En5ider 367 - ZEITGEIST 13 Avatar of Revolution Part 1

EN5ider Presents:
Avatar of
Revolution
Part One
A 5E-Compatible Adventure for 20th-Level Characters
Prologue: Wherein Our
Hand Moves the Stars
A
t the convocation of the Obscurati, Nicode masses, who they might not see as enlightened as themselves? Will
they turn on each other? Or will they reject the very premise of the
mus the Gnostic, founder of the conspiracy, in- question, and ask instead whether the choice is theirs to make?
troduced his grand plan with these words:

Adventure Synopsis
The motions of the stars allow different ideals to gain ascendance: war, This adventure serves both as climax and epilogue, and we pay
decay, chaos, exploration, order, creation. But no longer shall the pro- more attention to what becomes of the world as a result of all the
cession of heaven obey the whims of an ancient, absent clockmaker. heroics of the PCs than to the details of battles. While we want the
Now the hand that moves the stars shall be ours!” players to have a chance to exult when they finally vanquish the
Obscurati and destroy Nicodemus, we want to give them a chance
The party was present then, and though they were only disguised as to experience the world after the fighting is over. They will have
officers of the Obscurati, today they are the closest thing to peers decided the nature of the new age, and they should get to enjoy it a
Nicodemus has. As much as he hates them and wants to be the bit before we close the book for good.
architect of their failure, he respects that they were able to chal-
lenge him. Soon they will have their final contest, and Nicodemus Introduction: Contingency.
believes that even should he be defeated — which, despite all his A version of the party that was moments earlier on Av as it was
arrogance, he knows is surely possible — his ideology will triumph. crashing into the Gyre awakens in a forest in Risur, their airship
He refused to accept the world as it was, and he is certain that even nearby and mostly unharmed. Benedict Pemberton and his lieu-
if he falls, the party will take it upon themselves to reshape reality tenant the gnoll Pardo are waiting, having seeded duplicants at
in their image. That is the age he has created: one founded in the locations where they guessed the party might return.
determination to create something new, in the ideal of revolution. Pemberton explains that as far as he knows he and Pardo are the
On its surface, the question of this whole campaign has been, only people in the whole world who haven’t fallen under the Ob-
what is the best of all possible worlds? Will the party defeat Nico- scurati’s control since the party has been gone. And the party has
demus only to become tyrants themselves, creating a world where been gone for months. In that time the Ob figured out something
they alone have power? Will they seek to represent the will of the about the hiveminds and used it to enact wide mind control.
From the Pen of Seamlessly Updated to Fifth Edition by

Ryan Nock EN Mike Myler
Publishing tm
Evocative Cover Illustration by Ably Produced and Facilitated by

ShenFei Russ Morrissey
Stunning Cartographic Displays by Perceptively Proofread by

James Hazelett “Nathan Meister”
Jonathan Roberts “Jack Tannery”
Masterful Interior Illustrations by Special Thanks to

Claudio Pozas Erik Freund (you know what you did); and the over one thousand
ShenFei generous patrons of EN World EN5ider whose support has made
Includes art in the public domain this Fifth Edition update possible.
with Unparalleled Layout and Graphic Design by Open Game Content

Eric Life-Putnam The game rule information in this article is designated Open Game
Content. All other material in this article, including maps, graphic
elements, and illustrations (including graphic elements and
illustrations in the public domain), narrative and descriptive
text, character and place names, trade dress, “EN Publishing,”
“EN World,” “EN5ider,” “Zeitgeist,” all EN Publishing product and
article titles, and Zeitgeist, EN World, and EN Publishing logos,
are designated Product Identity.
2 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

Prologue: Wherein Our Hand Moves the Stars
It turns out Pardo was not immune himself, though, as he sig-

naled the Ob the moment the party arrived. A strike force led by Gyre Consequences.
Lauryn Cyneburg, Risur’s former Minister of Infiltration, teleports Generally, anything that the party did in Zeitgeist #12: The Grinding
in and attacks the PCs and Pemberton. With them is Nicodemus Gears of Heaven in the Gyre after the destruction of Av has no ef-
(temporarily possessing the body of someone unimportant), who fect on this adventure until the PCs gain the memories of their other
warns them not to stand in his way. He’s only a day away from fix- selves during the climax. Until then, any boons or items they acquired
ing the mistakes of the first time the Obscurati performed the Axis aren’t accessbile. However, once the memories start flooding into the
Seal ritual, and he’s too close to victory to be a victim of sentiment. PCs, they’ll gain access to those boons and items gradually, just like
In the ensuing battle, the party might manage to shake some their ability to link to planes comes in round by round.
of the attackers free of the Ob’s control, and perhaps the fey titan In particular, boons of Srasama don’t take effect until the PCs get
known as the Ash Wolf will come to the party’s aid. When Nico- access to the plane Ascetia during the Axis Obscura encounter. If
demus’s host body dies his spirit returns to Axis Island, but not they chose Vengeance, Srasama manifests and fights with them. If
before he swears that if they interfere with his plans in the next day they chose Usurpation, a PC who seized Srasama’s divine powers can
he’ll order every nation’s capital city razed in retaliation. use them. And if they chose Resurrection, most of the eladrin woman
The party is on their homeworld; though they don’t know other who are restored to life appear far from this battle. But Dala, Kasva-
versions of themselves are in the Gyre, they are filled with a sense rina’s long-dead daughter, will appear beside one of the PCs. She’ll
that not all hope is lost. However, to defeat Nicodemus without know what they did for her, and though she’s wholly a noncombatant,
him killing hundreds of thousands in retaliation, they have to save she’ll desire to find her mother.
multiple cities around the world, and then reach Axis Island and
perform the ritual themselves, and they have only one day to do so.
After this introduction, return to the second half of Zeitgeist
#12: The Grinding Gears of Heaven. When the party nears the
Voice of Rot, continue this adventure.
EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 3

Act One: World of Ruin. Time Is Tight.

As the PCs make a plan for how to destroy the Obscurati without We intend this adventure to take place in just one day. Aside from
them killing countless innocents, Pemberton gives the PCs what the obvious desire for a ticking clock to raise the stakes, by this point
information he has about the state of the world. Namely, everyone GMs should have plenty of evidence that the PCs are ludicrously
is their enemy, and the few scattered pockets of resistance are be- strong when they can use all their powers in a single encounter. By
ing pursued with industrial efficiency. forcing them to complete this adventure without resting, we give the
Gaslight infrastructure in most major cities, including Flint, has villains slightly better odds of not being wiped out by whatever opti-
been adapted to function like a distributed version of the wayfar- mized alpha strike your party is capable of.
er’s lantern, burning oil that channels planar energy to keep people The party wakes up in the Antwalk Forest at roughly 8 a.m., rested
obedient and a latent hivemind at the optimal level for control. and at full strength. The Gyre is close enough that its edge already
Trainloads of troublemakers from rural regions are carted in to be covers half the sky, and its brighter center is just over the horizon.
pacified, and even former allies of the party are fervently loyal to By noon they should be at Flint, and by 1 p.m. either they’ll have
Nicodemus and his minions. found a way to avert the Ob’s scorched earth deterrence, or Alais
Primos, Cherage, Seobriga, and Trekhom will be toast. Then they’ll
Airship vs. Dragon. fly for Axis Island, some 500 miles from Flint. The party reaches Axis
To prevent the Ob from enacting their scorched earth policy, the Island just before “dawn,” and the final battle will conclude just in
PCs can head to Flint, where the local hivemind is led by new head time for the Gyre to vanish and, if the PCs triumph, a new sun to rise.
of state of Risur, Harkover Lee. Once the chief advisor of the king, It’s fine to handwave their airship traveling at faster than normal
he has retaken his much older form as the red dragon Inacht the speeds, but if there’s a fan of Star Trek’s Scotty among the group, let
Hex-Eater. As such, he is perhaps the only individual aside from them make some checks to push the vessel to its limits, or get favor-
Nicodemus himself who could by himself pose a threat to the party. able winds from Gale, in order to achieve the impossible.
As added deterrence, Lee has flooded the city’s gaslight network If the party dallies or somehow screws up, leaving without enough
with energy from Jiese, the plane of fire. If the party just rushes time to fly to the finale, it’s possible to find another way there. Lauryn
in they’ll not only be facing a dragon on the wing, but will have Cyneburg could manage a draining spell that teleports them through
to prevent the entire city from exploding while stymied by former the defenses of Axis Island, but leaves them down one airship. Pem-
allies such as Stover Delft and Gale. After bringing the dragon low berton could give them coordinates to teleport to his hidden island
and averting the fiery conflagration, the party finds the people of lair (again, sans airship), from which they can set out in a squadron of
Risur receptive to them, ready to be rallied into a revolution. small “dragon flier” propeller planes. Or, hell, just cheat. If they use
the sacrament of apotheosis and become gods, who’s to deny their
Action Montage. will of simply stepping onto the island from thousands of miles away?
Other cities have their own tyrants loyal to the Obscurati, who will
destroy their people to punish the party’s opposition. In Trekhom, No Time to Rest.
Hastenschrieft Willimarkanova undertakes a parade, protected by The party has only hours to reach Axis Island. They know that the
military constructs and the overwatch of sniper Kvarti Gorbatiy. site of the ritual will be flooded with destructive energy, and the
In Seobriga, Bruse Shantus oversees the mass execution of un- only way they can safely resist it is to perform the sacrament of
desirable goblinoids that are deemed not intelligent enough for apotheosis, channeling the trust of the world into them, granting
civilization, but if the PCs move against the Ob, the city’s lanterns the PCs the power of gods. However, to do this the party must
will burn with Illocus energy to provoke a wild massacre. In Alais have allies, and so it is only feasible if the party managed to save
Primos a heartbroken Morgan Cippiano helps disassemble the ca- at least one major city (Flint, Cherage, Trekhom, Alais Primos, or
thedral of Triegenes under the command of Arch Secula Natalia Seobriga). Alternately, the party might believe that this boon is not
Degaspare, who is prepared to activate the city’s lanterns, using Av worth the risk, and follow the example of Triegenes by refusing to
energy to pull people’s souls from their bodies. And in Cherage, the use the ritual, even it means they’re imperiled.
demoness Ashima-Shimtu watches impassively as wretched people Nicodemus has no such qualms, and he uses the sacrament to
volunteer to be put to death because the propaganda of Gardienne enhance himself with the loyalty of his followers. However, each
du Cherage has convinced them they are not useful enough. city the party saved breaks the mastermind’s link to part of the
The party will have to move on multiple places simultaneously. worldwide hivemind, weakening him and strengthening them in
With the aid of Pemberton’s duplicant technology, the party can the upcoming battle.
fight together to free Flint, then immediately split up across the It’s over 500 miles from Flint to Axis Island, which if the party
world, with all the PCs controlling different duplicants to save all pushes their airship to its limit they can cover just in time to arrive
four cities before the Ob can react. as Nicodemus begins the ritual of the Axis Seal. Though the flight
When a party has more PCs and the GM needs a fifth target, or takes hours, the party will find that if they try to rest and recover
if a Vekeshi mystic character could use some closure, the enclave their spells or daily-limited abilities, they see flashes of themselves
Sentosa in the forests of Elfaivar is besieged by Kasvarina’s former in the Gyre, poised on the edge of oblivion. Somehow their reflec-
aide-de-camp Cula Ravjahani. tion from their other selves has made it impossible for them to
regain their full strength.

When the party finally reaches Axis Island, the world is just be- Act Three: How to Deliver a
ginning to rumble with the planar confluence of the coming ritual. Denouement.
In the glow of wild energy lashing out of the Axis Seal, they can see The choices the party makes at the Axis Seal determine the nature
the colossus Borne standing up. of the whole world, and we want them to have a chance to see what
Upon completion of this act, return to Zeitgeist #12: The Grind- kind of world that is.
ing Gears of Heaven for the climax against the Voice of Rot. After How to do this partially depends on what the GM knows about
the party casts themselves into the Gyre, return here for Act Two. the players. Give them the ending they want, as much as it’s appro-
priate to how they fared in the ritual of the Axis Seal. These final
Act Two: Axis of the Revolution. few adventures have been fairly epic and somewhat surreal, so we
Nicodemus has gathered his strongest allies to his side: Han Jierre, suggest grounding events and returning to the mundane.
Lya Jierre, and the ghost council, as well as units with the most Toward that goal, we present nine potential scenes for GMs to
advanced arcanoscientific weapons the world has devised. use as a montage of sorts, to put a bow on the Zeitgeist campaign.
These forces are primarily positioned on the Revolution, the Ob- Each is linked to one of the setting-based character themes intro-
scurati’s own airship. Serving as the vessel’s doctor is Wolfgang duced in the Player’s Guide, and will serve as an opportunity to
von Recklinghausen, who might be swayed to the party’s side demonstrate some element of the new world and how the party’s
depending on their previous interactions. Meanwhile, Nicodemus actions shaped it. As needed, the GM might shuffle some of these
takes the drastic step of performing the sacrament of apotheosis on scenes into Act One, and save the ones your players will appreciate
himself, linking himself to those around the world who still adhere more for the aftermath.
to his ideology. Using his near-divine power he restores the colos- • A Dock Opera. The low-class dockers and the most upscale
sus Borne and commands it to complete the ritual of the Axis Seal industrialists of Flint are drawn together by the first great
while the Revolution keeps the party at bay. performance at the Navras Opera House after the world is
When the party reaches Axis Island, knowledge that their other saved, a performance which spills out into the streets and
selves acquired in the Gyre begins to flood into their minds. Once carries on to the docks themselves.
combat begins they gain access to the energies of the various • Group Portrait. A nouveau eschatologist is popularizing
planes of the Gyre in the order they bonded with them, and each primitive photography, and adds an addendum to the Heid
round they must weigh whether to attack their enemies or try to Eschatol movement that, as we prepare for the end, those
seize control of the eight nexuses in the ritual circle, each of which who survive us should be able to remember us, both our faces
grants them access to cosmic power. An unforeseen consequence, and the lessons we learned. He asks to photograph the party
however, is that meddling in the ritual links the party to Nicode- for the annals of history.
mus. By embracing his methods, they are drawn into the pool of • Government Issue. As law and order get back to normal, the
those who grant power to him via the sacrament of apotheosis. police force and constabulary are issued new weapons, and
In the course of the battle that concludes this act, the heroes one or more PCs are encouraged to speak to them and set
learn there are four ways to ultimately defeat Nicodemus: the tone for how laws will be enforced in the new world.
1. They can complete the ritual themselves and use its power to • It Came From Beyond. The military has caught and killed
destroy him; a creature never before seen on this world — the nature of
2. They can convince his other self in the Gyre, William Miller, which depends on how the party linked their world to other
to try to overpower the mastermind and render him briefly planes. As they make plans for how to deal with this unfamil-
vulnerable; iar threat, a young martial scientist expresses his admiration
3. They can metaphysically sap him of all power by rejecting his of the party’s battlefield ingenuity.
ideology and destroying the ritual site without laying claim • Telescope in the Clouds. Astronomists ask for permission to
to how the world should be; or build an observatory atop Cauldron Hill.
4. They can use his true name to break the protection granted • Join Our Family. Morgan Cippiano invites the party to a
to him by the sacrament, at which point they can harm him fashionable wake to discuss how he and his family can keep
like any other foe. the criminal element of Flint civil.
The heroes might have learned Nicodemus’s true name in Zeit- • Borne Again. Either the salvage of a destroyed colossus is
geist #8: Diaspora. If not, they can learn it now by getting brought to Flint, leaving the party to decide if they should
Kasvarina on their side or by waiting until the knowledge reaches recreate such a mighty machine, or the intact colossus seeks
them from the Gyre, where their other selves meet the ghost of to transfer his consciousness to a smaller body, for he is unfit
William Miller. And a proofreader reminded me that the Humble to wield the power that was given to him.
Hook and Crown of Risur can also reveal this information, though • Unmasking. The Old Stag, elder head of the Vekeshi mystics
the intention was for the crown to just reveal the name they use, in Flint, seeks to rehabilitate the order’s image, as more of a
not their true name. The hook would work fine, though. fraternal society for social justice rather than a secret assas-
If eight planes are linked and the golden seal is shut, stars be- sination guild.
gin to burn into being in the night sky, sweeping in an unfamiliar • Medals and Prizes. At the memorial for veterans of the
starscape that heralds a new destiny for the world. As the roar of Yerasol Wars, a huge crowd has gathered to cheer the many
the ritual fades, dawn begins to rise to the east. heroes of Risur.

