Session 25: Runestones and Shadowmoon Salvage Report

General Summary

Previously

After passing through the 2nd foggy barrier, the party finds themselves in what they believe is Agaddon, or at least, what Agaddon has evolved into after 1000 years of isolation, now called Scatterpoint by its diverse inhabitants. The party gets caught in an intense runestorm, which triggers the animation of what they later learn are called rust puppets--metal debris animated by the storms or vengeful spirits. After defeating them, and nearly derailing a train in the process, they are provided shelter by a diverse group of travelers. The group includes

Root (a rag-tag mercenary, trapped here 20 years ago but originally from Greyspace)
Brocard Goodchild, a Ferren inventor. (Ferren = ratmen). He wears glasses, and a long green duster.
Giraldus the Loyal, Human, a Knight of the Order of the Blade. The order is dedicated to protecting those traveling across the wastelands, and he has joined this group to make sure they complete their mission safely.
Jagdramen, a Malakar Wayfinder. (Malakar, a race of grey skinned, half demons, Wayfinder = a guide through the Wastelands)
Edgar Kipps, an Overwrought Guard. Edgar is taciturn and bulky, with metal mechanisms grafted to his limbs. (Overwrought = humans who willingly go through the painful process of grafting and surgery to be strengthened in order to find work. Overwrought are given the most dangerous jobs in the city districts, and some, like Edgar, seek their fortune in the Barrens).

As they shelter from the storm together for a few hours in the overhang of one of the ruins, the party learns much about the current state of Scatterpoint, and its history. (See Scatterpoint Overview for PCs )

The city consists of two main divisions, districts and barrens. Each district is a metropolis in its own right with upwards of a million people typically working within a block of their residence.
Thirteen major districts exist. Chief among them is GreyMesa: the center of ScatterPoint, its bureaucracy, and the residence of the Autarch. Each district has its own distinct character but shares the common element of a tall centrally located runetower.
Nine barrens exist and are the broken bits of the city where no runetowers exist and lawlessness rules. The barrens are the homes to outlaws, Malakar tribes, some rogue settlements, and the legendary Demon Lords, the Talus. Most of these areas have been reclaimed by what passes for nature; witchgrass forests and tanglevine covering over what might have been a great mansion in centuries past.

After learning about (some of) the major factions, the party agrees to help Root's group complete their mission, retrieving a cache of runestones from a location a couple of days away. In return, they will be led a settlement in the Barrens called Shadowmoon Salvage. There, they can try to talk to the Andari Terridar ShadowMoon, who runs the settlement there in the area of the Barrens called Twisted Fields. Terridar is known to be obsessed with finding a way to return ScatterPoint to the realm it came from, and so Brocard recommends he might be the best person for the party to talk to next, if they are serious in their mission to return Scatterpoint to "The Land Before".

Session Notes

Retrieving the Runestones

Root insists (since the group is now short handed) that the party help the group accomplish their mission, which is to retrieve a cache of Runestones which Terridar believes exists in an mature stand of Witchgrass that was recently discovered in another area of the Twisted Fields.

The cache is a couple of days of travel away. (When Jessa learns that Runestones are spherical, polished bits of rock that naturally occur as a result of runestorm activity, and are used to power various runic devices, she becomes much more interested).
Once they retrieve the stones, they will return to Shadowmoon Salvage.
When asked, Root says they are likely to encounter bandits, demons, runestorms and slag rats (about the size of an alligator, very aggressive, with skin that is a hodgepodge of fur and scales)

The journey is eventful:

