Mystery Campaign Notes Session 5

Last time on the mystery campaign, the players interrogated witnesses to Clover Loom calling

for someone to break into Cogswagon's lab. We had ended on the note that the party would return

to Portia and check in before investigating Loom at her tower. Each of the interviewed witnesses

explained that Loom had loudly offered to pay people to break into Cogswagon's lab, and it became

clear to the party that Loom would hold the answers to what came next. The party hasn't investigated

Loom yet, which is party of the previous session's notes, but we need the outline for the following

session as well in case the party progresses. Let's look at the outline for this session:

Secret to discover:

The same mind control that was used on Clover Loom be can observed on a high roller who is

visiting Loom (Edgar Hillerman, owner of labor business)--they have also paid Sippikup Magee to

observe Cogswagon, but neither Loom nor Hillerman knew of the other’s agenda. 

Developments: Dirk St. Patrick indicates that he knows something about Ais’ secret.

Setup: The party has three reports that Clover Loom threatened Cogswagon and intends to follow up with Loom herself. 

Characters: 

First Guard - Portia Rockhammer, 160 dwarf, fighter

Inventor - Lyssbettonk Cogswagon, 189 gnome, wizard/artificer

High Roller 1 - Clover Loom, 84 halfling, rogue

High Roller 2 - Edgar Hillerman, 51 human, rogue

Thief/Spy - Sippikup Magee, 111 gnome, rogue

High Roller 3 - Lort Drenk, 40 orc, sorcerer

High Roller 4 - Riell Destin, 308 elf, wizard

Clues: 

While interrogating Loom, the party can sense her remaining mind control effects with a roll of 14 or

more on Investigation, Perception, Insight, or Arcana; an Arcana check of 14 or more will identify the

spell as mind control. Loom acts differently when talking about Cogswagon. 

The party is soon joined by Hillerman, Drenk, and Destin for a party--a 16 or more roll of Investigation,

Perception, Insight, or Arcana will indicate that someone else in the group is affected by the mind

control spell. A roll of 18 or more will indicate who, but Hillerman does not believe that he is affected

by the spell. 

Drenk (construction company) and Destin (fine goods distributor) speak highly of Sippikup Magee

as a corporation agent, but Hillerman will resist telling that he too has paid Magee; Loom admits it

outright if pushed because she believes she has done nothing wrong. 

Magee is free from signs of mind control--he hates the rich and fully cooperates. He says that

shadowing Cogswagon is an easy job and he hasn’t done anything, but he did witness the

turbanned figure breaking into Cogswagon’s lab. 

Bonus for keeping personal secret this session: +1 Persuasion/Insight checks

The secret to be discovered this session reveals that both Loom and Hillerman have been mind-controlled, which will require the party to recognize magic use. It also reveals that neither Loom nor Hillerman are guilty parties--in fact, they are victims to a larger scheme they are unaware of. This means that when we roleplay as Loom or Hillerman, we need to be irritable and confused about what's happening. Both will assert their innocence along with their ignorance of what's going on. But the party needs to get there first.

In developments, I note that Ais will have a run-in with Dirk St. Patrick, who will show his first awareness of Ais' secret. This can be done in any number of ways, and as you'll see from the way it actually played out, it does not have to be direct. St. Patrick is meant to be a wily one, and he will make his voice heard even as the story's louder concerns are answered first.

The setup is just a continuation of the story from last time. The players have reason to investigate Loom and need to follow up. You don't need anything fancy for your setup; you just need to move your players from where they are to where they're going. What matters here is that the players have a clear direction (investigate Loom) and that they know how to go about it (more on that below).

Our character roster once again includes Portia and Cogswagon; they remain vital figures in the campaign. It also includes Loom, Hillerman, the other high rollers in the scene, and Magee, who can provide a little information but largely illustrates that Loom and Hillerman are a dead end. This matters because we need to use this session to cast light on Loom and Hillerman's involvement so that the next step (catching whoever cast the mind control spell) is ready to go.

Our clues are more linear than previously written. Before, the party had the option to investigate three similar clues that all point in the same direction. This time, there are four sequential clues which each point the part in a continuous direction. This small change will have a big effect: rather than seeking to confirm information, the party will be following a string of information from point A to point B. Let's break down what these clues are doing.

First, the party observes that Loom has been mind controlled. This tells them that something larger than Loom is going on here. Then the other high rollers come in for a party. The party will be able to tell that one of them (specifically Hillerman if they roll well) is also affected by the spell. The third clue reveals that Sippikup Magee works for all four of the high rollers, which tells the party that Magee will hold information about Cogswagon. The final clue is that Magee hasn't targeted Cogswagon with a break-in or violence, but that he did witness the turbanned figure breaking into the lab.