Dramatis Personae Redux Two major NPCs we sort of let fall off the map were the “Gear-
Below we list the NPCs the heroes probably met who are likely to builder” Tinker Oddcog and the “Mindmaker” Alexander Grappa.
still be active and important, as well as their most likely status. Of Our assumption is that Tinker either died or is toiling away in
course, you should adjust this list as needed depending on how the some workshop, but the GM might have him appear on the airship
party may have influenced (or eliminated) the NPCs. Revolution as part of the “halfling and gnome repair crew.” His
1. Arch Secula Natalia Degaspare. Crisillyiri head of state. powers make fixing damage to the ship a breeze, and he can serve
2. Ashima-Shimtu. Observing the “new world” in Cherage. as a surprise opponent, but if he gets a clear view of Borne he’s
3. Athrylla Valanar. Repelling a siege on her enclave Sentosa. likely to panic once he realizes how big the colossus is.
4. Benedict Pemberton, aka Gradiax the Steel Lord. And we figured it was likely Grappa died during the course of
Conspiring with the PCs. Zeitgeist #7: Schism, but he could have survived (or transferred
5. Brakken of Heffanita. Aid to Bruse Shantus. his consciousness into someone else) and thus show up alongside
6. Bruse Shantus. Beran head of state. Pemberton to explain how to break the hiveminds.
7. Cula Ravjahani. Besieging the enclave Sentosa in Elfaivar. Other NPCs from previous adventures might be alive (or
8. Damata Griento. Swashbuckling understudy of Sor Daeron. ghosts) but weren’t necessarily prominent enough that we expect
9. El Extraño. Stowed away on the airship Revolution. every group will care about what happens to them. Consider who
10. Glaucia Evora. Bound for execution in Ber. the players would be interested in seeing again. Particularly if a
11. Han Jierre. Commanding the airship Revolution. character played a major role for one adventure, it can remind the
12. Hana “Gale” Soliogn. Risur minister of nature. players of all they’ve accomplished by bringing them back.
13. Harkover Lee. Risuri head of state. For instance, perhaps in Act One while a PC is trying to liberate
14. Lauryn Cyneburg. Head of the Obscurati alert strike force. a city, he could run across the Ob officer whose body he possessed
15. Kaja Stewart. Part of the above strike force. in Zeitgeist #7: Schism. Perhaps Duchess Ethelyn, freed from her
16. Kasvarina Varal. Axis Island. house arrest during revolutionary riots, teleports to Flint, and asks
17. Kvarti Gorbatiy. Guarding the Drakran head of state. the PCs what happened to the Unseen Court. If the PCs saved
18. Lya Jierre. Probably dead and a ghost. Otherwise alive, but Andrei von Recklinghausen from being possessed by Nicodemus,
in either case loyal to Nicodemus, aboard the Revolution. he could be on the defensive line of Sentosa, defending his adored
19. Morgan Cippiano. Indentured to the Crisillyiri head of state. Isobel and other eladrin. Amielle Latimer might be held in spectral
20. Nicodemus the Gnostic. Axis Island. chains aboard the Revolution, as the rest of the ghost council in-
21. Pardo. With Pemberton, preparing to betray him. tends to toss her soul into the engine of Borne, which will consume
22. Rock Rackus. Stranded in the Gyre. Your hero cannot save her as fuel.
you now. It could even be something that brings the campaign full circle;
23. Sor Daeron. Raining destruction upon Ob operations in Ber. for example, in the middle of the battle at the Axis Seal, the heroes
24. Stover Delft. Head of the Flint secret police. might meet mine foreman Nicholas Dupiers from the Zeitgeist
25. Vlendam Heid. Hostage in Trekhom. #1, Island at the Axis of the World, who gawks as he recognizes the
26. Doctor Wolfgang von Recklinghausen. Ship’s doctor of the PCs and marvels at how greatly they have changed.
airship Revolution.

Introduction: Contingency
I
f you’re interweaving the final two adventures Home Again.
Remember, now that the party has returned home, all the odd magi-
of the Zeitgeist adventure path, these scenes oc- cal effects of the Ob’s new world order are available. People stabilize
instead of bleeding out, light-producing spells are hard to cast, own-
cur right after the party learns from William Miller on ership can block teleportation, but every creature is able to jaunt
once a day (or more if the GM deems them appropriately mobility
Ascetia that they’ve been split in two. The players should themed) which lets them teleport within line of sight as an action.
know that their characters in the real world aren’t Weakened Death.
Since the plane Av was destroyed in Zeitgeist #12: The Grinding
aware of anything happening to the version of them in Gears of Heaven, this world’s link to elemental Death energy is weak-
ened. As a result, undead creatures take a –2 penalty on attack rolls,
the Gyre. weapon damage rolls, saving throws, and ability checks. Undead
with the Incorporeality trait no longer have resistances or immunities
to weapon damages. Attacks, effects, and spells that deal necrotic
Hello, Old Friend damage deal half as much damage as normal.
Because of this, the Obscurati ghost council are remaining out of
Social. Real-Time. the fray as long as possible, and don’t appear until the finale. These
Dark times make strange bedfellows. effects persist until someone links to a new plane of Death in the
When Av was shattered, one version of the PCs (and their ship Axis Seal ritual (see Draining Magic in Zeitgeist #12: Avatar of
and its crew, but not Rock Rackus or anyone else who was on Av Revolution).
when the Great Eclipse occurred) was hurled across the cosmos,
and they materialized in the woods near the city of Bole, outside Icy End of the Earth.
what was once the Ancient ziggurat of Av (salamanders from Jiese After months without sun, even the supernatural temperate climate
briefly took it over in Zeitgeist #10: Godmind, and its exact con- provided by the planet itself has waned. Global temperatures are at
dition depends on the party’s actions.) or below freezing, and snow or ice coats the ground wherever the
Due to the odd nature of time on Av, where events happen when party goes, with the exception of Axis Island, where otherworldly
is most dramatic rather than in a strict chronolinear progression, energy provides a pittance of warmth. From the moment the party
the party returns to their homeworld months after they left. In the arrives in the forest near the ziggurat of Av, it should be clear that the
intervening period, the Obscurati has taken control, and one of world is freezing to death.
the few people who resists their dominion is Benedict Pemberton,
once the dragon tyrant Gradiax the Steel Lord but most recently The Ambush.
an inventor, industrialist, and would-be conquerer of Ber in the Pemberton is still actually on an island somewhere in the Yerasol
guise of a gray-haired human. Archipelago, along with a small cadre of loyal gnolls. Unbeknownst
As more and more of the world fell under the sway of the Ob, to Pemberton, the Obscurati located the island weeks ago but
Pemberton’s efforts to strike back just resulted in him losing his chose not to attack. Instead they infiltrated Pardo’s mind, forcibly
limited forces. The dragon realized his only chance for victory was integrating him with a hivemind composed of dominated gnoll
to count on the party actually completing their mission to the Gyre. slaves who serve the Ob. He is always accompanied by two invisible
He set duplicants up at various locations he thought they might members of the ghost council who ensure his obedience. They have
return to, and when the party appeared near the ziggurat, he and kept watch on Pardo, and through him on Pemberton, so that they
his loyal minion Pardo activated two duplicants to investigate. will know as soon as the party returns. They aren’t simply “invis-
It’s important in this adventure to bear in mind whether Pem- ible,” but in fact are occupying Pardo’s body, somewhat akin to
berton’s daughter Terakalir survived Zeitgeist #6: Revelations ghostly possession.
from the Mouth of a Madman. If she did, he mostly genuinely likes The Obscurati has an ambush party composed of powerful war-
the party, and his motivation is to ensure the world will be one riors waiting to teleport in, two of whom — Lauryn Cyneburg and
where his daughter can grow up powerful and feared. But if the Kaja Stewart — are, like Pardo, partially subsumed in a hivemind.
party killed Terakalir, Pemberton is only feigning cordiality, and This has made it impossible for them to disagree with the plans of
the moment he’s sure the Obscurati has been defeated and the Nicodemus, and has infused them with greater power, as they now
Axis Seal ritual corrected, he’ll be poised to have his long-deferred wield the metaphysical might of dozens of people at once.
revenge. Once the party arrives it is only a matter of minutes before the
Obscurati attack.

You’re My Only Hope.

Pemberton talks as the party comes to their senses. They have ar-
rived a few dozen feet from the entrance of the ziggurat where the
salamander Kuyler set fire to the Antwalk Thicket (see Zeitgeist
#10: Godmind). The once-stone building is still brass, and the fires
have long-since died out, but the trees and undergrowth survived,
and their greenery has grown back. Bizarrely, though, the whole
scene is coated in an inch of snow and the temperature is freezing.
The leaves are brittle and coated in ice.
A few dozen feet away, a section of the forest has been cleared
Benedict Pemberton Pardo to make way for a railroad, and it stretches away to the south. It
appears a train was parked here but the crash of the party’s airship
derailed it.
The PCs and their crew are wholly uninjured and rested, and
while their ship is on its side (just off-map southwest of the zig-
gurat), a few minutes of heaving get it righted so it can fly.
Pemberton and Pardo were waiting in the doorway that led into
the underground chambers. Pemberton’s just wearing the eye-
patch so one of his eyes can be adjusted to darkness, even if bright
light ruins his night vision in his other, but he’ll play it off briefly as
if in the time the party was gone he suffered a grievous injury. He
tries to be patient and cool, though inwardly he’s never felt happier
Kaja Stewart Lauryn Cyneburg in his life since he was basically convinced he was doomed without
the party’s help.
He explains, first, that the new ruler of Risur built this railroad
to help access the Plane of Jiese through the portal in the ziggu-
rat, but “local fauna” forced them to abandon that project, so they
sealed the portal. That was several months ago and the world has
gotten dangerously cold since then, but he’s not sure if the two are
related.
As far as anyone cares, Pemberton says, the party is dead. He is
the only friend they have left in the whole world. But of course, he
has made a plan that can get them out of this hole.
Nicodemus The Fall to the Dark Side.

Pemberton starts recounting the events of the past few months. It
You Awake. began with soldiers captured from the invading armies in Risur,
soldiers who were possessed by powerful Obscurati ghosts. They
You awake, scattered across the ground in a forest. Embers of blazing let themselves be taken to prisoner of war camps, where they over-
thistles drift by on a wind, briefly providing enough light to make out powered the unexpecting guards, then triggered the formation of
the surprisingly intact hull of your ship, lying without even a hushed hiveminds. Somehow the possessing ghosts managed to stabilize
whisper in this night-time wood. Your injuries are mysteriously healed, the hiveminds so they were able to draw people in and make them
and the damage wrought by heavenly hailstones on your vessel has obey, but the hivemind did not become insanely single-minded like
vanished, but as your gaze drifts upward through a crooked slit in the previous manifestations had. The Risuri soldiers, outnumbered by
canopy, you see a starry abyss looking back, its nebulous teeth poised the prisoners, weren’t able to resist the combined psychic will, and
to crush your world, as they have crushed Av. they became loyal to the Obscurati. This continued like an ava-
You’re back in Risur. Your mission has failed. Your path to the Gyre lanche rolling down a hill; the more people caught in the hivemind,
has been cut off, and what little hope you had left has, like a candle the more easily it could pull others into itself.
reaching the end of its wick, guttered and turned to smoke. It spread like an idea, faster than a disease; and almost as soon
Then you hear a gasp of shock, and a deep-voiced laugh. Disoriented, as they became aware of the risk, their minds were overwhelmed.
you sit up and see, at the edge of the light, Benedict Pemberton and Most of Pemberton’s duplicant spies were discovered and ab-
his gnoll lieutenant Pardo. Pemberton raises a glass in toast—distilled sorbed into these new hiveminds, but before that happened he
water, with a celery stick for flavor. He wears a black patch over his learned of panic in numerous cities. People had only a vague idea
right eye. what was happening, but knew that crowds were a threat, so many
“Constables,” he says. Then he nudges Pardo. “I told you they’d come fled into the wilderness. Pemberton and his gnolls are fairly safe
back. They can’t help saving the day. It’s pathological.” on their island, he hopes.

Question Time. Switching Sides or

Any PC who succeeds a DC 30 Wisdom (Insight) check at this
point realizes that Pardo has drawn away from the conversation,
Betraying Each Other?
and looks conflicted. Just before the ambush begins, he scratches If the party does side with Nicodemus, GMs need to use a bit of
at his own scalp and hunches. Head cocked at a maddened angle, Schroedinger’s Plot and adjust things the PCs (and possibly the
he says, “I’m sorry, master.” players) aren’t aware of. Rather than the PCs fighting minions of
A shining portal opens in the air within arm’s length of the party, Nicodemus to rally the world in an uprising, they’re sent to quell re-
and a horde of foes materialize. Four dozen metal humanoids stand sistance and clear the way for a unified planet to support Nicodemus
poised to attack, their limbs ending in weapons, and with them as he performs the ritual at the Axis Seal. They’ll need to defeat Hark-
are five people. Kaja Stewart, who once crafted weapons for the over Lee in Flint, then suss out and thwart a plot by their former allies
Ob, holds up empty hands, ready to conjure firearms, while her who were trying to inspire revolution around the world.
four-armed eidolon stands defensively beside her. Two black-robed Only during the Axis ritual will an ally—likely El Extraño—break
mages are shrouded in shadow, and they flank a third, nondescript the party free of the ghost council’s control and explain that Nico-
figure holding a cigarette. Lauryn Cyneburg, formerly Risur’s min- demus intends to use his ability to rearrange the universe to end free
ister of infiltration, pulls the portal shut with a snap of her fingers. will everywhere forever. Of course, the party might still side with the
Ob, slice the kobold spymaster to bits, and surrender their free will in
“Hm,” she says, glancing at how close they arrived. “My aim has order to help create Nicodemus’s utopia.
improved.” The real problem comes if some of the PCs go for it and the rest
In the center of the ambush party, the nondescript man says, “Of don’t. Let that play out, but perhaps talk to the players out of game
course you would show up a day before I solve this. I suppose you think and see if they’re okay with fighting each other, or if they want one
you’re swooping in to,” he chuckles, ““save the world?”“ side or the other to have a change of heart. Ob agents can easily
“Your former allies, who now see the wisdom of my new world order, capture unconscious or dead PCs and stabilize or revivify them if you
told me your mission. You were going to use the Axis Seal yourself with need them to do that.
your own new planes.” Basically, be ready for the players to accidentally steer themselves
“Imitation is flattery, and I’m glad you wanted to follow my lead, but it into a ditch, and perhaps get their opinions of how they’d like things
was your noses stuck where things didn’t need sticking that caused the to end before giving them a chance to make the campaign crash and
situation we’re in. I assure you we have “saving the world” in hand, and burn so close to the end.
this will all turn out tidy and safe if you don’t cause any more trouble.
But maybe you’ve found something useful.” • He offers them a final chance to work with him, rather than
He sucks in a long drag from his cigarette, cracks a charming smile, against him. He assures them that he has a new plan for the
and gestures for the party to explain themselves. Axis Seal which will put an end to all the chaos that broke
out since the Great Eclipse, and he promises that if they
pledge their loyalty he’ll surrender to them once the ritual is
Answer Time. complete, to let them judge if his actions were justified. Of
The Nicodemus who is here is occupying a random body by means course, pledging loyalty in this case entails being bonded to
of Needlewire. He’s incapable of using his actual magical abilities, a hivemind, effectively dominating the PCs and making it
so he’s here merely as an onlooker. quite hard for them to turn against him at the eleventh hour.
This is basically the party’s last chance to interact with the cam- If pressed about his plan, he lies (Deception +15 with
paign’s main villain outside of combat, but GMs don’t want to let advantage) and claims that he’s adopting the Arboretum
the conversation drag on too long. Players are apt to ramble, but a plan that was proposed at the Obscurati conclave on
good villain is concise and in control. Mutravir Island. The conspiracy made planar icons for all
Nicodemus wants to know whether they have the necessary the planes that would have featured in any of the five main
planar links to perform the Axis Seal ritual, and if there are any Ob plans, and he’s willing to adopt a more muted alteration
worlds in the Gyre that might be better than the planes he’s plan- to the nature of reality now that the hiveminds have given
ning to use. But since the PCs here right now don’t know about him a chance to bring societies closer together.
what the other version of them did in the Gyre, Nicodemus will • If they refuse, he mocks them for failing their mission to
think they’ve failed. the Gyre. He accuses them of being sentimental saboteurs,
Hit the following three beats in the conversation: blindly valuing antiquated morals and the suffering of people
• Nicodemus asks what they learned in the Gyre. He’s willing today over progress and the needs of countless yet to be born.
to give information about what the Obscurati have done in He is creating the shape of things to come, and in that new
order to keep the PCs talking. In particular, he’ll admit that world, people like the party will have to go.
Wolfgang von Recklinghausen was able to use autopsies of At that point, or if the party makes any hostile moves, he orders his
Gidim to figure out how to stabilize the hivemind effect. He ambush squad to attack. If the fight breaks out early, he’ll continue
nonchalantly says it’s much more complicated and techno- talking. The body he’s in is only a temporary vessel, not prepared
logical than just that, but he’ll only reveal more to those who to carry his full power, and so he’s incapable of contributing in a
are members of the conspiracy. battle.

Contingent Ambush
Action. Tactical.
The mastermind was prepared for the party’s unlikely return.
There aren’t many combats in this adventure, so GMs are en-
couraged to ramp this one to as over-the-top a scene as possible.
In a frozen forest, between an immobile (but still armed) airship,
a train filled with clear-cutting machinery, and an ancient ruined
ziggurat, the party must defend against a master of teleportation, a
woman with the most powerful small arms anyone has ever invent-
ed, soul-fueled mechanical warriors, mages who control shadows,
and a gnoll death priest. Also, the man currently serving as vessel
for Nicodemus carries a black crystal that when shattered (either
intentionally, or if he is killed) releases the screaming malice — a
gargantuan many-headed monstrosity the party drove off in Zeit-
geist #4: Always on Time.
People should be knocked across the battlefield and shatter
whole trees. An entire unit of constructs should explode at a single
strike from a PC’s weapon. The malice should pluck adventurers
and thrash them about in the forest canopy. A member of the party
ought to suplex the train on top of Pardo. And after one or two
rounds of battle, a howl in the distance heralds the arrival of the
Ash Wolf, a fey titan who at the least wants to drive out interlopers,
and who might be willing to help the party.
Statistics are presented in Appendix: Combat Catalogue.
Alert Strike Force