En route, they see various ruins, and Brocard explains (at length) that witchgrass is a tall, fast-growing, tree-like grass, with colors varying from black to indigo to red. Most stands of witchgrass are "picked clean" that is, relatively small, since mature stands are valuable commodity for making various things (like weapons, and armor, taking the place of wood. The material also takes enchantment well). Mature stands can grow to height of over 40', and generally witchgrass springs up in places where runestorms are frequent.
Brocard also tells them that the Talus and their minions the Malakar are more common in the Twisted Fields than other Barrens. And, along the way the party encounters a small Malakar war party (a dozen or so), but manages to remain undetected. Jagradamen describes them as a group "returning to its roots" as barbaric, otherworldly flesh eaters. Prax manages to distract some of the Malakar with a thrown rock, and leads the group around and away without a fight.
After the party camps for the night, and heads out the next morning, Zayer notices Edgar Kipps, the Overwrought Guard, getting twitchy, looking around, moving more slowly. When asked, Brocard explains that they are trying to find a natural rune well to recharge, and that they expected to find one the evenign before. (As an aside, he explains that this design requirement was imposed on the Overwrought after their uprising centuries ago, as a way of controlling them, and that in the districts the Overwrough have access to charging stations). Zayer tries to cast a modified healing to recharge Kipps, and is very, very successful. Kipps is gloriously recharged, and truly amped and grateful.
Eventually, they arrive at a dense, tall, shadowy stand of Witchgrass. The stand is much larger than Root's group expected, and it will pose a challenge to find the stones. Jessa modifies her Entangle spell to use the tanglevine to quickly expel as small shower of Runestorms, impressing Root's group (and saving them hours of searching).
Unfortunately, this also disturbs a nest of slag rats, which scurry out to attack. Windy steps forward, and using the attachment from the moonbase which he has figured out is a laser rifle, he goes full *pew pew pew* Death Blossom, killing a couple of the slag rats and scaring off the rest. As an encore, he uses his vacuum attachment to suck up a few more runestones.
The group ends up with a total of 11 runestones, with Jessa and Windy each insisting on taking one because of their contributions, leaving 9 to return to Terridar. Root agrees, since the party saved them hours of work.
On their return journey, they encounter a group of Corrupted Overwrought. (Brocard explains that a segment of the Overwrought have been corrupted somehow. Some suspect one of the Talus. As an alternative to the shackles of runic recharging, their energy source is the pain and suffering of others. Therefore, a typical encampment of Corrupted keeps a few humans shackled close-by, which the party sees here. Worse still, they are able to directly drain the life energies from an opponent in battle to power them. Rather than the bluish-white glow of energies that cascade through a typical Overwrought, the Corrupted glow with a pale reddish-black, especially noticeable when they are feeding upon their victims. The Corrupted are distracted with tormenting their prisoners, and BN Sue marshals a firing line, with BN and Prax firing their flintlocks, Jessa stunning with rainbow sounds waves, and Windy firing his freaking laser. Zayer finishes off the stunned ones, using a brutal application of Banish to purge the demonic forces from the Corrupted, killing them utterly. The party frees the handful of surviving slaves, but also recovers some gear, most importantly 6 FlintFlicker Fifty's (the local equivalent of a 6 shot revolver. Range 12/24/48, Damage 2d6+1, AP 1, ROF 1, Shots 6). Each of the party takes one, except for Hunter who has his laser rifle.

Shadowmoon Salvage

On way back, Brocard relates some information about Shadowmoon Salvage, and sifters in general.

Sifters are treasure hunters, combing the ruins in the Barrens, trying to find useful items. Considered shiftless by most, sifters are the rugged individuals who dig through the ruins looking for relics from the past. Whether passionate about history or wishing to strike it rich, they are unquestionably quite knowledgeable about the barrens and sometimes hire themselves out as guides.
ShadowMoon Salvage is known to everyone far and wide as one of the most successful of salvage companies in all of ScatterPoint. It is a success built by the rogue Andari Terridar Shadowmoon who supposedly refused a seat among the regents a couple of decades ago, after a couple of centuries working his way up through the bureaucracy of High Mesa. He withdrew into the Barrens, and established this settlement.
While there are junkyards on the periphery of every city district, ShadowMoon Salvage is thought by some as the best place for Sifters to bring their finds. Terridar makes sure they get a fair price, and that his settlement is secure. This has drawn many sifters here, though Terridar doesn't encourage any long term residents. (Though, it doesn't compare nearly with the scale of Mossmetal, also known as Salvage City, for the sheer number of sifters that pass through its gates). However, for people who wish to avoid entanglements with the Autarch's bureaucracy, city guards or (especially) the Sequitors, Shadowmoon Salvage is the place to go.
ShadowMoon Salvage doesn’t allow just anyone to enter. People have to have some type of trade goods.
Terridar Shadowmoon is said to be looking for a way to reunite ScatterPoint with the outside world. He has a passion for records dating back to before the Tempest that might have some clue on how to get the city back to the Land Before, and reviews anything unusual personally. As a Andari, he is interested in artifacts as well, but avoids interacting with them, since something in the makeup of the Andari tends to cause devices to malfunction.
Some believe Terridar founded the settlement specifically to draw sifters with ancient goods, because it was the most efficient way to scour the Barrens for whatever Terridar is looking for

When the party arrives, they find Shadowmoon Salvage as a rough, walled town (think steampunk Mad Max in the forest). The guard at the gate recognizes Root's group, but is reluctant to let the larger group in without trade goods. Prax shows off a few of the gadgets the party retrieved from the shuttle and the Vlleryn, and that is enough to persuade the guard. Inside the walls, it is half settlement, half junkyard market, with tents and stalls almost set up as a festival. Some well dressed types mixed in, browsing what sifters have brought in. A well-dressed merchant comes up to admire Windy, and asks to buy him. It takes quite a bit of persuading that a) Windy is not for sales, b) He is sentient, and c) the merchant should leave, now. Eventually he does. It doesn't take long for one of Terridar's smarter minions to realize that Terridar will want to see the party, and before long they find themselves with an audience.

