned a shaft."
    - **Secret:** falsified the Shaft III survey, took three Suits payments (third unpaid), greased the scale-master.
    - **How he breaks:** *fear/protection = fastest* (the phrase **"other tailors"** lands hardest) · evidence = folds fast · intimidation works but he may bolt · bribery = slowest (he already has Suits money).
- **The Suits watcher** *(unnamed, in town).* Already on Hale. Pressuring Hale **loudly / twice / in public** risks the watcher triggering the kill **early**. Reward quiet-and-quick.
- **[[Hobb Tallow - Brefield|Hobb Tallow]]** *(scale-master — working name).* Bribed via Hale to wave the Suits' night caravans through. Hale can name him; tracing the caravans leads up the mountain.
- **[[Wren Maddox - Brefield|Wren Maddox]]** *(Suits courier — working name).* The human end of the "tithe to the Reach"; a face the party may already have passed. **⚠ May be the same person as [[Brefield|Agent Hilvar Dench]]** (Benton auditor, "unseen investors" via sending stones) — decide whether to merge.

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## The Room — Clue Tiers & Trap

**3-clue rule — a missed check still points the same way.**

| Access | Find | Gives |
|---|---|---|
| No check | Coat → disguise kit, spirit-gum, forged assessor papers | Planted pro; **ledger cipher key**; spiral-cog token + brass sparrow feather → **the assessor is Vezra Gearbloom** |
| Investigation **DC 12** | Travel case false bottom → **field map** | Range w/ Suits sigil; **site III circled red, "the Reach"** (map always survives) |
| Invest./Perc. **DC 15** (auto if desk pried) | Desk panel → **letter + coded ledger** | Cipher cracks on Arcana/Invest. **DC 13**, instant if disguise kit found |

**The igniter (trap):** desk panel is rigged. **Thieves' Tools DC 15** to disarm. Fail → alchemical bead sparks, letter + ledger ignite; **Dex save DC 13** to snatch **one** of the two (the other burns). Map is safe regardless. Clean disarm → keep all three.

**Takeaways to plant:** the reveal (Gearbloom = Suits) · destination = *the Reach / site III* · clock = *before the season turns* · money-trail = *Hale → the Reach* · mystery = *"the lines being sealed."*

**Handouts ready:** the letter (signed "—T.") and the [[Decoded Ledger]] are written up for the table.

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## Factions & Agendas

- **[[House of Suits Overview|House of Suits]]** — the live hand. Owns Hale, routes money "up to the Reach," and is prepared to erase Hale ("the tailors mend it"). Front: the Velvet Wheel Casino in Voxiu; killing is "an unlucky draw."
- **Benton Brothers Mining Co.** *(Vexen-aligned)* — own Brefield's shafts, bankroll the Suits; the corporate body the dig hides inside.
- **Pick-Belters Union** *(local, Belter-aligned)* — would gut Hale if his fraud surfaced. A lever and a potential ally.
- **The conspiracy** (see [[Campaign Premise]]) — drilling to **seal the ley lines** and choke magic. The letter's *"third line nearly sealed… two more and the Reach goes quiet"* is the party's first concrete look at the endgame.

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## Open Hooks & Threats

- **Race for Hale.** Reach him first → living witness, the scale-master thread, "the Reach" / "lines going quiet" from a second mouth. Suits first → cooling body staged as a mine accident; leave one salvageable clue (hidden ledger page or courier name) so the thread survives.
- **The watcher** punishing a loud smash-and-grab.
- **The personal dossier** — one PC is watched and rated. Paranoia fuel.
- **The thaw clock** — "before the season turns" / "the Shifting." Two ley-lines left to seal.

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## Open Decisions (DM)

- **Merge Wren Maddox with Agent Hilvar Dench?** Strong overlap — one in-town Suits money-contact is cleaner than two.
- **Gearbloom:** a true Cogwright believer who was *turned/blackmailed*, or a cold operative who built the faith as a tool from the start? Changes how the Cogwrights — and any PC who admired him — take the reveal.
- **The Collapsed Reach interior** — what's actually down there (the drilling rig, who runs it, the "old engines" / ancient automaton drill cores, the fate of the vanished miners). Stubbed; build before they climb.

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## Loose Threads / Housekeeping

- **No Session 7 recap yet.** The journey north + exposing Vezra happened in play but isn't logged (recaps stop at #6). Worth backfilling.
- **[[z_other/Campaign Flow|Campaign Flow]]** still ends at Taylor's Manor with placeholder "hold" nodes — hasn't been extended into the Brefield arc.