• Lauryn Cyneburg allies between her and the PCs. Typically she’ll use a quickened
• Kaja Stewart hold person or scorching ray each turn, or she will cast a quickened
• Pardo invisibility spell to get out of trouble.
• 4 Obscurati construct squads Kaja tries to stay in the middle of the battle so she can keep the
• 2 Obscurati elite occultists PCs in the normal range of her firearms. Over the course of three
turns she’ll summon an Arcane Cannon, then use Artillery Bar-
Potential Ally rage, then summon her double-barreled shotgun. She only relies
• The Ash Wolf on her revolvers for opportunity attacks, or if she survives more
than three rounds.
Noncombatants Pardo uses destruction on a spellcaster, then follows up with fire
• Pemberton storm. He’ll try to keep enemies out of melee range, though those
• Nicodemus who get to him have to deal with his Wrecker trait to destroy weap-
ons that strike him.
Terrain and Tactics. The construct squads are mere cannon fodder, and they try to
The forest near the once-burning ziggurat has a mix of massive surround a single foe, making them gloriously vulnerable to area
trees and undergrowth dotted with smaller trees. The ziggurat lies attacks. The elite occultists try to keep out of melee, either using
to the north, with the party’s ship to the southwest and the rail line their attack spells or trying to dispel the party’s annoying buffs.
and derailed train on the southeast (there is no crashed ship on End of Round One. Pemberton doesn’t fight, but halfway
the map because what sort of ship the party has is undetermined.) through the first round he apologizes and says he’ll be right back.
Lauryn, Kaja, and Pardo are bonded to a hivemind that uses Then his duplicant falls to the ground, shifting into an inert metal-
psychic attacks throughout the battle, which should alert the PCs lic form. Pemberton has gone back to his island fortress, where he
that their foes aren’t acting wholly of their own free will. can deal with Pardo while the gnoll is unaware of what’s happen-
When the battle begins a droll Lauryn remarks, “They’re used to ing to his body.
fighting fey titans. Perhaps our overwhelming shortness will confuse Finally, at the end of the first round of combat Nicodemus draws
them. Cannon fodder, lead the way.” She opens combat by using and smashes the black crystal holding the screaming malice. Or
maze against the most dangerous PC. In the next round, she uses the crystal shatters when the party attacks Nic; his body crumples
an action to activate a hallow effect that emanates from atop the easily, but his spirit lingers long enough for the dead body to have
ziggurat in order to cancel teleportation within 60 feet of the zig- some parting words (see Aftermath.)
gurat. Thereafter she uses her other spells at range while keeping Later Rounds. Starting in the second round, the malice

ponderously wades into battle, serving more as a mobile obstacle The Lost Eye.
that is best dealt with by keeping away from it. At the end of the Keep track of who among the party has the lost eye of the Voice of
second round Pardo screams and begins taking 50 damage each Rot, which grants control over spirits of the dead. In the context of
round as Pemberton claws at his real body hundreds of miles away. this adventure, whichever PC carries the withered and calcified eye
At the start of the third round, the party hears the howl of the is immune to the Gestalt Strike powers of hivemind-enhanced foes,
Ash Wolf; they see his approach on the fourth round, and on the as well as any attacks from the ghost council itself at Axis Island.
fifth round the fey titan leaps upon a foe, either to drive the malice Additionally, the character gains advantage on any checks made to
back or save an imperiled PC. break people out of control of the hiveminds. Finally, the bearer will
Of course because the party is at maximum level this might end intuitively understand how Nicodemus can be defeated or destroyed.
up being a breeze for them. If so, consider this encounter a test run
to help you figure out what sorts of tricks and defenses Nicodemus parting words. As he speaks, darkness seeps into his features, until
needs to make the climax more of a challenge. finally he is nothing but a shadow and an echoing voice.
Aftermath. “It’s not worth throwing more resources against you in open battle.
Ideally the adventurers should figure out how to free people from You’re a terror to behold, true, but you will fail because you lack lever-
the Obscurati hivemind control, or at least take people alive so they age. I do not. If you can set your pride aside for one day, I will have this
can experiment on finding a solution. In the heat of battle, it’s fair fixed and we can stop this worthless violence. But continue to move
to let clichéd efforts like shouting, “This isn’t you!” actually have against me and I promise you, every city on this world will burn. In a
a chance (DC 32 Charisma [Persuasion] check) of delaying a foe, thousand years, no one will remember their names even if millions die.
but this only works the first time it’s attempted. They will only know that I secured a perfect world. My conscience can
The body Nicodemus has possessed remains under his control abide a scorched earth. Can yours?”
even in death, giving the mastermind an opportunity to witness
the party’s prowess. He notes their powers and vulnerabilities, but At this point, return to Zeitgeist #12: The Grinding Gears of
at the sight of a fey titan, he huffs a laugh and begins to say his Heaven.

Act One: World of Ruin
T
he Obscurati are ravaging the world in order Hivemind Controlled Heroes?
For simplicity’s sake, we assume that the PCs are powerful enough
to stamp out dissent against their supposed high- and canny enough about the hiveminds that they aren’t in any danger
of being sucked into one, unless they’re captured and the villains
minded ideals, but the party can incite a revolution have time to brainwash them. Indeed, NPCs such as Delft were able
to hold out against the hiveminds, and so they had to be targeted
against their rule. individually, even after whole cities had already been turned.
he’s wary to go with the party and aid them elsewhere. Times are
Clarity of Will dire, though, and if the party makes a good argument, he could be
In Zeitgeist #12: The Grinding Gears of Heaven, before reaching convinced.
the plane Reida, the PCs should each choose someone they are
linked to back in the real world. Whoever they pick will snap free Planning with Pemberton.
of the Ob’s control, starting now. Pemberton explains that he has dealt with Pardo, and is inches
Those connections give them some early allies they can leverage away from killing the gnoll, but if the party knows a way to break
to start freeing others from the Ob’s control. It might even make someone out of the Obscurati’s control, he would rather appreciate
some combat encounters unnecessary. Do note, though, that even his minion coming back to his senses. Solving that issue will be
if someone chooses to have a connection to a person, he or she important, because perhaps all the party’s former allies are now
might still be willingly cooperating with the Ob, even without the enemies, and they won’t have much chance if they can’t get them
need of mind control. back. It’s time to make a plan.
No Rest for the Weary. The Big Goal.

If the party does anything that seems particularly restful, they’re If the party wants to perform the Axis Seal ritual, they could just
distracted by a nagging sense of falling into an abyss. If they try go to Axis Island, but there are two obstacles.
to sleep, or to replenish any daily abilities, visions assail them of First, Nicodemus threates a scorched earth policy; good heroes
standing at the edge of a world, staring down into the maw of the ought to find a way to stop that before they strike the island.
Gyre. Until the end of Act Two, the party finds it impossible to Second, as Pemberton showed them in Zeitgeist #10: Godmind,
benefit from any long-term rest or otherwise replenish spells or the ritual site is flooded with destructive energy. The colossus was
daily abilities. They can still take time to heal between encounters, built to resist it, and even that machine needed mages chanting
but even that fills them with a sense that if they are too slow, they spells to keep it secure. Once the mages were killed by agents of
might fall into a chasm they can never escape. the Voice of Rot, the colossus was torn apart.
Leave it to the party to speculate how Nicodemus is going to
perform the ritual this time, but if the PCs want to avoid being
Raise a Banner disintegrated while they alter the seal, they could use powerful
magical protection. The most likely solution is performing the
Exposition. Real-Time. Sacrament of Apotheosis so they have godlike invulnerabilities. In
The party plans how to save the world. Zeitgeist #8: Diaspora, Pemberton likely witnessed at least part
Nicodemus’s threat lingers. Move against him, and he’ll make of the memory event where Ashima-Shimtu revealed the nature of
every city in the world burn. But more urgent was the timeline, the ritual, and if the PCs don’t think of it, he’ll suggest they keep
because he asked for them to “set their pride aside for one day.” it in mind.
Whatever Nicodemus is planning, the window to stop it is limited. Moreover, since the power of the Sacrament of Apotheosis de-
A few moments after the fight outside the abandoned ziggurat pends on the strength of belief of those who support the target or
ends, Pemberton’s duplicant body becomes active again. If it was targets, saving people around the world from Nicodemus’s mal-
destroyed, he casts sending to speak to the party a few minutes later, ice is a fine way to rally followers who can lend their faith. The
giving them directions to a safe house halfway to Flint, where he’s ritual has great risk, however, and it is not absolutely necessary for
stashed another duplicant. He’s reluctantly willing to give them success. Let the PCs decide whether they think it is worth it. See
directions to his island hideout too, but that’s an 800-mile flight, Player’s Handout: Final Sacrament for details of how that ritual
and there’s no time to detour to visit him. functions.
In the meanwhile, any survivors of the battle denounce the party
unless they were freed from the hivemind. The Ash Wolf explains Free Your Mind.
that his powers have waned since the Dreaming was torn away. Getting followers for the Sacrament of Apotheosis means freeing
His wounds heal slowly now, resisting even magical recovery, so people from the control of Obscurati hiveminds. Fortunately, the

party has at least one test subject (Pardo) to experiment on, and enough food.
possibly others (Lauryn and Kaja). Let the PCs tinker for a bit, In Ber, it seems the more savage races like goblins and Pember-
and if they come up with something clever, let it work even if it’s ton’s beloved gnolls have proven resistant to hiveminds that are
not what we suggest. based on the idea of civilization, so the Beran military has been
Our suggestion is that to break an individual out of a hivemind, rounding up “primitives” in camps. He doesn’t know what hap-
one needs to deal radiant damage to them, which weakens the hold pens to them after that.
of whichever member of the Ob ghost council is keeping the hive- Pemberton had few spies in Crisillyir, but the Clergy was ef-
mind under control, and then to exhort them and guide them out fectively out of power. There was a rumor that Nicodemus was
of the mind control with a DC 30 Charisma (Persuasion) check. looking for a female who was held in a Clergy prison, not to punish
To play up the challenge, freeing the person requires someone to her but to recruit her.
figure out how their mind has been misled and then help them find Danor was already loyal to the Ob, but they were releasing some
the core of their identity to resist the control. The first attempt ludicrous propaganda trying to convince people that everything
typically just takes moments to snap someone free, but if that fails was going according to plan. Pemberton wonders if maybe there
subsequent attempts require several minutes of interaction to dis- was some secret core of resistance causing them trouble.
entangle the psychic bonds. The state of Drakr depends on how the party handled Zeitgeist
Yes, in the midst of a technological and political revolution on #12: The Grinding Gears of Heaven. If Komanov won, Drakr is an
par with the latter half of the 19th century, the PCs might acciden- empty land, where Ob loyalists are retaking territory and trying to
tally invent Freudian psychoanalysis. rekindle the fire of industry. If the party defeated Komanov, the na-
To break a whole mass of people out of a hivemind, though, tion is producing gargantuan anti-aircraft cannons to be delivered
there are two options. First, that whole crowd of people could be and installed at Axis Island.
given something they cannot ignore. Once they’re paying attention Elfaivar is the one place for which Pemberton has absolutely no
to something new, an attempt can be made to free them all at once information.
by inspiring them to resist the compulsion with a DC 30 Charisma The day after the party left, the strange phenomenon that had
(Persuasion) check. The challenge, though, is that if only a portion been happening atop Cauldron Hill stopped. Now the mountain-
of the people in an area are freed, it’s just a matter of time before top is bare stone, but still no one goes there. Even the ghosts that
the hivemind reclaims them. To free, for instance, the city of Flint, were once drawn there and which could be seen in mirrors now
one would need to be noticed by nearly a million people and ad- seem listless, because they no longer have a way to reach the Bleak
dress them all. Gate and find their eternal rest.
Alternatively, the adventurers might find the ghosts in charge of
the hivemind and either control them or take their place. Typically Unknown Unknowns.
the ghosts will accompany whichever living person (or dragon) has What Pemberton doesn’t know is that Risur under the directives
been placed in charge of an area. With that person subdued, and if of Harkover Lee has begun bringing thousands of people from
they can control the ghosts with magic, they can command them to the countryside into the city in order to pacify and reeducate them
end the hivemind; or if they destroy the ghosts they’ll need to give before sending them back out to create hiveminds of their own.
the people who were in the hivemind a new directive, and convince The whole city of Flint has had its streets lined with gas lamps that
them of who’s in charge. function as wayfarer lanterns, which modulate the mood of all of
That is intentionally a bit vague. In game, it means that to free its million inhabitants, and eight large lantern towers enhance the
Flint the party will need to overcome Harkover/Inacht, and to lib- control over each district.
erate the other nations they’ll need to similarly defeat the leaders In Ber, the Bruse is personally overseeing mass executions of
whom the Obscurati placed in charge. “Defeat” need not require undesirable primitives. In Crisillyir, pious individuals are being
combat, but in Flint, at least, their foe is prepared for a battle. punished by having to disassemble by hand religious buildings of
the Clergy, and showing signs of faith get them punished with re-
Known Unknowns. education in Vendricce. Danor has convinced people to doubt their
Pemberton’s information is over a month out of date, but this is own loyalties, and to turn themselves in for voluntary execution
what he’s sure of. so they won’t threaten progress. Nothing particularly surprising
In Risur, fellow dragon Inacht the Hex-Eater, who for two cen- is happening in Drakr, but in Elfaivar the eladrin enclave run by
turies served as principal minster to the monarchy in the guise of Athrylla Valenar is besieged. The Ob’s forces could easily crush the
Harkover Lee, has been placed in charge of the nation, and the city, but Nicodemus desires a civilized, formal surrender as a sort
seat of power has moved to Flint. Slate, which has no industrial of gift to Kasvarina.
sector, was not useful to the Obscurati. Flint, by contrast, was set
to begin producing enchanted machinery. A lot of cargo ships from Thwarting Scorched Earth.
Flint have been going to Axis Island, laden with what Pemberton If the party is capable of teleporting between cities, they can prob-
assumes are parts to repair the colossus. ably liberate Flint, then go from city to city in less than an hour. If
Rural Risur seems to be more contentious, and Pemberton has the adventurers can defeat the head of each nation’s hivemind it
seen military units march onto farms in order to domineer people should stop them from enacting the scorched earth plan. However,
into a hivemind, since the new dark world is struggling to produce it takes just one person casting sending to alert the Obscurati, and

from there Nicodemus would order his allies around the continent As a show of good faith, Pemberton reminds the party that
to retaliate. Since the party doesn’t know how Nicodemus intends his original duplicant control designs forced the subject to loy-
to follow through on his threat, will they risk acting? ally obey his commands. He’s had a slight change of heart after
A suggested solution is detailed below, but PCs might come up seeing what the Obscurati has done with mass domination, and
with their own plan, like rescuing Andrei von Recklinghausen so all his new duplicants are not designed for mind control. He
from Sentosa and having him pose as Nicodemus (after all, Nic laments, though, that he won’t ever be able to mass produce them
used his body for a few months) to call off the scorched earth plans. and sell them to the public, because his supply of witchoil is finite.
With the Bleak Gate severed from this world, he’ll never be able
Operation Ettin. to make more.
Pemberton has what he calls a “two-headed solution.” He knows That’s another reason to go to Cauldron Hill in Flint first. Un-
the Obscurati had magic items that could intercept sending spells, less the party has a stash of witchoil, he’ll need to recover some of
but their area of coverage was limited. However, Flint’s own cursed the fluid from cracks and fissures in the mountain. His duplicants
mountain Cauldron Hill always had a strong sway over the city, around the world already have their own reservoirs of witchoil,
and with a bit of creative spellcasting one of those devices placed but he’ll need a few ounces of the stuff in order to let the party
atop the mountain could blanket the entire city. That would let the link to them.
party deal with their home city without the news reaching the Ob,
at least not right away.
Other cities don’t have handy sites to focus a powerful ritual, so Glimpse the Age of Reason
while the PCs might be able to take their time to do Flint right,
the other cities will need to be done simultaneously. Pemberton Exploration. Montage.
has a handful of duplicants stashed around the world, and he could The utopian veneer of the new world order hides callous oppression.
get into each major city. He can jury-rig the magic necessary to let Before diving into grand acts of world-saving, the PCs might
the PCs control duplicants, and after the party combines forces to stop over somewhere more low key. This could be a farming village
defeat Harkover Lee and free Flint, each PC can take control of a to make plans with Pemberton, or a town outside of Flint to check
duplicant in a different city. Acting via telepresence, they’ll be able on the safety of a family member, or possibly just a train stopped
to strike four or more cities simultaneously. Divination magic or to clear the tracks of snow that they spot while flying overhead in
interrogating Harkover would help them know which cities they their airship.
need to worry about. At first glance, everything should seem serene and positive. Ev-
The Ob has only prepared their scorched earth countermeasures eryone has their heads held high. No one squabbles. All affairs
in five cities — Flint, Alais Primos, Cherage, Seobriga, and Trek- proceed in an orderly fashion. Farmers erect arcanoscientific gas
hom. If the party have more PCs, they can double up, or the party lamps to shed dull red light over their crops to keep them warm,
might use their own magic to try to help the enclave Sentosa in and then with the aid of soldiers begin to operate a steam-powered
Elfaivar. If Trekhom was conquered by Grandis Komanov in Zeit- autoplow to till the field. Streets are swept and faintly-lit by brown
geist #11: Gorged on Ruins, there aren’t enough people there to gas lamps, all the houses and buildings are in good order, and
warrant the Ob destroying the place, so GMs can shift its scene to police take the time to visit every house and ask if anyone needs
take place in Slate or Nalaam, whichever the PCs care about more. assistance. In addition to the freight cars, passenger cars look to
Pemberton’s real body is still in the Yerasol Archipelago for all have been recently assembled in order to manage the increase in
of this, since he’s busy readying for another attack on Axis Island. travel demand, and seats are comfortable and clean, with each car
Once the party finishes saving the other national capitals, they’ll lit up with the dim blue glow of gas lamps.
need to return to their real bodies in Flint, then take their airship But no one speaks, except when necessary to coordinate action.
to Axis Island (if the ship gets destroyed, they can just teleport Food is unseasoned. No one seems to be daydreaming, or preoc-
to Pemberton’s island lair — see the sidebar Dragon-Riding? on cupied, or bored. Everyone functions like a cog in a machine. If
page 35.) pressed, they’re not lacking in free will or personality, but they
simply aren’t inclined to express themselves or do anything self-
Duplicant Technology. ish. They’re quick to agree to help if anyone needs aid, but since
For a character to control a duplicant, he or she must lie down and everyone is generally content, no one has a reason to ask. There is
wear a steel skullcap etched with draconic iconography, to which peace, but in the same way a well-tended garden is peaceful. Left
is attached a blindfold and muffling ear covers. A flat stone shard to its own devices, nothing will change.
marked with a series of seventeen numbers in draconic is placed on
the person’s chest, and then a drop of witchoil must be poured into Disobedience Will Not Be Tolerated.
a divot in the stone. That draws a fragment of the subject’s soul In whatever scenario the party finds themselves observing these
into a specific duplicant, which has a witchoil reservoir marked behaviors, some sort of outsider will disturb this serenity. A gnome
with the same seventeen numbers. Pemberton has memorized the mage named Weebit Vallshadow was hiding — lurking in the fields,
codes for all his duplicants, and can easily adjust which duplicant creeping through the sewers, stowing away on the train — but he’s
a given skullcap and chest stone link to (for maximum steampunk- out in the open when his invisibility spell ends. He panics for a
ery, instead of a skullcap these can be top hats.) moment and glances at the people around him.

