Introduction to Gribbit

The party has five minutes to run before the cops arrive. A DC 10 Stealth check will let them escape without incident. IF they fail, a cop will stop them and ask if they saw anything and can be bluffed with a DC 10 Deception. When the party hide, they find a seedy market called Rapid Market with two half elves loitering outside. One is tall with long blond hair under a dark green skull cap. The other is shorter, with shoulder length dark hair and a tattered white bycockett aka a robin hood hat, a long black coat and a dark goatee. The tall one will greet them and say, "Hey guys if you wanna get into the market, you're gonna need to offer some solace to the fucking damned here." The other nods sagely. If the party try to fight them, the shorter one taps on the taller one frantically and the taller one says, "My bad guys, we're just independent entrepreneurs, trying to get our start up going. Would you like some of our products? Its just 15gp for a nickel bag!" They will both misty step away if the party persists. Zaufanie greets them at the ship and says that a packet ship brought a contract for them. The contract came from a prestigious trading house on Bral to pick up powderpuff leaves, a component of smokepowder. He tells the party that they should set a course for Anandia, to the northern pole where the capital of Longburrows in the county of Crispyleaf. There, the party needs to contact Harrison Looseleaf. Before all of this, after Zaufanie briefs the party, Rudewort mentions that Crewman Provato is missing. Crewman Gups went missing several weeks ago, but he was dirty, even by goblin standards so no one really cared and thought he slinked off the ship. He did find a rat tail. Some hooves were located in the crew quarters today, but there were no sheep on board.

Plot points/Scenes

Yet, the party needs to take a stop at Dragonrock, the closest port of call, to resupply. Upon approach, a horn of long sounding sends a message from a smaller asteroid orbiting Dragonrock. It says, "Prior to your docking at Dragonrock, you must present your papers at the customs office here on Wrymling Rock. A small armada is patrolling around Dragonrock and seems to be docking at this smaller asteroid. On Wyrmling Rock, a small detachment consisting of an officer, a noncommissioned officer and five soldiers approach the Widdershins. The officer, Captain Ilya Stepanovich Volkonsky, asks to talk to the captain or bridge officer. He will inform them that they will need to register their ship at the Fang, the headquarters of the 1st Guards Separate Streltsy Regiment. The party will be taken to the Sub-Colonel Volodymir Andreivich Volkonsky. He will explain the extra precautions because the automatons on Dragonrock went on a rampage in the city. The 1st Guards Separate Regiment was established along with the 1st Dragonrock Fleet. Tensions with the IEN are rising, but they could not argue since the rampage was too great an excuse to object. Volodymir is a grizzled veteran of about 40 years, a long scar on his left cheek and a close cropped haircut. He wears a battered but serviceable breastplate. He will accept the party's paperwork and warn them. "Listen to an old soldier who served alongside your Zaufanie. Things on Dragonrock are as bad as I've ever seen them. The Boyars are close to all out war. I recommend you find whatever friends you have and hold them close. I am exiled here, likely to keep me from the fray that is coming. If you have any contacts in the city, I'd find them and use them. Daggers are going to drawn and the shadows are coming out to extinguish the light. 1. Faddius has contacts in the Seeker's library. The Seekers will tell them what happened and demand that Faddius investigates the true cause of the automaton insurrection. The one lead is the beggar king who knows the truth. 2. Garlith knows Cheap Street Charlie and Charlie will come collecting, leaving his usual spot when he hears Garlith came into port. Charlie will say that circumstances have changed and he needs to collect on the debt. Gribbit is getting antsy and may plan on having him come in to pay personally. 3. Father Myshkin and Brassons can be found in the Ocean's Wake. They will be discussing how the automatons went nuts and began attacking people. Myshkin will say it has baffled the streltsy. Tensions have been rising with the elves and the boyars are at each other's throats. The Lampadniks have support among the boyars now and they were gaining mercenaries before the 1st Guards was set up to vet ships coming to the city. 4. The Golden Hills district is a fortress now. Improvised crenelations and cover dot the town homes and the outer homes are barricaded and fortified. New gates greet every street with more guards. Non-humans are flocking here, seeking refuge from the Lampadniks engaging in violence. No one has been murdered...until last week. Captain Suvorov will demand the party comes to his office. There was a murder. It was a gnome caught in the Immediacy after dark. Evidence shows it was a Lampadnik and a high up one. (Impression of a signet ring worn by the higher echelons was made against the cheek of the gnome in the struggle). He can't trust anyone except the lieutenant. He is paranoid of the desk sergeant--the cheery one. 5. Colonel Yussopov will tell the party that there is a network of what he calls Apparatchiks, low level bureaucrats who have been covering up everything. The shadow mansion, the golden hill murders, Mr. Popansa, the automatons, the missing gauntlet, all of them are connected. He suspects the Lampadniks are connected as well but can't prove it. He has no contacts in the criminal world, but suspects there may be information there.

Parent Plot

The Man of Long Shadows

Related Organizations