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| The following rules introduce a concept called '''aspects''' to [[system::Exalted]]. Aspects as a concept are lifted from a game called ''Spirit of the Century'', where they form the core mechanic of the game. Their use in Exalted is not so radical, however. Instead, aspects expand and enhance the stunt system.
| | Since this campaign starts and stops with ''long'' intervals between sessions, this page will hold a quick recap of the various chapters. This isn't meant to be fully detailed, just a quick refresher of memory. |
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| The goals of these rules are: | | == The Unopenable Chest == |
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| * To increase the use of stunting.
| | Through some shenanigans involving two merchants and some ogres, the group wound up in possession of a semi-legendary "unopenable" iron chest. Seeking to open the chest, the group hears about an item that can open any lock, and some digging leads them to an abandoned house in Oldtown. |
| * To provide both mechanism and incentive to inject more character depth and characterization into the game.
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| * To provide incentive for players to voluntarily suggest interesting things that are true to their character, but may not be in their best interest.
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| Explaining aspects runs the risk of a chicken-and-egg problem: it's hard to understand what aspects are until you see how they work, but it's also hard to explain how they work without explaining what they are. So, this document will introduce what they are in a very general way at first, then show how they work, then explain what they are in a more involved way.
| | == Pythoness House == |
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| Put simply, an '''aspect''' is a short phrase that describes an interesting facet of a character's personality. Every character will have a handful of these aspects (less than ten, usually). An important part of aspects is that they are not intrinsically good or bad for the character (though they often lean one way or the other). The point of aspects is that they are ''interesting'' and ''evocative''. When reading a list of aspects, you should get a pretty clear idea of that character's personality.
| | The house has a sordid history, most recently as a brothel and haven for a cult called the Crimson Coil, until raided by the Knights of the Pale. After decimating the cult, the Knights cast a spell that prevents them from entering the the house again, unaware that a cache of chaositech weapons remains hidden in caverns under the house. Unable to retrieve them, surviving cultists leave the house abandoned, but ratmen, undead and various other creatures take up residence. |
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| More to the point, aspects act as a way of both indicating and facilitating the type of things you want to see your character do in the game. You will be able to use your character's aspects in various ways in the game, but just their existence helps the Storyteller figure out how you want to see your character shine.
| | The group clears the house thoroughly, killing most of the inhabitants, including a demon, and helping a ghost find final rest. They discover many signs of the chaos cult in the house, including a book that details a number of the cults, as well as their obsession with bringing about the '''Night of Dissolution''', when chaos will overwhelm the world. They also find the cache of weapons, one of which is the key they have been seeking. |
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| == Rules changes == | | == Wuntad == |
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| === No more Nature ===
| | Unknown to the group, when they entered the subterranean levels of the house, they set off an alarm set years before, prior to the Knight's raiding the place. This alerted one of the cult members who survived the raid, a half-demon named [[Wuntad]]. He and several other cultists reach the house before the group leaves. Though the spell still prevents them from entering, they manage to spot the group and offer to let them leave freely if they surrender the weapons. The group refuses and a battle breaks out. Though some of the cultists are killed, the group is badly hurt and forced to retreat back into the house. |
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| Every character has a Nature. This will be transmuted into the aspect system (as will be explained in "Initial aspects", below) and the basic rules surrounding them will be ditched.
| | Still refusing to give Wuntad the weapons, the group decides to try to wait out the cultists, hoping that once daylight comes, the cultists will be more conspicuous, possibly alerting outside forces to help the group. In response, the cultists bring in reinforcements, including teams that begin to assemble catapults. The group, hiding down in the subterranean levels, hears stones starting to smash into the building; however, before daybreak, a large bronze dragon lands on top of the house and electrocutes most of the cultists and drives the rest away. Not actually witnessing this, the group's only hint of it (beyond the obvious carnage) is a bronze dragoneye token on the roof, and reports of it in the [[Dissolution News - 17th of Growth, 721|following day's newspaper]]. |
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| === Aspects added ===
| | The same newspaper also reports that a large barbarian army threatens Tarsis, a historical capital of the empire. |
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| All characters get a certain number of '''aspects'''. There is no xp or other cost for this; all characters just have them.
| | == The Knights == |
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| === Stunt levels ===
| | Returning with the key to the Path of Iron monastery, the box was opened to reveal a number of fire-based magic items, experiments of a well-known wizard. The group was allowed to keep these, as the monastery was interested only in the box itself. |
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| The basic notion of stunts is changed very slightly, mostly in the language used to talk about it. All dice rolls will now have a '''stunt level'''. This starts out at zero, but can increase in various ways (see below). For each stunt level, a bonus die is added to the roll and, if the roll succeeds, two motes are restored to the character making the roll. The character can, if they choose, forgo four such restored motes in favor of regaining a point of temporary Willpower. (This is all pretty much the same as before, just a bit more formal.)