“He’s wrong,” says a bystander. “We must help the little bastard.” A “Gandalf the White” Moment.
Weebit tries to cast a spell, but as one everyone nearby converges If the party interrupts this, no one can possibly pose a threat to
on him, and they grab and hoist him off the ground. Weebit cries out, them. By revealing who they are in a dramatic way, they have a
“Let me go! I’m not causing any trouble!” chance to snap the people here out of their control. But unless
Another local person says, “You shouldn’t hide. That’s so old-fash- the freed group is kept a fair distance from others who are in a
ioned. Cooperation is the new thing.” hivemind, it won’t be long before they start to be drawn back in.
Weebit keeps yelling, and so someone muffles his mouth. He bites People are excited that the party has returned, and everyone
the person, who frowns but ignores the pain. mentions how empty they’ve felt these past few months. They only
Someone else says, “He must be sick of loneliness. The rumors know snatches of information about what really happened to the
spooked him. Here, wee one. Let us help. We shall subsume your world, but they’ve heard of the PCs and trust that they can fix this.
fear so your mind will no longer be capable of dissent. It’s much more They want to know how they can help, and quite in contrast to their
cooperative.” “cooperative” demeanor moments earlier, now they’re angry.
If no one helps him, Weebit at this point begins to calm and re-
lax. His vision drifts into the middle distance, and then he slowly March on the Capital
nods. “I understand now. Thank you. Let me go find where I can
be useful.” Exposition. Montage.
The crowd puts him down and claps briefly, and one person stays The party takes back control of Flint.
nearby talking to Weebit about how his magic might make him Flint has changed since the party left. The Obscurati-generated
a security risk, so he should travel — in a group of course, so he’s hiveminds subdued the populace, and eventually Harkover Lee
safe — to the re-education schools at Dawn Square in Flint. submitted to them as well. With the former dragon in charge, Flint
has undergone rapid construction.

An unsightly truss bridge is halfway-constructed, extending from

North Shore with the intent of linking the islands together with
a rail line.
The Ayres Lantern Tower rises from a magically extruded rock
island in the central lagoon of the islands.
Bosum Strand.
The docks are busy as ever, and Stanfield Canal is being widened.
Freight rail threads through the district, with a major hub just
beside Dawn Square. The square is the site of the Bosum Strand
Gale Soliogn Stover Delft Lantern Tower, and the buildings around the field have been con-
verted into lodging for the city’s reeducation camps. Tall brick
fences capped with barbed wire surround the whole area, and a
riflery detachment keeps watch from atop the lighthouse tower.
The subrail lines connecting Central District and North Shore
have just been bored out, and track has been laid, but lighting has
not been installed, leaving miles of black tunnels under this district.
Central.
The royal docks have been expanded into a towering airship con-
struction yard. The frame of a dirigible is complete and partially
coated with the pressure vessel. Tanks containing hydrogen are
Thames Grimsley Harkover Lee dangerously huge and unguarded (if the GM suspects the party
will get their ship blown up in the fight with Harkover Lee, it’s
The most obvious thing visible from afar is that each of the city’s fine to change the nature of the airship being built here so the
eight “civilized” districts has a 60-foot high tower capped with adventurers can have a fresh vessel for their final fight against Ni-
a massive version of the wayfarer’s lantern, shedding unhealthy codemus and the colossus.)
brown light to dull the populace’s emotions. These distributed lan- The former RHC headquarters has been renovated, and the Cen-
terns, as well as myriad street lamps around the city, are fed by tral Lantern Tower rises from it. Director of the Secret Police
gas lines which originate from the governor’s mansion, where a Stover Delft still operates from the building.
small refinery of spire-like exhaust towers burn off remnants of
the refining process in spurts of fire. While the lanterns help keep Cloudwood.
people orderly, simply turning them off (such as by blowing up the The forest is being clear-cut for farms, which are lit by gaslight
refinery, destroying the lantern towers, or even just closing valves lanterns. The Bridal Veil waterfall (where the party first met Gale)
in underground gas lines to stop the flow) isn’t enough to end the was detonated, because dissidents in this district had found a way
Ob’s control, since people are also held in a hivemind. to use it to cast “veils” that would shield them from hiveminds.
Other changes are spread throughout the city. Wherever the Ob Now an ugly tumble of boulders forms rapids, rather than the se-
have changed things, instead of Flint’s eclectic style of architecture rene and beautiful falls.
inspired by a cosmopolitan mix of neo-classical and druidic designs, A scar of a rail line cuts its way from Central to the Cloudwood
the new buildings are drab and functional, like something out of Lantern Tower, where lumber is loaded for construction purposes.
the most dystopian visions of Soviet Russia. Minister of Nature Hana Soliogn, formerly known as Gale, oper-
Anyone capable of seeing invisible things notices thousands ates from here, and every day she casts a spell to call thick clouds
of shimmering strands stretching from the ground to above the over the entire city. This is done for morale, so people won’t need
rooftops, where warty yet somehow subdued shapes float, weaving to see the frightening Gyre looming overhead, and because the
together everyone’s consciousness into a shared hivemind. clouds reflect the brown lantern light to ever so slightly brighten
the gloom.
The Ayres.
Industrial fishing has overtaken what were once luxury homes on North Shore.
these islands. Every piece of land that could sport a pier now hosts While the beautiful beaches are open to the public, no one feels any
a fishing trawler. Where once these isles were refuge from the in- need for recreation, so they are empty. The North Shore Lantern
dustrial stench wafting out of Parity Lake, now the odor of tons of Tower rises like a beacon from atop the lower of the two “ears” of
fish and whales drift on the sea breeze. the Great Horned Mountain at the northwest tip of the district.
The wealthy who lived here have been reeducated, and those with The higher of the two peaks has been cored and flattened at its top
valuable management skills were brought to Central District to so immense turrets can aim skyward and at the harbor.
handle bureaucracy. Others were encouraged to serve as hosts for
the fishermen, who reside in crowded mansions-turned-tenements.

Parity Lake. and preparing them to act at the right moment. Those allies warn
The factories here are going faster than ever. One of the few actual that Harkover is strongly compelled and it would be necessary to
improvements in living conditions in Flint is that workers have weaken his control over the city before he could be freed.
been moved from tenements to slightly safer housing, and are able Thames Grimsley would organize a theatrical performance on
to take subrail to work. The Parity Lake Lantern Tower rises from the docks of Bosum Strand to try to rally people stuck in the reedu-
the center of the (somewhat toxic, marginally flammable) lake. cation center to resist, and right as the defense forces are closing in
The factories along Alchemy Row (such as where Sechim’s Al- to apprehend him, the party activates the ritual to block sendings,
kahest and Etchings operated) now all serve as a single immense then descends in their airship from the cloud cover over the city.
munitions plant. Here, at least, the firegems and firedust are ward- They take out the anti-air defenses on the Great Horned Mountain,
ed to prevent runaway explosion. destroy the lantern tower in Bosum Strand, then land and reveal
themselves in Dawn Square.
Pine Island. Before they can make any big speeches, they notice that the un-
This district is viewed as less economically useful, so most of its pleasant brown glow from the city’s street lamps is turning red,
residents are “asked” to join the military. Barracks and training spreading out block by block from a nexus at the governor’s island.
fields dot the area. The Pine Island Lantern Tower sits near the Then Harkover Lee teleports in, still in human form, greets the
northern tip of the district. Because of the length of the district, party, and tells them he has been ordered by Nicodemus to raze
people in the south-central part of Pine Island are less affected, the city if they oppose the Obscurati. The battle begins just before
and so a few desperate former dockers like Thames Grimsley hide noon, only a few hours after the party woke up near the ziggurat.
there, hoping to avoid discovery. They resist being drawn into hive-
minds by reminding each other daily of the wonderful individuality Incidentals.
they were able to express before the Obscurati came to power. They If they succeeded, the party can call upon a whole city. Don’t make
accepted a harsh life as long as they could speak their minds, so the them expend any resources to heal, and if they want any mundane
Ob’s promise of security held little sway over them. gear they will not be denied.
Stray River.
This middle class district has been little changed, though a new rail You and Your Friends
station is under construction meant to service rail lines that will
eventually stretch westward across all of Risur. The Stray River Action. Tactical/Real-Time.
Lantern Tower sits on the east bank. The dragon Inacht the Hex-Eater, once Harkover Lee the loyal ad-
visor to the kings of Risur, battles the party across the length and
The Nettles. breadth of Flint.
Mostly abandoned over a year ago, the slum buildings still stand, Whenever the party reveals themselves or makes their move in
serving as an excellent hiding place for those who want to avoid Flint, Harkover first has the city-wide gas lines flooded with energy
the hiveminds. from Jiese, and then he confronts the party. If the party ambushes
The Ob have not built anything new here, not even a lantern him, his aides know to set off the scorched earth operation. If the
tower, because they’re unsure how stable Cauldron Hill is. The PCs are canny they might target the refinery on the island of the
Bleak Gate facility tore its way into the real world when the governor’s mansion, and if they’re stealthy enough they might be
colossus Borne escaped, and then the Gyre began to strip away able to destroy it and head off this whole scene.
everything but the bare stone of the peak. Though now the Bleak However, Harkover resides at the island and between his own
Gate is apparently inaccessible, the mountain still possesses great magic and the ghost council that controls him, it’s likely he’d notice
and mysterious power. the party’s approach. If the PCs have a fool-proof plan — one that
If the party wants to prevent communication in and out of the can get past spectral hounds that can sniff invisible creatures, wide-
city, they’ll want to sneak atop Cauldron Hill and perform a dis- spread wards that illuminate anyone disguised or polymorphed (so
creet ritual (the details of which are inconsequential for PCs of Harkover always glows), bound nature spirits that warn of anyone
their level). magically traveling through the earth or water, and teleportation
beacons that redirect intruders to the Pine Island barracks — let
Freeing Flint. them Mission: Impossible this. But we think the following scene is
A lot will depend on how the party pursues this goal. Whatever exciting, so we hope it gets to happen.
they decide, go with it, but it should inevitably lead to a battle with
Harkover Lee in dragon form. Treacherous Vizier.
If we were to script this, a train load of people the PCs freed Harkover can Jaunt once per day to teleport and get within range
from the Ob hivemind would reach Flint, and word would spread to speak to the party. He arrives in human form, flying with the
that the heroes of Risur have returned. The PCs discreetly enter aid of the ghost council, and his voice is magically magnified so
the city in disguise and set up necessary ritual components and hundreds or thousands of onlookers go silent as he calls to the
duplicant tech atop Cauldron Hill. Then they contact Gale, Stover PC who he previously served. His voice is lively, his Beran accent
Delft, and possibly other allies, freeing them from the hivemind tinged with restrained mockery.

At any hostile action or attempt to stop the fire, Harkover adopts

his draconic form as Inacht the Hex-Eater and tries to ensure the
party cannot save the city.
Stopping the Explosion.

The party can thwart this five main ways: shut off the fuel lines,
disable the refinery, destroy the towers, recalibrate the lanterns, or
force Harkover to call it off.
Cut off the Fuel. The party could head underground into the
subrail tunnels to turn valves and shut off the flow of gas to each
of the eight districts. Harkover would pursue as best he can, and
the tunnels are big enough for a huge creature to run but not fly.
To find a place where the pipe flow can be controlled, a character
can try to recall or infer the layout of the city’s gas pipes. Roll a
secret DC 28 Wisdom (Perception) or DC 22 Intelligence check,
and then give the PC a location within 500 feet, which probably
takes about a minute to travel to. If the check failed only slightly,
the actual control valve might be close to where the PC thought it
was (requiring a round or two of searching to locate it), but if the
check fails by 5 or more, the character has to guess again and try
somewhere else another 500 feet away or so.
Instead of finding a safe control valve, a PC might intentionally
damage the pipes anywhere in the underground tunnel. Dealing
at least 30 damage causes gas to fill the area. Three rounds later
a small explosion goes off in a 50-foot-radius burst, dealing 15d6
fire damage (DC 20 Dexterity saving throw for half damage).
Following the initial explosion, the area is littered with irregular
structures composed of threadlike firegems as the fire solidifies.
If the character does find a valve safely, it takes a DC 22 Dexter-
ity (thieves’ tools) or Intelligence (Arcana) check (automatic for
a technologist) to operate the mechanism. A failed check means
the pressure builds up, and then the pipe cracks. As above, gas fills
the tunnel and explodes in three rounds. The explosion happens
instantly if the check is failed by 5 or more.
A character can keep trying to stop the flow of a gas leak, making
“Greetings, my former monarch and honored heroes of Risur. I ask that another DC 22 Dexterity (thieves’ tools) or Intelligence (Arcana)
you surrender. For the past three years that I have watched your rise, check. If this check is failed, an explosion goes off immediately and
you have been nothing if not loyal to your nation, and now if you wish the fire runs down the length of the pipeline. A mile-long stretch of
to save your citizens, you will do the bravest thing and let yourselves the city bursts into flame as the pipeline explodes underground and
be defeated. street lamps ignite on the surface. While a PC might survive this,
“Your nation coerced me into becoming a docile pet, and when Ni- and it does stop the larger explosion Harkover intends to wipe out
codemus freed me he promised he would do the same to the people an entire district, thousands still die.
of Risur. Now they are my pets. If you persist in your arrogant belief Disable the Refinery. The governor’s mansion and its refinery is
that you have the right to direct the fate of these people, then your last guarded by 10 Obscurati construct squads (see Appendix: Combat
directive shall be for them to perish in fire.” Catalogue). Reuse the map in Zeitgeist #9: The Last Starry Sky,
He cups his gold wizard’s orb in one hand, then gestures with his or if the party tries to get into the underground pipeline the con-
other hand at the glow of red lantern light, slowly spreading through struct squads can pour into the service tunnels. A gunfight with
the city from the direction of Central District. unintelligent rifle-wielding constructs in close proximity to explo-
“Moments ago I gave the order for the city’s gas lines to be flooded sive gas is a terrible idea (or wonderful, if the GM is Michael Bay).
with energy from Jiese—pure elemental fire. In a matter of minutes it Should the party enter the refinery to disable the flow there, they
will reach high enough concentrations that it will explode, obliterating need to shut each valve off separately (same mechanics as above),
this city and all its people. Even if with your royal prowess you do man- and it’s obvious that if any of the pipelines explode, fire will spread
age to avert this, we have alerted Nicodemus, and the capital cities of through the entire city. Again, this only wipes out parts of the city
the other four great nations are each lighting their own funeral pyres. above the subrail lines, but it is still devastating. As for the refin-
You cannot save them all. ery itself, if it blows up, repeat the attack above for 3 consecutive
“Cast down your crown. Forsake the throne. Or this great city will die.” rounds, encouraging PCs to get the hell out of there.


Destroy the Towers. The PCs can destroy all the lantern tow- Defending the Kingdom.
ers, but they’re scattered across the city, and even in their airship A PC who is monarch of Risur is empowered in this battle by the rites
it takes 5 minutes for them to fly from one district to another. If of rulership, as described in Zeitgeist #9: The Last Starry Sky. Be-
the party splits up and everyone uses their ability to Jaunt, plus cause of this, Harkover prefers not to target the monarch until there
other teleportation magic, they might be able to get to them all are no other foes left.
in time. They also could have allies if they have freed people from • A bonus to attack rolls and saving throws equal to proficiency
Ob control. bonus.
See the Lantern Tower map for details, though the layouts of the • A bonus to AC and Strength-, Dexterity-, and Constitution-
towers vary. Each has an Obscurati construct squad on the ground based checks equal to half proficiency bonus.
floor, and two city defense squads stationed outside. Inside, tanks • Regeneration equal to double proficiency bonus. This is in
hold a small quantity of gases infused with eight different planar addition to the regeneration from Monarch of the Masses (see
energy types, and a main line receives gas from the refinery at the below).
governor’s mansion. That runs up through the second floor (which • For the purpose of abilities that depend on size, the monarch
typically has a mechanism controlling four clocks on the tower’s can choose to be considered the same size as his or her op-
four faces), and up to the top of the tower where the lantern burns. ponent (Zidi the Halfling Queen once put Granny Allswell into
A good volley of ship’s weaponry takes out a tower in a round, a headlock.)
triggering an explosion, the same as the other explosions described If the Ob had been smart they would have followed the rites and had
above. A pressure valve shuts off flow if the lantern itself is de- mind-controlled nobles revoke the monarch’s power and name a new
stroyed, preventing the tower from constantly burning if the party ruler, but Nicodemus thought the party was dead and didn’t want to
decides to blow the place up. perpetuate the monarchy.
If a PC gets inside a tower and reaches its controls at the top
floor, clever sabotage (DC 24 Dexterity [thieves’ tools] or Intel- Central District and the Cloudwood. Jaunting lets them move else-
ligence [Arcana] check, automatic for a technologist) can vent where if the party tries to avert the explosion without going to
the gas into the air, where it burns off safely in a constant stream. those towers.
Failing means the tower will explode in three rounds, as above. Finally, an Obscurati construct squad and two city defense
Failing by 5 or more causes an immediate explosion. And of course squads guard each lantern tower. If the party moves through the
intentionally breaking the pipes can blow up the towers easily, if a city at ground level, feel free to throw one or two city defense
character’s confident they’ll survive the explosion. squads at the party every few minutes. We know these squads are
Recalibrate the Lanterns. The refinery on the governor’s island barely speed-bumps for 20th-level PCs, but it gives the GM an ex-
can produce energy keyed to any of the different planes the Obscu- cuse to describe the landscape of the city and clarify the party’s
rati used in their Axis Seal ritual. Normally it emits a hazy brown progress through the city streets.
light with energy from Ratios, to encourage reason and restraint.
Harkover has switched it to Jiese’s fire energy and has increased You and Your Friends
the flow rate. • Harkover Lee, Dragon Tyrant
If they reach the refinery, instead of just shutting off the lanterns, • Stover Delft of the Secret Police
they could switch to a different energy with a DC 28 Intelligence • Hana Soliogn, Obscurati loyalist
(Arcana) check. Fourmyle’s “empowerment” trait would help • Numerous Obscurati construct squads
people break free of the Ob’s control amidst a green glow. Ostea’s • Countless city defense squads
purple glow would suffuse everyone with healing energy. Baden’s
pale white light would let everyone fly. Once the refinery is recali- Tactics.
brated, the effect spreads about a mile per minute through the city. This fight should last several minutes and span as much of Flint as
Each attempt takes a minute. possible. Don’t closely track time, as long as the party is keeping
Harkover Calls it Off. If defeated and freed from control of the active; the detonation might happen in as few as 5 or as many
Obscurati, Harkover Lee can order the workers at the governor’s as 30 minutes — so long as the party feels the pressure is on. But
island refinery to shut off the pipeline. it’s impossible to predict whether the PCs will split up and head
for different lantern towers, or if they’ll board their airship and
Battle on the Wing. charge the dragon, or lure him within range of the North Shore
Harkover’s draconic form as Inacht the Hex-Eater (see Appendix: anti-air cannons, or rush the refinery on governor’s island forcing
Combat Catalogue) is designed to give him mobility and range Harkover to engage them.
so he can engage the party on the wing as they rush through the Let this combat stretch out, and don’t have Harkover close the
city trying to stop the coming explosion. We encourage GMs that distance unless he can attack an isolated PC. If the party tries to
each round before deciding what he does to ponder several rounds take him out directly, he withdraws and circles, running down the
ahead. This is a brilliant, intelligent foe, not a mere clawed mon- clock. He stays between 150 and 200 feet away as much as possible,
ster, and time is on his side. and if the party has attacks that can reach him he swoops between
Additionally, unless the party freed Delft and Gale from their buildings at as low an altitude as he can manage so that they have
hiveminds, those two each defend one of the two lantern towers — in trouble targeting him.