Terridar Shadowmoon is handsome, somewhat arrogant, and dressed in a steampunk Victorian style. Andari generally have extremely pale white skin, a lean look about them, and their eyes constantly shift color and intensity. Terridar in particular has a bit of a wispy, occasionally insubstantial look about him.

Terridar is intrigued by Windy and the group in general, but is also suspicious when they say they are here to save Scatterpoint. He has had others who learned of this interest try to con him. However, the party's diversity intrigue him, and the devices and Windy convince him to listen.
When Zayer turns over his full notes on everything that they've learned and experienced since arriving in Runespace, Terridar sits down to read them. While he does, he orders refreshments brought, and asks the party countless questions. It takes hours, but eventually Terridar is convinced (by the notes, the discussion and Windy's fine whiskey)--and elated that his life's mission might finally be attainable.
He advises against going to the Autarch, or the other authorities. There is too much entrenched power in the status quo, and too many fears of change. He warns of some of the factions, including:
The Society of Entropy, reflects the worst moral decadence that immortality brings Andari, which (he believes) is worming its way into the powerful, and with nihilistic goals.
The Shadowpriests are hard to predict, since their sense of balance in the service of Lady Umbriel (which the party heard about in the Temple of the Four) can be interpreted in different ways.
He suggests that the party needs to find the site of the event that triggered the Tempest, and figure out how to adapt their device to the strange physical laws that apply here--because advanced technical devices tend to fail or have unanticipated consequences here.

He (as an Andari) can't help with the 2nd, but Prof. Edward Lassiter can. Lassiter is a brilliant Ferren scholar, the foremost authority on the ancient histories of ScatterPoint, and a renowned theoretical scientist. Lassiter was recently here, but has since moved on to Cog Castle (where he is intrigued by the theological aspects of the immortality that Lord Ashmoore of the First Church of the Converted promises) For the first, he is sure that Lord Valentine (who he has corresponded with for the last few years) at Stone Manor knows this info, but Valentine has refused to share it. According to Terridar, Lord Valentine is the only sentient being (other than the Talus) who was alive at the time of the Tempest. When the party learns that Lord Valentine is a vampire, they are not pleased, but agree he would be a better option than one of the Demon Lords. However, under further questioning, Terridar speculates wistfully about the Great Library, which no one has been able to gain access to in the history of Scatterpoint. When Zayer asks Terridar how he feels about the risk and disruption their plan may cause to the city, he says that it is necessary. He has devoted his life to freeing and returning Scatterpoint, even though their society is dependent on the Runestorms to power their machines and to feed their millions with the Meat Vats. It is necessary because this society has stagnated for centuries, between the immortal Andari ruling the bureaucracy and enforcing the status quo, and the strange physical laws here keeping the inventors from advancing technology. Things must change, if Scatterpoint is to live and thrive--even if it costs him and all the other Andari their lives. He believes it will, because the Shadowpriests believe the Andari have lost their life force when they first "died", with that life force replaced with runic energy. The party decides that they, with their resources and information from Paraxis, might be able to enter the Great Library, and find the information they need there. They decide on this plan:

They will first travel to the Great Library, taking the Knight Giraldus the Loyal as their guide at Terridar's recommendation (since he knows the Barrens, already knows of the party's mission, and seems trustworthy). Windy asks Terridar if he can keep Root and the others here and busy for at least a bit, to give the party a chance to get away before too many people learn of them. (Windy also asks for a hooded cloak to help disguise his appearance).
After hopefully learning of the location of the original Incident at the Great Library, the party will travel to Cog Castle to seek out Prof. Lassiter, who hopefully can help them figure out what they need to do.
If necessary, they will they travel on to Stone Manor to consult with Lord Valentine (and Terridar agrees to send a letter to Valentine to alert him to the party's mission).

Terridar agrees to outfit them with supplies and lizard mounts for the journey, and has Giraldus brought in to help plan their route.

Campaign

Vagabonds of Greatspace

Protagonists