TNU Play Report 10: Smugglers


Almuund stays behind to watch the printing press, because his player couldn’t make it to this session. I will be checking in with him to discuss his press-supervising soon and will write a mini report on the subject.

The rest of the party sets off to find the smugglers. It is a very foggy morning along the river valley, one of those days where you can barely see 10 feet ahead. As the party crosses the river by their campsite in 0311, they notice something odd: the sound of rushing water seems to come from above as well as below. Hant doubles back to the shoreline and climbs a tree, trying to get a better vantage. He can just make out what looks like moving water, about 20 feet above the regular river. He consults Akela and Cleo on the matter.

Cleo says it seems like wizard shit to her, and wizards are agents of Chaos so she does not trust them or what they do. When Hant presses her about what she does and why that’s different, she defends herself by saying that her order is carefully selected from those who will show enough restraint in the power they wield to not serve chaos. Hare House doesn’t let those outside have access to its secrets, so it has not been responsible for chaos encroaching further.

Akela decides that if the airborne water is dangerous, the solution is to keep walking away from it.

With Cleo’s guidance, the swamp of 0312 is navigable without difficulty and the party catches sight of the wooded island in the middle where the smugglers make camp (0213). Paths have been cleared to an old ruined villa in the center of the island where the smugglers take advantage of the dry land and something approaching a livable structure. Lookouts notice the party traversing the mud, so by the time they reach the villa, a small welcoming party has gathered.

Akela and Hant talk to the seeming leader of the outlaws, a man who says to call him Benjamin, which is almost certainly not his name. Akela introduces herself as Akela, Cleo introduces herself as Cleo, and Hant introduces himself as Jonas. Akela lays out what she needs: A team to hoist the press out of the water, and a means to transport it to the Thicket’s Collaboration (0208). Benjamin lays out the cost, 25 coins a day per man for 10 men for the hoisting, and same wage for 6 escorts during the transportation. Bargaining ensues. Hant in particular tries to convince Benjamin that he will need less people overall, though it is soon apparent that the numbers are to serve as safety from betrayal by the party as much as they are labor. Small concessions are made, and the choice of transport becomes a subject of debate. 0209 and 0310 are hard terrain to traverse. Getting the press in a boat, and then a cart when it reaches 0708, seems more feasible, though it opens up its own dangers.

The party strikes a deal for the actual hoisting, though not yet transport, of the press. Hant and Akela retire to the villa’s dining hall for the evening, meet the cook who tersely introduces himself as “The Cook,” and marvel at an ancient piece of taxidermy left sitting in the villa: a coyote sized dog with a crow’s head, so dusty that it could be mistaken for a statue. Akela’s dog Rowan hates it.

Rather than eat in the dining hall, Cleo goes hunting outside.

The villa map and contents I am using are an only mildly edited version of the Bandit’s Manse from Rakehell by Brian Yaksha, a book I’ve referenced quite often for this campaign.

Away from the party’s sight:
The Occult-Futurist scouts have arrived at the Molars of Leviathan (1407) and are giving their report to their superiors. Soon a force will be mobilized to scour the north for signs of more missing or dead Occult-Futurists. I rolled 2d6 to determine how long preperation will take, and the first team will begin the journey in about 4 days.

As part of Hant interrogating Cleo on her magic use, I informed the players that mechanically speaking she is a cultist and Hare House is a cult. They don’t know what sort yet, though.