Harkover casts delayed blast fireball from afar as many times as

he can to try to keep the party focused on him; if they move to try
to deal with the impending explosion, he tries to get ahead of them
in a wide arc. He’ll dive out of the PCs’ sight if possible (even if
the party’s flying above the rooftops, it’s hard to spot even a huge
flying foe at night when he’s keeping his distance), then try to at-
tack from a direction they don’t expect. They’ll almost certainly
hear him coming, but they should only have one round before he
flies past and either pops them with more fire spells or strafes them
with his breath weapon if the PCs are clustered.
He should eschew melee attacks unless cornered; even then, he
prefers to reposition enemies away so he can withdraw. If he’s ever
struck with multiple conditions that he cannot easily recover from,
he’ll dimension door away and look for a different tactic.
The greatest threat to him is probably the party’s own airship,
since it keeps him from using the city as cover, and it removes his
chief advantage of speed. But the airship isn’t fast enough to get to
all the lantern towers in time, so the party will have to split up. If
the PCs get on their ship and rush him, he reverts to human form,
teleports to the ground and ducks into a building, in which he’ll
wait for the PCs to give up looking for him.
After some initial long-range bombardment and possibly one
close engagement, have Harkover vanish for a bit. Give the party
time to deal with one or two of the pipelines or towers, and then
have the dragon return and target whoever’s most vulnerable, then
warily withdraw. Give the party time to come up with a plan to
deal with him, and come up with a way for Harkover to thwart
their first plan. Then, when they’re just past halfway to saving the
city, try to steer events so the party is all able to do something when
Harkover is forced to actually get in close. Aftermath.
When reduced to 0 hit points, Harkover crashes and shapeshifts
Flint Nostalgia. back to human form. Clinging to life solely through magic, he
The reason, of course, to extend the length of the battle is to curses Nicodemus for making him betray his nation. The ghost
give as many familiar faces and places an opportunity to have a councilors bound to him stagger away, and if the party stabilizes
cameo. If the party freed Delft before the fight, their old Chief Harkover they can free him from the hivemind. If they leave him to
Inspector might be able to disable the lantern tower at the RHC die, his last words are a warning that Nicodemus has ordered Alais
headquarters, saving the party time; and ditto Gale in the Cloud- Primos, Cherage, Seobriga, and Trekhom destroyed.
wood (without the hiveminds empowering them, neither is strong If saved, Harkover surrenders and warns that the other capital
enough to fight Harkover.) cities will be exploding soon too because he sent to Nicodemus.
Perhaps the party enters the subrail tunnels through the same He’s unaware of any countermeasures the party put into place. He
station where the eschatologists took hostages in Zeitgeist #5: can share the same information as above, plus the fact that the
Cauldron-Born. Soldiers under Obscurati control might start figures in charge are at the Cathedral of Triegenes in Alais Primos,
shooting at the party, only to themselves fall under attack by for- the Cherage rail enclave, Seobriga’s central square, and a parade
mer Kell Guild scoundrels. Maybe the building Harkover throws route that starts at Trekhom’s parliament building.
at them was part of the natural history museum, complete with By this point Pemberton has collected the witchoil he needs
murals of Ancients and their artifacts. While running down the from atop Cauldron Hill and is ready to let the party activate their
length of an old subrail tunnel, a PC might glimpse a blood- duplicants. First though the PCs may want to address the city,
streaked access hatch from which a man huddled in rags watches whose populace is looking for guidance. If needed Gale can use
them (even if the PCs remember this NPC, it turns out we did her magic to magnify their voices so all of Flint can hear them.
nothing with the rag man either). If they’ve defeated Harkover and saved the city, the power of the
If it looks like they’re out of time, and the party can’t reach the hivemind is weakened. All it takes now is giving the people of Flint
North Shore tower, a last-minute attack led by Julian LeBrix from some other purpose so they can resist the Ob’s attempts to reclaim
the old Danoran consulate can shut it off before it blows. them. Any good heroic speech should do the trick.
As the party speaks, the clouds over Cauldron Hill break, and
a gap that resembles the spread wings of a raven reveals the spar-
kling glow of the Gyre overhead.

Versus Me and the Duplicant Mechanics.

Revolution Pemberton has two duplicants in each of the cities in this scene, so
a PC might go solo or, if there are enough PCs, the party can put two
Action. Montage. constables per conflict. Perhaps if a PC’s first duplicant is destroyed,
In order to liberate the oppressed masses of other nations, avert a they can “respawn” and try again after healing.
scornful scorched earth, and incite a revolution, the party must strike The duplicants mimic all the character’s features unless otherwise
multiple international targets simultaneously, one for each of them. stated, even those of the character’s worn equipment. As for melee
The party should move on the other capital cities within minutes weapons, upon activating the duplicant the character will need to
of defeating Harkover Lee if they want to be certain the Obscurati find something of similar size and shape of whatever weapon he
aren’t able to burn them down. Even if the party blocked sending wants to wield, which will be transformed and empowered by the
spells from Flint to keep specific information from being delivered, magic of the soul link.
there are enough psychic gestalts active in the ranks of the Ob that Ranged weapons function somewhat similarly, but they need to
its officers don’t take long to realize that their powers have waned have at least somewhat similar form—one can’t pick up a simple iron
noticeably. Within half an hour they pinpoint that Flint has been bar and have it function as a gun, but any musket can work as a ves-
cut free from the Ob’s network of hiveminds. If the party procras- sel for the power of a PC’s +3 undead-bane rifle (which deals 2d6
tinates more than an hour, then the cities of Alais Primos, Cherage, extra damage to undead). Note that the duplicants in Trekhom were
Seobriga, and Trekhom will be laid to waste. intended for an assassination, and so they have rifles handy when
The PCs can of course use their own teleportation magic to they arrive.
reach the cities instead of using Pemberton’s duplicants, but the Because of the magical link to the pilot’s soul, damage to the du-
key factor to this scene is that all four cities must be saved at the plicant is also dealt to the pilot, and likewise healing affects both, so
same time. If the whole party spends 5 minutes in Cherage, warn- potentially one PC could stay behind to communicate with everyone
ing will be sent ahead to the other three cities, so it will be too late and heal them as they become injured. If the duplicant is reduced to
to save them. 0 hit points, it is destroyed, and the pilot awakens in his own body
with 1 hit point. The pilot can also choose to sever his connection as
Simultaneity. a standard action.
Few gamers can maintain rapt attention on their fellow players’ A duplicant has resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing
actions when their own character isn’t in the scene. If blessed damage while above half its maximum hit points. While below this
with such a group by all means run each of the scenes below threshold, they take a –2 penalty to AC and saving throws. The dupli-
independently. cant has darkvision 60 ft., blindsight 30 ft., and is immune to poison
If the group is less patient, or at least experimental and forgiv- and disease. They aren’t technically alive but effects transfer to the
ing, the GM can try running all four or five scenes in parallel. Have pilot’s body, so blood loss or psychic attacks that make a creature
each PC roll initiative, then play through a snippet of a scene with unable to breathe are still a threat.
the PCs in turn order, cycling through them and advancing the The character is generally unaware of what is happening to his or
plot bit by bit. The first cycle establishes where the PC awakens in her own body, which is considered helpless. Damage dealt to a real
their duplicant, the second gives them a chance to figure out where body manifests on the duplicant. The pilot can also distantly hear
the threat to the city is based, and in the third they make their way things around their real body.
to that spot and get into conflict of some sort. If anyone starts a If PCs decide they don’t have the right skills for a given mission
combat, put that PC on hold until all the PCs are in combat, or at and want to swap with someone else, the pilot can sever connection
least in some other time-sensitive challenge. as an action. It takes 2 rounds to swap the linking apparatus with an
Then run all the battles at the same time, resolving each PC ally (which pulls that ally out of their duplicant), and then another
and all of their foes for one turn, then the next PC and foes, and action for each creature to reestablish a link. From the point of view
so on. Clever parties will use some manner of magic to let them of people in distant cities, the PC’s features shift into the metal body
communicate with each other, or the GM can simply have Pem- of a duplicant, which slumps but remain standing. Don’t be too mean
berton’s tech grant the PCs the ability to talk to other duplicants and have the bystanders attack the briefly defenseless machine.
(or, depending on what technological advances they pursued in ad-
ventures seven through nine, they might have radios.) The GM can they didn’t save Harkover and learn where to go, each PC will
then justify table-talk, or perhaps even bizarre tactics like swap- have to figure out how the city is imperiled and make their way to
ping duplicants mid-fight. a place they can avert calamity.
Of the scenes below, the events in Cherage probably have the As always, if any of the NPCs referenced below are dead, the
strongest emotional impact, but if the GM figures one in particu- GM can introduce a new character to fill the same general role.
lar will resonate with the group, try to have that one resolve last. We’ve designed these encounters to be exceptionally dangerous,
because at this point in the campaign failure should have a major,
Distant Situations. lasting effect. If only one or two PCs succeed in saving the city they
Pemberton stashed his duplicants away in a number of hidey-holes go to, then the other cities fall. Because they’re in duplicants, it’s
he established in each town, so when the PCs take control of them possible to “kill” a PC and have him fail this mission, at which
they aren’t necessarily anywhere near where they need to be. If point he’ll awaken in his real body.

Disabling, destroying, or recalibrating the lantern towers in any Optional—The Siege of Enclave Sentosa.
of these cities functions the same as in Flint, though cities without Eladrin matriarch Athrylla Valenar’s enclave of Sentosa found
fire energy don’t have exploding towers. itself drawn fully into the real world when Av was shattered in
the Gyre, and now Cula Ravjahani, former aide-de-camp of Kas-
Alais Primos. varina, commands a siege around the city. The Ob have sufficient
The city doesn’t have a network of gas lines for handy detona- firepower to obliterate the small number of hold-outs, but Cula
tion, but the Ob have created four Lantern Towers, each with its has been ordered to take Athrylla prisoner. Defeating Cula will
own fuel supply, to pacify the city. Currently the head of state of weaken the hivemind’s control on its soldiers and earn the party
Crisillyir Arch Secula Natalia Degaspare is overseeing the system- powerful allies among the eladrin.
atic disenchanting and dismantling of the Cathedral of Triegenes,
which sits on the mouth of the volcano Enzyo Mons. Among the The Mission.
workers is Morgan Cippiano, who will recognize and warn of any In each location one PC needs to find out what specifically is threat-
PC who appears here. If alerted, either by Morgan or by guards ening the city and then avert that. Afterward the survivors are
ringing the bells in the lantern towers, Degaspare commands the easily swayed to help the party, so it would be useful to give them
towers to switch to fuel derived from the now-destroyed plane of orders to keep them working against the Obscurati. If the party
death, Av, which causes the souls of everyone in the city to leave intends to use the Sacrament of Apotheosis, they should make sure
their bodies, trapping them in a purgatory while their physical the people they save know who rescued them, and spread the word
bodies slowly perish. so that in a few hours when they are called upon to help, everyone
will know to answer. Once everyone is done they should return to
Cherage. their real bodies, leaving their duplicants inert, and then they’ll set
The demoness Ashima-Shimtu is moving among masses of Dan- out together for Axis Island.
oran citizens who are convinced their lives are too wretched to be The ritual requires people to have faith in a specific named ideal
worthwhile to the new world. They have gathered at the Cherage or entity, so if the PCs are going that route, they should probably
Rail Enclave, where the city’s gas lines originate, and where unde- decide on a term to refer to themselves as a group. This could be
sirables are loaded into trains to be disposed of under the direction as simple as “the RHC” or “the heroes of Risur.” If they want
of Danor’s minister of propaganda Gardienne du Cherage. Ashi- something a bit more impressive, Pardo once again recommends
ma-Shimtu is uncertain about her role now that she has freedom, “the Illuminati.”
and she will fight against any PC who tries to work against the
Obscuati’s will. Alais Primos—God Is Dead.
The PC who tackles Alais Primos activates a duplicant lying atop
Seobriga. a bed, covered in a white sheet, in a tower not far from the Grand
In the central square of the Beran capital, Bruse Shantus over- Librarium. A cracked skylight has let in recent rain, and the whole
sees a systematic mass execution of goblins and gnolls, whose building’s core of wooden frame is rotting, but a glass door opens
recalcitrance about becoming civilized has helped them resist the out to an ornate marble balcony that overlooks a majestic view of
Obscurati’s pacification efforts. Brakken of Heffanita helps corral the city. As everywhere else, snow has fallen and the air is below
the prisoners, among whom is Glaucia Evora, who was strong- freezing. Notably, Alais Primos does not have the ubiquitous gas-
willed enough to resist the Ob’s influence. Guarded by trained light lamps of Flint, but it does have four lantern towers dispersed
tyrannosaurs, the hivemind-controlled Bruse is ready to order the around the valley, glowing a docile brown. But it’s one missing
city’s Lantern Towers to be flooded with Illocus energy, from the light that stands out most starkly: across several canals, past vari-
plane of time, causing the city’s emotions to rapidly cascade. He’ll ous monuments of the old faith, and up the scorched slope of the
then release the goblins and gnolls so they can attack, provoke a mountain Enzyo Mons, the volcano’s maw is dark, its lava cool. In
panic, and drag the city into a bloodletting melee. The PC receives its place, hundreds of small lanterns light up what remains of the
unexpected aid in the form of the suave Sor Daeron, a one-armed Cathedral of Triegenes.
eladrin warrior who years ago served Kasvarina, but who now in-
tends to dismantle the power of the Obscurati.
Trekhom.
The new head of state of Drakr, Hastenschrieft Willimarkanova
(an Ob officer philosopher), runs a parade route through the
capital city Trekhom. War constructs escort her, and she rides
in a carriage with the philosopher Vlendam Heid beside her as
a dwarven shield. At the end of the parade she’ll enter a heavily-
fortified underground bunker, then detonate the city’s lanterns, so
there’s little time to strike. But her route is watched from afar by
sniper Kvarti Gorbatiy, who can teleport between the city’s lan- Natalia Degaspare Morgan Cippiano
tern towers to maintain near-constant overwatch.

The distant cathedral that sits at the edge of the caldera looks have not been used in centuries. In the two Victories, those bells
different; most of its higher levels are missing, though it appears were often rung to create city-wide defenses, from mere teleporta-
to have been carefully disassembled, not merely demolished (if tion wards to immense shimmering walls of force. In this scene
the dragon Esurientes destroyed the cathedral in Zeitgeist #11: they’ll most likely just be rung as an alarm (cords can activate them
Gorged on Ruins, the GM could instead have Natalia overseeing from the ground floor), but if things go terribly wrong they offer a
the construction of a geothermal power plant on the volcano.) chance to save the city.
Sounds of weeping waft up from the base of the tower. On the If the PC lets the defenders sound an alarm bell — either at the
ground level, a mass prayer of defiant worshippers has sprung up cathedral or in one of the lantern towers — two things happen.
despite new laws that forbid all religion. A few dozen people have First, a golden light rolls outward from the bell; this has no ef-
managed to resist the control of the city’s hivemind, but at this very fect, but a PC might realize with a DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana or
moment city guardsmen approach the crowd from two directions. History) check that the bells once harnessed the power of Urim to
If not stopped they’ll beat and arrest the worshippers, then carry block teleportation. Second, within a minute of the signal, all the
them away to the city’s newly-constructed rail depot so they can be towers activate their failsafe, and their lanterns shed a swirling
loaded into trains and carted away for reeducation or elimination. purple-green light.
The top floor of the tower is 70 feet up, so a dramatic leap and
rescue is heartily encouraged. A single city defense squad threatens Alais Primos Lantern Towers (4)
the faithful, which is hardly a problem for even a solitary PC. • 2 city defense squads
• 1 Obscurati construct squad
The Secular Deconstruction.
From rescued faithful, the police, or some other source, it’s easy to Cathedral of Triegenes
learn that the new head of state of Crisillyir, Arch Secula Natalia • Arch Secula Natalia Degaspare
Degaspare, is at the Cathedral of Triegenes overseeing its methodi- • 1 bookpin bodyguard squad
cal deconstruction. Hundreds of people cling to scaffolding around • 1 city defense squad
the building, chipping free bricks one at a time, then carrying
them down so Natalia can disenchant them. Things Go Terribly Wrong.
Among the workers is Morgan Cippiano, former head of the If the failsafe activates, the towers burn fuel infused with the pow-
Family crime syndicate’s branch in Flint. If a PC spots him first er of Av, which before it was shattered in the Gyre served as the
(DC 24 Wisdom [Perception] check), he might be freed from plane of death. Each tower covers a quadrant of the city, ripping
control, at which point he can warn the PCs of Natalia’s powers. people’s souls from their bodies. Unable to reach the destroyed Av,
Otherwise he might spot the PC and warn Natalia. In a fight, the thousands of souls float in a limbo that vaguely resembles Alais
arch secula shouts for workers to ring the cathedral bells, which Primos, and over the course of an hour the lights of the lantern
alerts the lantern towers in the city. Then she dampens any magi- towers gutter and die. If the PC cannot find a solution by then, the
cal powers the PC has while the local police fill him with bullets. city perishes.
Her bookpin bodyguards try to shield her, and will chase after a Those at the Cathedral of Triegenes are safe from this power,
PC who flees. but once the lanterns turn on there’s no one at the towers alive to
Alternatively, a PC might simply target the lantern towers turn them off. It would appear venturing into the city is hopeless.
directly, but they’re separated by about a mile each. The lantern If a PC is caught in the lantern light, he must make a DC 25
towers are laid out generally the same as those in Flint, except Wisdom saving throw each round or their soul is pulled into the
instead of clocktowers they have belltowers. The old golden bells shared limbo of Alais Primos.
still hang throughout the city, inscribed with magic chants that An adventurer might be able to withstand this effect long

enough to destroy or disable one or more of the towers, which only Alais Primos seek each other out, weeping and hoping they can
have their construct guards, since the city defense squads will have serve each other better as friends and neighbors.
lost their souls. Fighting while resisting the lantern’s effect (and
briefly glimpsing flashes of the limbo where people’s souls scream Cherage—Another Kind of Chain.
for help) will be risky and desperate, and eventually a natural 1 will The demoness Ashima-Shimtu was given a promise of immunity by
probably pull the PC into the limbo, at which point they will need a Nicodemus, as the mastermind ultimately ascribes his motivation
new way to save the people of Alais Primos. Once in the limbo, the to found the Obscurati to Ashima-Shimtu’s offer of the Sacrament
character cannot end their connection to the duplicant, because of Apotheosis five centuries ago. She is escorted at all times by a
their soul is no longer in their original body. pair of ghost councilors who ensure that no one accosts her. The
Of course, other PCs might be able to finish their missions and only restriction Nicodemus has placed on her is that she must not
somehow come and help. But the solution we have in mind is for come to Axis Island. So Ashima-Shimtu went to Cherage, think-
the PC to be trapped in limbo and see that the light of the towers ing to witness the glorious new age in the mastermind’s seat of
is slowly fading. If he goes to a tower, he’ll realize that the bells are power. Thus far she finds this new world closer to the rule of the
the only solid thing in what’s left of the world. It’s possible to in- Demonocracy than the rumored perfection of the celestial heavens.
scribe a new spell onto the bell with a DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana While Ashima-Shimtu was in chains, she indulged in the idea
or Religion) check, so that when it tolls that spell peals out across of abandoning her evil nature and pursuing some form of noble
the city. Many options would work, ranging from sonic attacks to redemption, but the demoness is giving herself time to ponder
shatter the lantern glass to some manner of countermagic to re- her course of action now that she actually has the option to enjoy
store everyone’s souls. malevolence again. Her first taste of freedom in centuries was tem-
If the city falls into limbo but then is rescued, the survivors are pered with the cloying moral imperative of the Obscurati’s new
freed from the hivemind, yet still feel an intense kinship. For a brief world order, and she is uncertain if she actually has any choice in
moment, their souls began to mingle, and strangers throughout how she acts.