| | Not keen on using the chaositech weapons themselves, the group took them to the headquarters of the Knights of the Pale, suggesting that they be destroyed. This the Knights did, appreciating the effort and the news of the chaos cults from the previous night. |
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| Stunt level can be increased as follows:
| | == Iltumar == |
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| '''Describing well'''
| | After days spent more fully healing, spending their spoils and training, the co-owner of the Bull and Bear Armory, Hirus Feek, tells the group that his employee, Iltumar Shon has been missing for several days. They hired one Lavis Fallomire to track him down, but she disappeared as well. They ask the group to take a look at the last place Lavis mentioned to Hirus, loaning a few suits of armor for the duration. |
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| Providing a cool description of the roll being made beyond a simple "I hit the guy with my sword" increases the stunt level by one.
| | The group finds a small house being used to perform bizarre surgical procedures that meld chaositech onto human bodies. The party realizes that this may be the work of the Surgeon of the Shadows, almost an urban legend within Ptolus for performing this kind of work on kidnapped victims. After finding both Iltumar and Lavis, and killing most of the strange inhabitants of the house (as well as some on the roof), the group sees the Surgeon of the Shadows. He sees them as well, and teleports away. |
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| '''Awesome feats'''
| | No longer looking to join the chaos cult, Iltumar reveals numerous things he overheard various cultists: |
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| If the description collectively makes the table say "holy crap!" or something similarly awe inspiring, it further increases the stunt level by an additional one.
| | * The cultists are up to something big and believe they can bring about the Night of Dissolution. |
| | * The cultists speak frequently of something that is going to happen in the sky soon. |
| | * The cultists are about to destroy a powerful anti-chaos device in a place called the "Kaleidoscope Temple". |
| | * The Cult of the Ebon Hand is actually a chaos cult involved with all these others. They have a temple in the Temple District. |
| | * The Cult of the Ebon Hand and the Brothers of Venom have some joint project, centered on a certain location in Oldtown. |
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| '''Invoking aspects'''
| | This last bit makes sense of some papers found on one the cultists killed by the group, the address of an apartment in Oldtown. |
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| When making any kind of roll, a player can '''invoke''' one of their character's own aspects to help explain the roll's motivation and importance. That is, you can say something like "my character has aspect X, and that helps this action for the following reason". The idea is that the aspect is so ingrained into the nature of your character, that the character can take advantage of that aspect of his or her personality to do better.
| | == The Approaching Horde == |
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| When an aspect is invoked, it adds one to the roll's stunt level. Invoking an aspect has no cost, but you can only invoke one of your own aspects per roll.
| | While gearing up to raid the apartment, the [[Dissolution News - 21st of Growth, 721|newspapers]] are full with stories about the barbarian horde, which bypassed Tarsis entirely, and now seems to be headed right for Ptolus. |
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| Both the Storyteller ''or other players'' can object to an aspect invocation, but this should be rare to non-existent; you invoking an aspect is much like a statement saying "I want this scene to move ''this'' way." The ''player'', however, as the final say on if an aspect is invoked.
| | == The Apartment == |
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| '''Tagging aspects'''
| | The group raids the apartment in Oldtown, finding it filled with mutated thralls in cocoons, violet slime, nests of chaos-spawned insects and some spellcasting cultists. Two different cults appear to be at work in the apartment, but those from the Brothers of Venom appear to have killed one from the Ebon Hand just before the group arrived. This cultist, evidently named Reggaloch was warned of such treachery, as the group finds this note on him: |
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| At the start of each scene, the Storyteller will notify the players of any aspects that apply to either the set or scene itself. For example, a scene on a ship might have "Complex Rigging" or "Rotting Deck" as aspects. The scene might be "Dripping With Lust" or "Quiet as the Grave" or "Tensions on a Hair Trigger". Character actions can sometimes create aspects on a set, such as "Raging Inferno" or "Swiftly Sinking".