The effect of all this information doesn't add up to much. The party will know that high rollers are being mind controlled but won't know who; they'll know that Magee wasn't involved in the crime, which means that they must progress through the story by investigating Loom and Hillerman more closely. Our next session will revolve around the party's discovery that Hillerman is innocent, but that he may know who hired the turbanned figure. This narrows the search from anyone in the city to a specific high roller. We're about halfway through the adventure as I've planned it, so I'm looking to narrow the field a bit before opening it back up (that's momentum for you).

So what did the party actually do in session 5? As was planned, they checked in with Portia at the guard headquarters. Portia advised the party that information from Loom would be difficult to verify, so they would only need to get information once to investigate it. This is a shift from the earlier session when Portia demanded confirmed information. I did this because the investigation has shifted from a network of similar clues to sequential clues. I also took a moment to tell the players out-of-game that the training wheels were off and they would be investigating without the safety net of confirmable information. I think something like this can be very helpful for players--let them know when the tenor of the game changes, otherwise they'll be expecting more of what you've already established.

The party started towards Loom's tower but was struck by inspiration: what if they presented themselves to Loom as a band of musicians? Montana could lead them and Ais and Beor could support his performance. So they resolved to go to band practice. On the way, they stopped at a stall and got some rabbit nuggets, traditional street food in Yamseth. Beor spent a while telling the chef how to use rabbit leather to make gloves--a moment that I recount because it took some time and because it characterized Beor as someone who is more interested in being helpful than he is aware of social conventions (Beor has been away from civilization for over a hundred years).

The band practice plan changed and the party went back to the Loom Healing Center to interview Tane Stonehauler again, this time about Loom's personality and idiosyncrasies. Looking for an excuse for being in the Healing Center, Beor directed Montana to drive a dagger deep into his forearm. With this alibi, they entered the Healing Center, found Beor, and interviewed him as he worked to heal Beor. Stonehauler offered what he could about Loom's tastes and frustrations, and the party headed off again. They were interrupted by a chaos storm, which gave Beor a third eye for an hour.

The party returned to Ais' house with the intention of putting together a plan for dealing with Loom. Arriving at the her place, Ais found a note nailed to the door from Dirk St. Patrick which read "Good day to the both of you." The party puzzled over this strange note and took some alone time; Montana carved wooden sculptures, Beor smoked his pipe, and Ais took a nap. They rejoined, made some plans, and resolved to visit Loom the following morning. They had learned that Loom's tower has a public staircase unlike most Above towers, but it takes over an hour to climb--they decided instead to go meet Quarsa Fielt at the Briscoe Inn for the brawl between her and Beor.

Quarsa and Beor fought fiercely for a while, and though Quarsa did more damage with each strike, she missed more often, and Beor claimed victory before things got too heated. (This was the first combat of the campaign, and I basically set it up as who could deal the most damage in five turns. Beor was slightly ahead, and so I had Quarsa miss her final attack, laugh at herself, and admit defeat. It seemed like a friendly but still exciting way to handle things.) After the fight, the party drank and talked about how much they appreciate working with each other; they headed back to Ais' place to sleep before the moon rose.

You'll notice that about half of the actions taken by the players in this session are roleplay-focused. They advance the plot in a small way--they talk to Portia and plan for Loom--but spend a lot of time doing things which characterize their avatars and add little else to the story. This is the kind of party this is. The players are invested in inhabiting the world in a genuine way, so I need to account for time spent on activities like this. As I've said before, you want your players to be engaged in this kind of activity--it means the players are invested. I can guarantee that players who invest in their characters like this get more out of the story than players who treat their characters as tools to investigate a story. So don't only allow this behavior; encourage it.

And again, I created an outline for a session with certain clues and events which didn't happen. As a result, the next session will begin with the party tackling Loom's party, meaning that they could conceivably move into the next session. I had to create the outline for the following session (which included devising profiles for every member of the Above) in order to be ready. I'm not a betting person, but if I were, I would say that the party won't crack into this newest session's notes immediately, but you have to be prepared. I'm happy to have more material than I need if it means I won't be caught off-guard.

Next time the party meets again, they'll be headed into the foundation of the second half of the campaign. It will be my job to steer the players through ever more challenging clues towards the ending. But for now, they will be on the cusp of learning just how much magic is involved in the mystery and just what members of the Above are like. Until then, happy gaming!

Back to the homepage (where you can find everything!)