go when they are to be carted away and disposed of for the greater
good. So prevalent and affecting is the propaganda that myriad
citizens have been filled with dolorous despair. Wishing to no lon-
ger be a burden on their community, they want their government
to kill them.
Fuel Depot.
The gas for Cherage’s lantern towers is originally refined north
of the city proper, and trains deliver it in tanks to the rail enclave,
from which it is fed to the whole city. A wayfarer’s lantern was
Ashima-Shimtu Bruse Shantus added atop the clocktower (building 2 on the map), and it casts the
enclave in dull brown light, unless the Obscurati have been alerted,
in which case the guards are rapidly working to turn valves and
switch over to the red glow of fire energy.
Enclave guards line the sides of the rail tracks to keep suicidal
citizens from flinging themselves into the paths of trains, but
otherwise the streets and buildings of the enclave are overrun by
disconsolate folk. Yerasol War veterans who never learned skills
other than combat, single mothers whose children have died, or-
phans who have no one to guide them, and desperate drug addicts
who perversely are helped by anyone they ask to help fund their
habits — people of these sorts see the supposedly inspirational pro-
Glaucia Evora Sor Daeron paganda slogans and instead have determined that the way they
can best help their fellow man is to cease to be a drain on society.
Ashima-Shimtu, wrapped in a fine robe of red silk, sits on
a rooftop beside a withered old tiefling woman who goes by the
name Ruby (actual name Willa du Zirteim). Ruby shivers from
fey pepper dementia. She became dependent on the drug to lift her
spirits when the sun disappeared, but a few months ago when Av
was shattered in the Gyre she could no longer get glimpses of the
Dreaming. Normal life was too mundane for her to tolerate, and so
she took ever increasing doses of the pepper, hoping to recapture
the high that would never come. Instead, every time she smoked
she would hallucinate feelings like she was lashed with chains and
Brakken of Heffanita Damata Griento pulled in a thousand different directions. The metaphor struck
a chord in Ashima-Shimtu, and she desires to help the woman,
She has found herself strongly affected by the propaganda though she cannot decide how.
that is present everywhere in Cherage. The Obscurati’s master of In the meanwhile, Gardienne du Cherage, acting as public face
propaganda Gardienne du Cherage (a tiefling who attended the of the government of Danor since Han Jierre is at Axis Island,
Obscurati conclave in Zeitgeist #7: Schism) has implemented has come to the enclave, and she stands at the top floor of the fuel
a widespread campaign to teach the people of Danor the proper depot in front of the lantern, shouting at the suicidal masses, try-
way to live in the new world, and slogans regularly adorn walls or ing to undo the psychological damage she inadvertently wrought.
newspaper headlines: Guards follow her in order to deter attacks, but with her bond
• “Visit Your Local Library for Detailed Tracts on the Proper to the ghost council she’s quite capable of defending herself from
Way to Live.” low-level foes.
• “You Need Only Ask! The New World Will Provide.”
• “Create Progress! Aid Your Fellow Man.” A Threat to Order.
• “Reject Your Greed. Your Community Is More Important A PC in the Cherage duplicant becomes active in a warehouse near
Than You.” the city’s harbor, lying on a pallet in a corner and covered in a
• “Know Your Talents. How Can YOU Best Help?” sheet. The city is just as tranquil and bland as Flint, but if the PC
• “Is Your Neighbor a Threat to Order? Be Brave! Report asks for guidance, a helpful local woman wearing a scarf, veil, and
Him.” hooped dress will gladly point out that the city’s lanterns are fed by
• “This Is the Best of All Possible Worlds.” the depot at the rail enclave, about a mile from the harbor. Close
Struggling to understand her place in this world, Ashima-Shimtu examination of this helpful local woman reveals her to be a small
has followed thousands of other confused and yearning souls to the colony of rats, operating as a hivemind and piled atop each other so
Cherage Rail Enclave. People know that this is where undesirables they can shuffle about in vague human form. They function as spies

for El Extraño (see Zeitgeist #10: Godmind), but if questioned Triegenes—he was a man of true light. But Ashima-Shimtu never saw
directly they might panic and disperse into the sewers. the world he promised.
Lines of hopeless people stretch out from the enclave, and here “No, she saw everything break and fall. She pulled at her chains. She
at least people chatter, sharing word of the rail schedules so that thrashed. She wept until the bleeding left her too weak to resist. She
they can know how long it will be before they’ll be carted off to be refused her identity; she tried to believe that all that pain belonged
killed. After finding some way through or above the crowd, it’s easy to someone else. But she doesn’t deserve pity. Even as a prisoner,
to spot the fuel depot beneath the lantern tower, and Gardienne du Ashima-Shimtu was selfish. She was filled with malice, yes, but when
Cherage — standing right next to the glowing lantern — has a pres- she tried to take revenge, all she achieved was to make sure she did not
ence to her that suggests she is at the head of the city’s hivemind. bleed alone.
Ashima-Shimtu could easily be missed as just one face in the “But that was someone else, she told herself. Except there was no
crowd (DC 28 Wisdom [Perception] check), but she notes the he- self left to tell.
roes’ arrival and watches curiously from her rooftop, which is right “But if she could not be free, she could die, she told herself. Except
across from the lantern tower. Gardienne knows what the PCs she was forbidden even this.
look like, but a stealthy PC might avoid detection. At any meddling “Finally, finally her chains broke. She crawled out into a world with-
with the tower, though, the propagandist orders the lantern to be out a sun. She believed she could do whatever she desired. Wretched,
switched to its failsafe — explosive fire energy from Jiese. Before dragging her chains with her, she yearned for the old villainy.
Gardienne or her guards can attack, Ashima-Shimtu intervenes, “But she cannot! She—I! I cannot!
pulling the PC away with chains and flinging him onto the train “Triegenes promised all could be redeemed. I thought I’d changed.
tracks. But now I feel it, in the air. I cannot choose. I must do what—what they
She demands an explanation in her own roundabout, third-per- say is right! There’s no temptation to overcome, so how can I be re-
son way; for example, she might say, “A train approaches to deliver deemed? If this is freedom, it’s worse than prison!
Ashima-Shimtu away, and time is short for her acquaintance to “It is worse a lie than any ever told by Ashima-Shimtu, and I will tell
explain the reason behind this attack.” The Ob forces start to try it no more! I don’t want this false freedom. If it’s the only choice I am
to take advantage of the opening, but the demoness threatens them granted, give me death.”
with her chains too. She’s too conflicted to let them kill the PC
without trying to listen first. After that plea, she can be swayed to the PC’s side with any decent
A low, long horn and vibration in the tracks announces the ap- argument, at which point she’ll turn all her infernal talents toward
proach of a freight train, only a minute or two away. intimidating Gardienne into surrender.
If Ashima-Shimtu is not swayed, though, she’ll resign herself
Wretched Audience. to fighting, and the crowd will surge forward in awe, convinced
Fighting is certainly an option, but Ashima-Shimtu can be con- she is their savior and a loyal contributor to the community. The
vinced that the Ob should be stopped, though it will take some demoness tries to hold the PC on the tracks, and the train is only
persuading. In her current mindset, she’s willing to believe that three rounds away.
if the Obscurati have decided to destroy the whole city, she de-
serves it, and so she will fight to keep the PC from interrupting the Cherage Fuel Depot
scorched earth plan. Changing her mind requires understanding • Gardienne du Cherage
what’s happened with this wretched crowd, and if the PC engages • 2 bookpin bodyguard squads
Ashima-Shimtu in conversation, she is reticent and uncomfortable • Ashima-Shimtu
with the unfamiliar emotion of shame.
Coaxing the demoness to open up can use the mechanics of Aftermath.
“interrogating a suspect”: first establish rapport (with a DC 26 A failure here likely means a PC’s duplicant body being shattered
Charisma [Deception or Persuasion] or Intelligence [Religion] apart by an oncoming train, and shortly thereafter the whole city
check; one retry can be made at DC 30), and then extract the in- explodes.
formation (with a DC 27 Wisdom [Insight] check; failing twice Stopping the Ob from destroying Cherage snaps the masses
loses rapport). An adventurer who pays particular attention to the out of their despondence, and they’re inclined to march on the
desperate crowd and seems like he or she understands their plight sovereign’s palace, burn it to the ground, and execute anyone in
have advantage. Anyone that asks about Ruby, who was sitting a position of power. Ashima-Shimtu, should she survive, honors
beside the demoness only moments ago, can automatically get rap- the request of Nicodemus not to interfere with Axis Island, and
port if they listen to the tiefling’s story. instead she boards a train and sets out to free other Danoran cities.
If successfully coaxed, Ashima-Shimtu explains, starting off
sneering but quickly losing her composure and ending up desperate. Seobriga—Civilized Execution.
Pemberton’s duplicant in Seobriga had to be hidden far from the
“Centuries in prison, and Ashima-Shimtu only attempted escape once. city center, because the authorities were all too aware of the threat
Surely she was a perfect prisoner? Her will restrained, yes, so what duplicants posed. When the PC activates his duplicant, he awakes
could she do but obey the Clergy and meditate on her sins? So she in the loft of a stable, covered in a white sheet, and he can hear
meditated. But she considered the Clergy’s sins as well. She had known jeering from outside. The stable lies along the Monument Road on

the northern border of the city, and a crowd has gathered to jeer and would-be railroad tycoon. After the immediate danger passed,
a line of prisoners being carted toward Seobriga’s central square. Damata’s dreams got the better of him, and he insisted his wife and
Bruse Shantus (or whoever succeeded him) has decreed that the children go into hiding to avoid being caught in a hivemind, while
“primitive tribes” of goblins and gnolls be eliminated. The military he would serve as Sor’s masked sidekick and assistant. Together
set up a vast prison camp on the outskirts of Seobriga, since the the two have weakened the Obscurati’s foothold in Ber, and today
Bruse intended their execution to be a regular public event, meant they hope to show the Beran people that they can resist the Ob.
to reinforce that Ber embraces civilization and rejects savagery.
Alas, Nicodemus, like many people who should have died long Defiant Last Words.
ago, is more racist than he presents himself, and so for Ber’s part in As the PC approaches the square, he feels a psychic projection in
deterring the PCs from moving against the Obscurati, he planned his mind, granting him a view of the imminent execution.
what he thinks is a humorous irony. Rather than using Jiese energy Bruse Shantus walks down a long row of prisoners, flanked by
to engulf the city in flames, the lantern towers in Seobriga will be a pair of king-bred tyrannosaurs draped in royal raiment, and ac-
fueled with Illocus energy. The power of the plane of time causes companied by Brakken of Heffanita, who telepathically projects
emotions to rapidly cascade, and if it coincides with a bloody mass the ruler’s proclamation. Other Berans of note might be present,
execution it will drive the population into a violent frenzy. such as Zarkava Ssa’litt or Kenna Vigilante, but none of them are
Anyone in the crowd will gladly share that the prisoners are empowered by hiveminds, and thus aren’t a threat in battle.
bound for execution in the central square of Seobriga, where the The Bruse shouts, “Don’t look away, citizens! These savages be-
daily protests used to occur before everyone learned the value of fore us were given a chance to obey our laws, but they rejected us.
obedience. The killing should be starting any minute, and this will Disobedience is an uncivil serpent, and we must strike off its head
be a good one, because they’re killing an executore dola liberta, before it poisons us. Let all who would resist our unity smell the
some gnoll who refused to obey. blood spilled today, and know we shall come for them soon!”
If the PC wants to get to the square soon enough to save Glaucia Brakken hands the Bruse a ceremonial greatsword, but as he
Evora, it’s time for dashing, Zorro-esque heroism. We have handily hefts it, a prisoner at the center of the line stands, even though she
put horses in the stable to kick things off at a gallop. has to awkwardly heave up two goblins who are manacled to her.
The gnoll, Glaucia Evora, spits at the Bruse.
The Killing Field.
The Beran capital doesn’t have street gas lamps, so like in Alais “We were never a nation of obedience, tyrant! We were a nation of jus-
Primos the Ob have just erected four lantern towers. One is in the tice. On this killing field, you might cut us down, but our blood will water
central square, directly above the teleportation beacon where the a new crop of revolution. Better a savage than a slave.”
party arrived in Zeitgeist #6: Revelations from the Mouth of a
Madman. Ropes stretch out from its first story roof of the tower to
the roofs of the buildings surrounding the square, and propaganda Nick-of-Time Heroics.
flags hang from them. Whether by leaping his horse over the crowds or Assassin’s-Creed-
A squad of marksmen arrayed around the lantern tower have parkouring over rooftops to dive into the killing field, the PC can
their guns at ready for a conflict. Below them, the square is filled manage arrive just in time to witness Glaucia Evora’s defiant last
with a few dozen orc, half-giant, and minotaur soldiers who watch words. If the PC doesn’t rush in, though, Sor and Damata swoop
over a line of 100 manacled goblins and gnolls kneeling on the in before the gnoll is beheaded.
flagstones. Onlookers peer out of the multistoried windows of the The half-orc and eladrin have watched from a rooftop at the edge
buildings surrounding the killing field. of the square, and when it becomes clear Bruse Shantus is about
The streets directly outside the square are clogged with crowds to execute one of the prisoners — or if the PC who’s here moves
who want a look. And, as it so happens, some particularly inter- first — Damata triggers a series of arcane pyrotechnics Sor secretly
ested onlookers are hidden on the roofs. placed earlier in the day, which cause the ground of the square to
catch fire in the shape of a giant “S” hundreds of feet across. Then
Old Master and Young Apprentice. smaller pyrotechnics trigger in the side streets, scaring the crowd
The eladrin Sor Daeron has for the past several months taken it away and creating a path for the prisoners to escape.
upon himself to disrupt as many Obscurati activities as possible. Sor leaps into the killing field and engages the Bruse and his
He knows Kasvarina is involved with the Ob, and he wants to lure tyrannosaur pets. He’ll cooperate with a PC, and when the lantern
her out to finish what he started four hundred years ago (see Zeit- tower’s light begins to change, Sor suggests they deal with the tow-
geist #8: Diaspora). She has not deigned to come to Ber, but Sor er first. A round later Damata swoops in on one of the ropes that
Daeron has found himself genuinely swayed by the plight of the lead from the outer buildings to the tower, and he fights off soldiers
people. Though he was originally a general and holy warrior, Sor while tossing weapons to the prisoners so they can make a break
Daeron sincerely believes in the tenets of Vekesh, and wants to en- for it. If the PC doesn’t join in, the two heroes are overwhelmed
sure the people of Ber will survive the dominion of the Obscurati. and have to flee before they can stop the lantern tower, and the city
Early on as the Obscurati hiveminds were taking over in the falls to mass carnage. But the vigilantes survive — Damata Griento
cities of Ber, Sor was injured and fleeing soldiers, and he took has read How Not to Get Shot and has become very good at dodg-
shelter in the home of Damata Griento, half-orc businessman ing bullets while running.

Freedom Fighters. him and the other two matriarchs. The smoking man told them
Bruse Shantus was warned about the party interfering, so the how Kasvarina colluded with the Clergy and caused the death of
moment there’s an interruption he waves at the soldiers on the Srasama, and after many divinations to confirm it, they tried and
lantern tower. One round later the tower’s brown glow changes failed to lure the traitor into an ambush. Sor wishes he could see
to strobing red-white. From that point on, whenever a creature Kasvarina and finally punish her for what she’s done.
anywhere in the city is threatened — ranging from a full-on attack Critically, if the PCs aren’t aware already, this meeting is a
to an overly-rough jostle in a crowd — they respond even more ag- chance to learn that Nicodemus goaded the eladrin matriarchs
gressively. For NPCs the GM can handwave this, but if a PC or ally into betraying Kasvarina and killing her daughter. Sor doesn’t
is threatened or harmed, he must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving know who Nicodemus is, nor his reasons: Nic needed Kasvarina to
throw or retaliate within the next minute. If he does not, after 10 help him with his plan to use the Axis Seal ritual, but Kasvarina
rounds he begins to take 1 point of damage each round until he had grown weary of conflict, so he needed to give her one more
attacks someone, falls unconscious, or ends his turn with no line of tragedy to provoke her to action.
sight to any other conscious creature.
Once he has signaled the tower, the Bruse drops his ceremonial Trekhom—The Chancellor’s
sword, draws his earth breaker and charges in, coordinating his Motorcade.
attacks with his guardian tyrannosaurs. The nearby City Defense The PC’s duplicant or duplicants activate standing up, draped in
Squads shoot if their target isn’t within the Bruse’s Primitive Pres- a sheet, in a closet. Two scoped rifles lie against the wall, loaded
ence aura, but otherwise stay at their posts — one on the roof of the and ready. The door out of the closet is bricked over on the outside,
Lantern Tower, and three others stationed around its base. though. After breaking through, the PC finds himself in the mostly
empty halls of the Drakran parliament building.
Beran Forces Only light security staff remains, because everyone else in the
• Bruse Shantus city was required to attend the military parade of Hastenschrieft
• 2 Ob-bred tyrannosaurs Willimarkanova, an Ob officer now acting as the nation’s head of
• 4 city defense squads state, and who is head of the city’s hivemind. The parade began an
hour ago just outside the parliament building, and the crowds here
Allies have mostly dispersed. The route is about to enter the industrial
• Sor Daeron district and will conclude in about half an hour, at which point
• Glaucia Evora Willimarkanova will enter a subterranean bunker, putting her be-
yond the ready reach of the PC.
Damata is here too, but he’s much lower level than the major play- Willimarkanova travels through the parade in an open-top wag-
ers, and so generally keeps his distance. Ideally a tyrannosaur will on drawn by an Obscurati lantern walker — a four-legged crab-like
try to bite off one of Sor’s limbs, and he’ll let it chomp through his construct the size of a horse — which scuttles along near the tail
salt arm, which he can immediately regrow. end of a parade of thousands of soldiers, military constructs, and
wheeled artillery cannons. Seated beside Willimarkanova is famed
Aftermath. Drakran philosopher Vlendam Heid, who has been trapped in the
If the PC fails here the citizens of Seobriga kill each other nearly hivemind and waves and laughs to the crowd. The Ob’s intention
to the last man within an hour. But if the Bruse is defeated and is to motivate and cheer the population, which has heavily been
the hivemind’s control broken, the people of the city surge to the pressed into service in the city’s rapidly-expanding arcane factories.
square, seeking guidance. Sor Daeron defers to Damata, who bold- But, y’know, they’re also ready to kill everyone if the PCs meddle.
ly calls on the crowd to march on the nearby prison camp and free At the moment the PC arrives, the parade nears a roughly tri-
the rest of the “savages.” The crowd cheers but before they depart angular industrial district, about a quarter-mile across. The parade
Glaucia Evora grabs the half-orc and threatens that if he tries to route will weave through this district, which is thick with crowds.
turn this revolution to his personal gain, she beats him until he Willimarkanova is empowered by a hivemind and so can defend
wouldn’t need a mask to conceal his face anymore. herself, but Heid is a noncombatant.
As the crowd marches with Damata at its head, Glaucia and Sor
turn their attention to the PC. Glaucia wants to know how she can
help, though sadly the answer is not much other than to be ready to
rally people. Sor Daeron explains that while his long-term memory
is not clear, he knows Kasvarina works with the Obscurati, and if
he has a chance to hurt her he will. He rambles about how she was
responsible for the death of Srasama and the fall of their people.
Out of the heat of battle his awareness of the world becomes some-
what addled, and he assumes the PC is an eladrin like him.
If the PC mentions Nicodemus at all, that provokes a moment of
lucidity. He sniffs, recalling a smell, and recounts how a man — or Kvarti Gorbatiy Vlendam Heid
was it a ghost? — who smelled of the smoky leaf brought news to

Immediate Parade Defense Tower Defense

• Hastenschrieft Willimarkanova • 2 city defense squads
• 8 city defense squads • Obscurati lantern walker
• 2 Obscurati construct squads • Kvarti Gorbatiy
• Obscurati lantern walker • Obscurati construct squad
• Kvarti Gorbatiy (from afar)
Kvarti paces the railing of the lantern tower, rifle in hand, and
Per-Round Reinforcements he continuously scans the rooftops and other spires (a Dexterity
• 2 city defense squads [Stealth] check opposed by his passive Perception once per minute
to hide from him). If he spots a potential threat he’ll first fire a
If Willimarkanova is attacked, the lantern walker automatically tracer round to light up the target, and thereafter will try to put
detaches from the carriage and tries to get between the head of the target down with continual shots. If the PC gets into a fight at
state and her attacker. Two construct squads walk directly in front ground level, Kvarti should be able to get in one or two good shots
and behind of the carriage. Eight city defense squads are within 60 unless the PC intentionally sticks to cover. If he cannot get a clean
feet, and at the sound of fighting the rest of the parade will turn shot, he might use his Shadow Teleport trait to get directly beside
around and rush back to help, such that another two city defense his foe and rely on pistol and grappling.
squads arrive each round. However, like other previous allies, Kvarti can be snapped out
After a couple rounds of combat, soldiers will grab Willimar- control of the hivemind if the PC manages to talk to him (dif-
kanova and rush down the length of the parade toward the front, ficult because of the construct squad with him). If freed from the
where another walker is dragging an immense cannon. It takes hivemind, he’ll explain that the Ob granted him a boon to let him
them 10 rounds, but once they reach it they’ll detach the cannon teleport between the lantern towers in Trekhom, better to defend
and ride onward with the walker, heading for the bunker, which them. He readily assassinates Willimarkanova, and then can take
is a few minutes away. Spotters in surrounding spires will notice the PC with him to the other towers to order the construct squads
the attack and will signal the various lantern towers in the city to to deactivate the lanterns.
turn on the Jiese fuel, which will cause the city to explode in less
than half an hour. How to Snipe Someone.
Williamarkanova is loyal to the Obscurati, so knocking her out Hit points and snipers don’t quite mix. However, hit points nor-
of her link to the hivemind won’t change her attitude. mally represent a character’s ability to survive in the thick of
combat, or a random unlucky disaster. But a focused, intentional
You’ll Have to Imagine the Spire. assassination eliminates the variables that would let the mark’s
Instead of a frontal assault, the PC might prefer assassination “luck” save her.
from afar, or simply trying to deactivate a lantern tower. There are Once in position in one of the spires or tower, the PC can attempt
a half-dozen lantern towers scattered throughout the city, but only the following checks to line up a shot as the motorcade travels its
one in the industrial district. route. Each check takes one round, and if the PC makes 10 checks
The industrial district’s corners are marked by a trio of spires in a row (rather than breaking off and hiding for a bit), he is spot-
(please recall that Drakrans see spires and towers as a symbol of ted by Kvarti, whose Sniper’s Eye lets him see through illusions
power, and so they build a lot of them). A fourth tower rises in the and invisibility. Even if some other effect keeps the PC hidden, an
center of the district, this one capped with a wayfarer’s lantern. adventurer only gets two attempts before Willimarkanova makes
The corner spires are each separated by about a 1,000 feet, and it to a bunker (if the PC can rapidly reach another sniper roost,
the lantern tower in the center is 500 feet from each of the corner such as by jaunting to a different spire, that provides another two
spires. attempts.) And a missed shot is almost certainly detected.
Each spire rises over 150 feet, as does the lantern tower (as To even try this, the PC needs an attack that can reach at least
opposed to 60 feet for the lantern towers in other cities). The top 300 feet. The duplicant had a scoped rifle right beside it, but the
levels of each spire and tower have sight-line to nearly the entire party might also have access to magic attacks that have sufficient
parade route, since most of the other buildings in Trekhom are range.
only one or two stories. Importantly, the tower and spires all have 1. Determine a Window. DC 18 Wisdom (Perception) check.
line of sight to each other. You note the path of the parade and figure out a stretch
The North Spire, East Spire, and West Spire are guarded at where you’ll have several rounds to line up a shot. Success
ground level by a city defense squad, but their top floors are unoc- gives you 5 rounds, and every 5 points you succeed by gets
cupied. The Central Lantern Tower has two city defense squads you an extra round before you have to start over. If you fail,
and a lantern walker at ground level. At its lantern level Kvarti you have to wait a minute or two and try again, and the
Gorbatiy provides overwatch of the parade, and he is guarded by motorcade might be moving out of sight soon.
an Obscurati construct squad. 2. Predict Movement. DC 26 Wisdom (Insight) check.
Willimarkanova and Heid are exchanging comments, waving
Spire Defense to the crowd, and occasionally leaning out of their seats to
• 1 city defense squad (each) speak to specific bystanders. You predict their behavior so

they’ll be mostly stationary when you fire. If you fail, you The Defenders.
must try again next round. Sentosa’s population of roughly 4,000 eladrin has withdrawn
3. Take Aim. DC 26 Wisdom (Perception) check. You push into the city center of old Rumah Terakir, where due to the re-
aside all distractions and line up your shot across a great cent magical overlay of the real world and the Dreaming, many
distance. If you fail, you can try again next round. buildings are half-maintained, half-ruined. A ring of the city has
4. Fire. Attack roll against Willimarkanova (AC 26). On been abandoned as a no-man’s-land, laden with glyphs and physical
a hit, you deal normal damage. However, if the damage land mines. Most people cluster in homes beneath Akela Sathi, a
equals or exceeds her Constitution score, the shot is fatal. sacred brothel built into a huge tree that is woven into a statue of
On a miss, your aim is still lined up, so if you have an Srasama’s maiden aspect.
opportunity to take another shot before your window closes, In lieu of an actual wall, arcane alarms ring the perimeter.
you can. However, Willimarkanova takes cover on her turn, Weary and twitchy rajputs will confront anyone who enters, and
increasing her defenses. they will aggressively insist the PC waits while they notify their
Any other actions the PC takes, such as casting spells to improve matriarch. Athrylla Valenar will agree to meet, and the rajputs
their attack roll, uses up the limited time in their window. lead a path through anxious eladrin who all appear exhausted and
Alternatively, a PC who can use charm effects or deal radiant starved.
damage from that range can target the ghost councilors linked to The matriarch and her advisors wait in the shelter of a 10-foot-
Willimarkanova, but she was originally a member of the Obscurati, radius dome of magical force that keeps out the storm, conjured
and so would still follow through the scorched earth plan. just beside the old temple of Srasama. Athrylla and all her allies
have been denied rest for weeks, because the besiegers constantly
Aftermath. refresh their storm. She has tried to conserve her spells, but now
This city is actually set up to be the hardest to win with brute force, is effectively helpless. The Ob forces could sweep in and take them
and a full frontal assault will probably be over before a PC can at any time.
finish Willimarkanova off. But even if the PC takes her out, the Athrylla has some basic information about the besiegers’ camp
lantern towers still fill with Jiese energy. The PC might escape and their overwhelming force of ten thousand soldiers and mechan-
and take out the towers himself, or manage to forestall being filled ical monstrosities. The siege began with an artillery bombardment
with bullets long enough to snap Heid out of the hivemind and get that encircled Sentosa, a few strikes by construct warriors target-
him to take charge and call off the scorched earth plan. The safest ing her mages who conjured arcane walls to block the cannonfire,
method is to link up with Kvarti, get him on the PC’s side, and and then a child messenger bearing a letter. It alleged to be from
then have him shut down the towers. Kasvarina, demanding that Athrylla surrender and hand control of
If the city is saved, there are still plenty of Ob loyalists in control all the lands that were once Elfaivar over to Cula Ravjahani, who
of the factories. Dealing with them will occupy the population for was for many years Kasvarina’s second in command at the enclave
a few hours, until the PCs need to call upon them to potentially aid Ushanti.
the sacrament. Athrylla had been defiant, and that was when the unending
storm began. When there were brief breaks in the storm, the edge
Sentosa—Voice of Authority (Optional) of the enclave would be pounded with artillery. It became nearly
Pemberton has no duplicants in or near Sentosa, and the nature of impossible to sleep. It was only a few days later that they realized
teleportation magic in this world makes it impossible for the party the child had been magically infected with a plague that rapidly
to simply use magic to get here unless they made a point to come spread through the city. Sentosa depleted its stock of scrolls and
this way since the Great Eclipse occurred. If the PCs really care other magic items in a fight against the disease, and those whom
about this enclave they could probably come up with some way to they could not cure they quarantined at the temple of Hewanhari-
bypass that restriction, the same way Vlendam Heid was able to mau. They’re all dead now.
send an official Risuri diplomatic case back to Risur since it was
technically part of Risur already. For example, a PC who acquired
the Arsenal of Dhebisu from Sentosa might be able to teleport to
the temple of Hewanharimau where it lay for centuries (but if they
do that, see below for details of the grisly sight they’d arrive to.)
The moment a PC arrives, it’s clear that powerful magic is at
work. A roaring thunderstorm covers the city, blocking visibility
beyond a few dozen feet, and the intense wind and reverberating
thunderclaps are disorienting. Moreover, the storm is interwoven
with a novel ritual which (a DC 30 Intelligence [Arcana] check to
identify) prevents pocket dimensions from being accessed. Bags of
holding and the like are sealed away underneath the storm.
A DC 26 Wisdom (Perception) check is necessary to navigate to
where the PC wants to go. Failing means a 50% chance of reaching Athrylla Valenar Cula Ravjahani
the locals or the besiegers.

The Besiegers. If Athrylla is saved, she asks to accompany the party to confront
By contrast, the forces under command of Cula Ravjahani camp se- Kasvarina. Seeing her will help sway Kasvarina to reject Nicode-
renely over a mile from the city, while the no-man’s-land perimeter mus. If the party also brings along Sor Daeron from Ber, the two
is watched by construct squads and a handful of officers equipped eladrin can easily convince Kasvarina to ally with the party if they
with enchanted helms that baffle the roar of the thunder and let get a chance to talk to her.
them act normally without losing their nerve. Artillery batteries,
newly built in Drakr, are aimed with precision to panic the people
of Sentosa without the risk of accidentally killing the leader. Bask in the Shadow of
The army is made up of warriors drawn from the many colonies Yesterday’s Triumph
that until recently controlled Elfaivar. Now united under the Ob’s
banner, the soldiers are all ensnared in the same hivemind, with Social. Real-Time.
Cula as its head. The party’s allies encourage them to invoke the sacrament of apothe-
Soldiers go on patrol in large platoons every hour; every 8 hours osis in order to bring the full might of the revolution to bear against
one of three mages renews the spell that keeps the storm raging. Nicodemus and the Obscurati.
Cula’s mission is to secure a proper surrender. The reason varies With the most immediate threat to the cities of the world con-
slightly depending on whether the end of Zeitgeist #8: Diaspora cluded, it’s time for final preparations before setting course for
saw party swaying Kasvarina to their side. If they didn’t, Kasvarina Axis Island. Let them gather allies and (briefly) discuss what will
wants to force Athrylla to grovel and admit that she was wrong come next. Give the group Player’s Handout: The Ritual of the
to doubt Kasvarina’s methods. But if Kasvarina was persuaded to Axis Seal.
oppose the Ob, the “peaceful” surrender is a gambit by Nicodemus
to convince his long-time partner Kasvarina that he is no monster. Final Mission Briefing.
The first critical issue to resolve is, well, just what are the PCs
Breaking the Siege. going to do in the Axis Seal ritual. It’s a fine time for a meeting,
A straight up fight might be winnable, honestly, if the party as a perhaps with a corkboard where the PCs can mock up potential ar-
whole attacked, though it would take time they might not be able rangements of planes. This is just one more mystery to solve, albeit
to spare. While the 10,000 soldiers under Cula are formidable, if on an interplanar scale.
the Ob can use devastating magic, so can the PCs. Ever since they woke up in the Antwalk Forest the PCs have
A cleverer solution might be to feign surrender. Athrylla could been certain that the means to complete the ritual will present
send a messenger to announce she is going to yield. The storm itself. Now that the PCs are nearing the time to perform the ritual,
would abate. With a large escort, Cula would come out to the no- they become aware of which planes were in the Gyre, though they
man’s-land, ideally at the same gate where the party once faced can only guess how they have that knowledge. They still don’t have
a ten-headed lion, in a rain-filled pit that was carved by the foot the ability to create planar icons for those worlds, but don’t worry,
of the colossus. A PC could pose as one of Athrylla’s own rajputs. those will manifest later.
Once within striking distance, if the PC managed to kill Cula it Consider cutting out the individual tokens of Player’s Handout:
would break the hivemind’s control, at which point most of the Axis Puzzle. The GM can use them as props during the planning,
army would march back to the colonies they were recruited from. and then later they can help keep track of what plane is slotted in
which place of the ritual circle.
Siege-Breaking Full War The PCs know that the ritual calls for 8 different planes, and
• Cula Ravjahani, Vekeshi Apostate that each plane will lend a trait to the nature of the world. Link-
• 3 Elite Obscurati Occultists ing to these planes requires extracting a several ton pillar of stone
• 12 Bookpin Bodyguard Squads from the earth and placing a planar icon into a slot, then lowering
• 10 Obscurati Construct Squads the pillar back into the ground. On a straightforward physical level,
• Thousands of soldiers (equivalent to 100 “frigate crews” from the PCs need a way to accomplish this. The Sacrament of Apotheo-
Zeitgeist #10: Godmind) sis is one way, since it will give them godlike strength. Another is
to attach a crane and hoist mechanism to their airship. Or they can
Siege-Breaking Trickery just wait for the Ob to remove the pillars and hope they can get in
• Cula Ravjahani, Vekeshi Apostate and use their planar icon first.
• 1 Bookpin Bodyguard Squad Once those performing the ritual are satisfied with the chosen
• 1 Obscurati Construct Squad set of planes, they must close the golden seal. If the seal is not
closed, the new planes will still link to this world, but it will be
Aftermath. comparably simple to switch them. However, once the seal is closed
If the party doesn’t intervene here, perhaps this scene can be wo- immense power is needed to open it again. Closing the seal would
ven into the denouement, with a confused Cula barely keeping be challenging even for a group of them empowered by the ritual.
control of a disorderly army. She will threaten and cajole them into If they refuse the Sacrament of Apotheosis, they might need the
a strike against the enclave. The PCs, arriving right before a tragic aid of the colossus to complete the ritual and ensure the world’s
bloodbath, could broker peace or deliver judgment, as they see fit. sun returns.

What Exactly Are We Cooking Up? Sacrament or Not?

For his part Pemberton very much wants to be involved in discus- Pemberton reminds the PCs about the dangerous energy coming
sions of what type of world they’ll create. He’s particularly insistent out of the seal, where it’s not safe to spend even a minute in the
that no high-minded ideals cause him to lose the advantages he has area around it. They’ll either need to be fast — an airship helps — or
due to being a dragon, or to ruin his technological innovations. come up with some superior defense. It’s likely Pemberton over-
Honestly, he was quite satisfied with the world as it was before heard at least some of the details of the Sacrament of Apotheosis
the Ob meddled, but if they ask his opinion, he wouldn’t mind be- when his duplicant saw a meeting with Ashima-Shimtu in Zeit-
ing able to travel to other planes. After all, his romantic prospects geist #8: Diaspora, so if the party doesn’t bring it up he’ll suggest,
on this world are limited, but he’s sure there have to be eligible with reserve, that they use the ritual. He wishes he’d chosen to
dragon bachelorettes somewhere in the multiverse who’d appreci- be the figurehead of this whole revolution business, but since he’s
ate his industriousness. chosen to operate behind the scenes he won’t benefit as much from
If the players cannot come to agreement, don’t let arguments the ritual, even though he’d make a fine god.
drag on too long. Assume that the PCs are at an impasse, but they The mechanics of the Sacrament of Apotheosis are presented in
don’t have time to convince each other. They’ll just have to go to Player’s Handout: Final Sacrament.
Axis Island and see how things shake out. We don’t intend to punish the PCs if they choose to use the Sac-
rament of Apotheosis. It’s the smart move if they think that living
Best Laid Plans. in a world controlled by the Obscurati is as bad as dying; in that
The chaos of combat in the final encounter will make enacting pre- case, anyone who perishes in backlash for their belief empowering
cise plans difficult, so even if the PCs have all agreed on the type of the PCs has not really lost anything.
world they want to make, it’s likely they won’t be able to get all the However, it’s not entirely necessary for the PCs to have the
planes they need. We want the battlefield to be altered on a cosmic ritual’s power in order to win the final conflict. Indeed, because of
scale round by round, and for the final world the PCs create to the nature of the ritual, anyone who knows the subject’s name can
maybe be a little less than perfect. ignore any resistances or immunities the Sacrament of Apotheosis
Or at the very least, they should feel like there’s a chance they’ll grants, and Nicodemus will have almost certainly discovered the
fail. Uncertainty in the midst of reality-warping magic should raise names of all the PCs and shared them with his allies. The party will
the tension. have increased ability to manipulate the world around them, and
the wild energy coming out of the seal won’t harm them, but they
Supporting Cast. won’t gain any advantage in combat.
Second, it’s time to decide who is coming along. Bear in mind, the By contrast it’s unlikely that the PCs — at least the ones here,
final encounter is fairly complicated by itself, without including a rather than in the Gyre — know that Nicodemus’s real name is Wil-
gaggle of NPCs. liam Miller unless they really went out of their way in Zeitgeist
We suggest that the simplest way to streamline the finale is to #8: Diaspora and investigated the ruins of Pala. This makes Nico-
stress that the energy pouring out of the Axis Seal is dangerous demus effectively invincible at the beginning of the final encounter.
enough that it would be suicidal to bring some less-powerful al- Eventually that information will reach them, either through the
lies along. If the party intends to use the Sacrament of Apotheosis, aid of a friendly Kasvarina (who’s the only person alive who knows
their allies can stay behind in major cities to channel the will of Nic’s true name) or when the knowledge of their selves in the Gyre
the people. Anyone who does accompany the party can fade into reaches them. Until that point, though, they’ll have to focus on
the background. Perhaps they land elsewhere on the island and seizing control of the Axis Seal rather than simply attacking their
undertake critical missions to take out Ob support or fulfill other nemesis.
obscure elements of the Axis Seal ritual.
To convey an epic scope of the battle, though, the Axis Obscura Rejecting Godhood.
encounter does have an option for “invoking” allies. See Part Two. Without the Sacrament of Apotheosis, the party will need to as-
siduously avoid the tendrils of energy lashing out of the Axis Seal.
Moment of Calm. It’s challenging, but not insurmountable.
At some point before the party reaches Axis Island, it’s suggested The main reason for avoiding the ritual is to win a moral victory
to have a moment of calm and reflection. Give the PCs a situation of sorts. The Clergy believed that Triegenes performed it to be-
where they’re all gathered together with an ally so they can role- come a god, but in truth the holy man refused to risk other people
play and have a few smiles, in case the ending of the campaign gets just to protect himself even in the most dangerous battles. When
grim. They might enjoy the irony of having Delft, as head of the the party battles Nicodemus, his other self in the Gyre — William
RHC, come to them and mock-obsequiously request funding to pay Miller — watches. Miller does not intend to intervene, but if he
for extra constables, since he’s pretty sure some of his best men are sees enough signs of the party’s humility and goodness, namely
about to die. Or pick one of the scenes from Act Three. rejecting the ritual, he will cast himself into the Gyre so his
The key is to give the players a chance to all bounce off each consciousness merges with that of Nicodemus. Granted an en-
other once last time, in case any of them die. lightened, detached perspective on the past five centuries since his
death, Nicodemus repents his hubris and ceases fighting so that
the party can destroy him.

Again, this narrative beat is not necessary, but it might be acquire are the entrails of a dragon, and Harkover Lee (if alive)
satisfying for groups who have been tempted by the Obscurati’s willingly offers a piece of his flesh to make amends for his forced
ideology, and don’t see Nicodemus wholly as a villain. betrayal of them.
The more people who share the power of the Sacrament of Apo-
Performing the Sacrament. theosis, the more diluted it is. Moreover, people who don’t have
The ritual lasts long enough that the party can perform it in Flint, a strong enough sense of self will be overwhelmed by the shared
or wait until they’re en route to Axis Island. Let the players de- faith. Really only the PCs should participate in the ritual, and per-
cide how to perform the ritual — in seclusion, subtly drawing faith haps one particularly close ally.
from their allies; or openly, rising above the masses like gods to be When the Sacrament of Apotheosis takes effect, the PCs feel
worshipped. The only ritual component that would be difficult to their bodies expand across the horizon, and their senses expand
Default Airship.
By default, we assume the party travels in a retrofitted ocean-faring Sky Frigate
vessel, likely either the R.N.S. Coaltongue or a more traditional sailing Gargantuan Vehicle
frigate adapted to fly. The GM can use these stats as a baseline, if the Defense22; Hull Integrity 4
party hasn’t tinkered with the ship in their adventuring. Speed 22; Maneuverability 4
Crew Full 64; Minimum 16; Total Complement 120
R.N.S. Coaltongue DESIGN
Gargantuan Vehicle Length250 feet; Beam 45 feet
Defense26; Hull Integrity 4 PropulsionPemberton-crafted arcane levitationals
Speed18; Maneuverability 8 Masts4, each 150 feet high; Decks 3
Crew Full 32; Minimum 4; Total Complement 200 TRAITS
DESIGN Skyship. Arcane levitationals allow this sea vessel to sail through
Length205 feet; Beam 50 feet the sky. The ship can fly at any altitude, and it is surrounded by a
PropulsionSteam engine with two propellers; Pemberton-crafted 30-foot aura of levitation. Any creature that starts its turn within
arcane levitationals the aura gains a fly speed of 40 feet until the start of its next turn.
OtherTwo-level central bridge; Decks 5 Once this flight wears off, the creature falls at a reduced rate,
TRAITS ignoring the first 1,000 feet of falling damage.
Skyship. Arcane levitationals have been added to this mighty vessel ARMAMENTS
that allow it to sail through the sky. The ship can fly at any altitude, Heavy Cannons. Eleven heavy cannons on the main deck fire to
and it is surrounded by a 30-foot aura of levitation. Any creature each broadside or can be oriented to fire forward or aft. Crew: 40.
that starts its turn within the aura gains a fly speed of 40 feet until Attack: +16 to broadsides, or +17 fore or aft.
the start of its next turn. Once this flight wears off, the creature
falls at a reduced rate, ignoring the first 1,000 feet of falling
damage.
Eldritch Defenses. The ship gains advantage on saving throws
against catching aflame. Any spells that originate more than 50
feet from the ship deal 40 less damage to targets within that area.
ARMAMENTS
Arcane Cannons. Dozens of cannons fire to either broadside. Crew:
100. Attack: +15 to broadsides. Can use acidic, flaming, freezing,
piercing, and shocking attacks, but no more than one in any given
round in a single firing arc.
Capacitor and Brand. The ship’s greatest weapons are its capacitor, Airships in Tactical Combat.
which magnifies the spells of mages who cast from the main deck, In the upcoming encounter the GM can still call for Command
and its brand, which can launch a blast of arcane flame from the checks to pull off maneuvers in close quarters, such as to ram effec-
prow. Capacitor: If a 10th- or higher-level spellcaster stands in tively, but usually the ships will move up to their speed at initiative
the capacitor on the main deck, the ship can make attacks with count zero, and can turn 45 degrees once during that movement.
a +17 bonus forward or aft, and can use acidic, flaming, freezing, As for naval weapons, the GM can either opt for the simple—the
and shocking attacks in any firing arc. However, it can apply no party’s ship can fire one volley every 10 rounds—or the compli-
more than one special trait in any given round in a single firing arc. cated—each round that there are sufficient crew, they can make two
Brand: The captain can choose to fire the brand, making an attack cannon attacks with disadvantage.
with a +20 bonus in the forward firing arc. This depletes the ship’s Attacks can target an enemy vessel and deal strikes, or target
store of arcane power, requiring 1d4 minutes to replenish. During creatures in a 5-foot radius burst within 1,000 feet. Against a crea-
that time, the ship’s speed is reduced by 4, and it cannot use its ture, each hit does 50 damage and knocks the target prone, or does
capacitor and brand. half damage on a miss.

Dragon-Riding?
So Harkover destroyed the party’s airship? Not to worry! Pemberton
can give the PCs guidance so they can teleport to his island lair a
to encompass the minds and hearts of thousands or millions of dozen miles from Axis Island. There Pemberton has a squadron of
people who believe in them. The shared faith — granted willingly, dragon fliers (first introduced in Zeitgeist #10: Godmind), which
not compelled — fills them with unbridled confidence. With a sin- the PCs can pilot into battle. They won’t have the survivability of a
gle gesture they can fulfill the will of myriads. Motes of dancing full airship, so smart PCs will try to board the Ob’s Revolution before
energy, like fiery blue moths only they can see, swirl before them they’re shot down, or land on the shoulders of the colossus.
and grow brighter as they move toward Axis Island. As their ship
nears the crux of the world’s fate, these manifestations of destiny Pemberton Dragon Flier
surge in the air like dolphins breaking above the waves at the Small Vehicle
prow of a ship under full sail. Armor Class14
Hit Points150
Mechanics and Boons. DESIGN
The benefits of the Sacrament of Apotheosis are detailed in Player’s Length20 feet; Width 5 feet
Handout: Final Sacrament. Additionally, the PCs have a number of PropulsionTwo levels of wings 25 feet wide, covered in glowing
boons they can choose from the list in that handout. The number white glyphs. Pemberton-crafted arcane levitationals. Nose and
of boons is equal to: wings decorated with mithral scales to resemble a dragon.
• The number of groups the party has Prestige 6 (to a maxi- TRAITS
mum of 5 — Risur, Flint*, Unseen Court, Family, and Ob); Arcane Ornithopter. Arcane levitationals allow this winged vehicle
plus to maneuver nimbly. If the levitationals are disrupted, or when the
• One if they saved Cherage in Zeitgeist #10: Godmind; plus flier is below 100 hit points, the flier travels at moderate speed.
• The number of disasters they averted in Zeitgeist #11: Ornithopter Flight. Each turn, the dragon flier’s pilot can set its
Gorged on Ruins (to a maximum of 3 — Ber, Drakr, and speed, adjusting it by one category, or two if the pilot expends
Crisillyir); plus a bonus action. Speed categories are idle (under 30 squares),
• The number of disasters they averted in this adventure (to a slow (31–60), moderate (61–90), fast (91–120), or ludicrous
maximum of 5 — Risur, Danor, Ber, Drakr, and Crisillyir. (121–160). If the flier’s speed falls to under 30 squares per round,
The PCs should choose which boons they gain as soon as they it stalls and falls. The flier is steered as part of the pilot’s move.
perform the Sacrament of Apotheosis. Be wary of the “at will in- The flier needs to move 2 squares per speed category before it
nate spell” boon; it’s intended to reflect godlike magic or a divine can turn 45 degrees (e.g., 8 squares at “fast”). The flier can also
gift, but it’d be far from impossble for knowledgeable players to ascend up to 12 squares per turn.
find a spell that might be, shall we say, problematic if suable at ARMAMENTS
will. Try to encourage your players to quickly pick a spell that is Autocannons. Lightning crackles from the nose-mounted engine,
thematically appropriate rather than tactically optimal. just behind twin autocannons. Autocannons are martial ranged
weapons. These have a range of 200/1,000 feet and they attack
* If the PCs befriended reporter Melissa Amarie in Zeitgeist #6: Revela- all creatures in a 5-foot wide line to maximum range, dealing 2d12
tions from the Mouth of a Madman, count Populist prestige as a separate damage to any creature hit (the pilot rolls a single attack against
score from Flint prestige, subject to the maximum of five boons. each creature in the line).

Sail on the Steel Breeze

Exploration. Montage.
It’s 550 miles to Axis Island, we’ve got a full bin of firegems, half a
pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing tinted goggles. Hit it.
As the party comes within sight of Axis Island, its shores are
dark, but some barely audible thrum reverberates, like hundreds of
bass drums playing asynchronously. The lashing tendrils of energy
from the Axis Seal rise into the sky, stretching out toward the lead-
ing edge of the Gyre as it rises over the horizon.
Only the faintest hints of human activity are visible around the
island’s perimeter, where hooded lanterns seek not to illuminate
tiny work crews as they busy themselves with digging equipment
and cranes. These crews have ensured all the petrified trees buried
in the island are stable and prepared for the ritual. Elsewhere, out
of sight but clearly audible, house-sized steam-powered machines
pound the bedrock in a mechanical approximation of a ritual
chant, channeling power into protective wards.
The fortress where the party first faced Asrabey and heard the
Duchess warn of a conspiracy is abandoned.
The forests they silently crept through when they first infiltrated and heaves the golden seal off his body. It crashes in an unoccupied
the island wait, motionless. space of the ritual field.
The island’s roiling terrain is stable, for all the chaos and trans- The titan then rolls onto crippled knees and his single intact
muting forces have been drawn to the Axis Seal. arm. The shattered pieces of his injured limbs lift from the ground
and slide into place with a metallic screech. The colossus bellows
Offered Sacrament. in pain, but then with a surprised gasp as strong as a gale, he shifts
Flying over the jungle hills, the party finally gets a view of the his weight and pushes himself to his feet.
ritual field itself, when they feel a tug at their thoughts. The ghostly form of Nicodemus rises into the sky and meets the
Images flash in their minds of a ghost solemnly stepping into the titan at eye level.
body of a nervous, shirtless man; of the man’s posture changing as
he is possessed; of chanting specters encircling him with entrails; “Borne, my boy,” Nicodemus says, and his voice is heard by everyone in
painting him with blood; slicing open his throat. the entire world. “We were sabotaged, but you were perfect, indomi-
Lights around the PCs darken for a moment. Winds thrash, table. Before you fell, you nearly completed our grand design.
graced with the subtle scent of blood and burnt paper and flesh. “The world we created truly is better, thanks to you, but outside
The PCs feel that they are being offered a choice. Do they be- forces,” and he gestures to the sky, clearly indicating your approach,
lieve in the Obscurati? If so, their faith will empower Nicodemus “were able to move against us. I have restored you, son. I know you are
(they are considered bonded to Nicodemus for his Welcome to the confused and have questions, but you have to trust me. Together, you
Obscurati trait.) and I, we’ll finish this ritual and set it all right. But first, we need to pull
Once they make their decision, one last vision shows the blood- those pests from the sky. Do you understand, Borne?”
painted body gurgle and sag to the floor, but Nicodemus’s ghostly The colossus turns his head to scan the entire horizon. He pauses at
form remains standing, flanked by the psychic impression of ten the sight of the Gyre, but only a moment passes before he narrows his
million minds. Then Nicodemus turns, and gestures. The vision eyes in a confident smile.
ends, but with their real eyes the PCs see the huge, crippled mass “Guide me, father.” e
of the Obscurati’s colossus stirs. He sits up weakly on the bedrock

En5ider 367 - ZEITGEIST 13 Avatar of Revolution Part 1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

En5ider 367 - ZEITGEIST 13 Avatar of Revolution Part 1

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

En5ider 367 - ZEITGEIST 13 Avatar of Revolution Part 1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

EN5ider Presents:

troduced his grand plan with these words:

From the Pen of Seamlessly Updated to Fifth Edition by

Evocative Cover Illustration by Ably Produced and Facilitated by

Stunning Cartographic Displays by Perceptively Proofread by

Masterful Interior Illustrations by Special Thanks to

with Unparalleled Layout and Graphic Design by Open Game Content

2 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

It turns out Pardo was not immune himself, though, as he sig-

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 3

Act One: World of Ruin. Time Is Tight.

4 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 5

6 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 7

You’re My Only Hope.

Nicodemus The Fall to the Dark Side.

8 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

Question Time. Switching Sides or

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 9

Alert Strike Force

10 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 11

No Rest for the Weary. The Big Goal.

12 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 13

14 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 15

An unsightly truss bridge is halfway-constructed, extending from

16 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 17

At any hostile action or attempt to stop the fire, Harkover adopts

Stopping the Explosion.

18 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 19

20 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

Harkover casts delayed blast fireball from afar as many times as

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 21

Versus Me and the Duplicant Mechanics.

22 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 23

24 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 25

26 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 27

28 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 29

Immediate Parade Defense Tower Defense

30 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 31

32 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

What Exactly Are We Cooking Up? Sacrament or Not?

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 33

34 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One | 35

Sail on the Steel Breeze

36 | EN5ider Presents: Avatar of Revolution, Part One

You might also like