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| | Reggaloch,<br/> |
| | I agree. The Brothers of Venom likely do plan violent treachery so they can be in sole control of the venom-shaped thralls. You should leave and find Malleck in the Ebon Hand Temple, to tell him what’s going on.<br/> |
| | —Rhinnis |
| | </blockquote> |
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| When making a roll, any character can '''tag''' an aspect of the set or scene, provided they explain how they are using that aspect to their advantage on the roll. Doing so adds one to the roll's stunt level.
| | The group also finds an opening into a pit that seems to lead to a sewer system. A bit spent, they leave and return the following day to investigate it. |
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| In some rare cases, a character may be able to use the aspect of a friendly character in a similar way to the way scene or set aspects are used. For example, an acrobatic character might be able to tag a friend's "Solid As a Rock" aspect to use him as a "hard surface" off which he can rebound.
| | == Temple of Deep Chaos == |
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| Only one aspect can be tagged per roll.
| | The sewers lead to a door that opens into a series of underground rooms. The group gets ambushed by a swarm of ratmen, with spellcasters of some kind attacking them through a peep hole. With the help of a huge fire elemental (original from the iron box), the group took down their attackers, eventually finding stairs that led into an even deeper level, this one more luck an old part of the city that had been buried. |
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| As before, anyone can object; in this case, however, the Storyteller has the final word on if an aspect can be tagged.
| | After fighting yet another concealed opponent (this one summoning monsters on them from a hiding place in the ceiling), the group also killed a spider-like, spellcasting creature of some kind, on whom they found a note addressed to the "Brothers of the Quaan": |
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| '''Exploiting aspects'''
| | <blockquote>The chaos cultists prepare something big. They talk of a huge machine in the caves beyond, and of something called the Final Ritual, which will be performed beneath a temple.</blockquote> |
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| Characters may become aware of the aspects of other characters, or may be able to ''assume'' that a certain type of aspect exists on that character. When making a roll against a target, if the target really does have that aspect (or one similar), a character may be able to '''exploit''' that aspect.
| | The group also gets into another fight, with more thralls and ratbrutes. Further down the corridor, they find a room contain both traps and a medusa. While they avoided the trap fairly well, half of the party gets turned to stone before they bring down the medusa. Rifling through the medusa's belongings uncovers a map to part of the temple they are in, with a note about "the machine" being down the "long passage". |
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| The character must explain how he his using the target's aspect to his own advantage. Such explanation usually involves taking advantage of the target's nature. For example, in an attempt to manipulate someone with an aspect like "Cheerfully Optimistic" might involve a lie that assumes the most optimistic outcome, neglecting to mention more likely results. An aspect like "Moves Like Lightning" might be exploited by using the target's quick reflexes against them.
| | Using a bed as a sort of stretcher, they retreat out of the temple, use some scrolls to depetrify and return. Waiting for them in the rooms they previously cleared is an infernal centaur with demon backup. |
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| If an aspect is exploited on a roll, the stunt level of the roll increases by one. Only one aspect can be exploited per roll.
| | After dispatching these and some other creatures, they come to a crossroads. In one direction is pretty clearly the "long passage" from the map. In the other is an intriguing iron door. They check the door first, revealing a small room following by another door. After three manage to survive setting off a trap that locks them in the small room with poison gas, they decide to go the other direction and go down the long passage. |
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| Exploiting works a bit differently that invoking or tagging an aspect. First, the player of the ''target'' must agree to be exploited. (Where NPCs are concerned, the default will be for them to always agree to exploits, unless there is a compelling reason why they wouldn't, as this is generally more interesting.) Second, while the bonus stunt die for the roll are awarded to the character rolling, the motes are divided evenly among the attacker and the target if the roll succeeds. If the roll ''fails'', the target is still awarded half of the motes, just as if it succeeded.
| | On the way, they run into more evidence of different chaos cults attempting to work together, but failing. Three Brothers of Venom (one dead) are fighting a minotaur that, based on his tattoos, probably belongs to the Ebon Hand. What starts as a non-lethal attempt to figure out what's happening devolves into webs and fire, leaving all the cultists dead but one of the Brothers, who now sleeps. |
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| Players who are the targets of a roll may volunteer to have one of their own aspects exploited on the roll, assuming they provide a good reason why and assuming the rolling character agrees.
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| === Rewarding aspects ===
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| Outside of the stunt system, a ''significant'' event that reinforces, justifies or was largely due to a character's aspect may '''reward''' that aspect. When this happens, the character regains a point of temporary Willpower. (This is somewhat similar to the way Nature worked.)
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| Such rewards occur after a scene is over. It is possible for a scene to reward more than one aspect. The Storyteller decides if various aspects are rewarded, but players should bring up possible aspect rewards as well.
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| === Compelling aspects ===
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| A character's aspects may be '''compelled''' to essentially force the character to follow the aspect. This can be done in or out of combat, but is usually done during more social interaction.
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| Someone trying to compel an aspect must know (or suspect) that the aspect (or something similar) exists. The target must agree to the compel for it to work, and if they do the target regains a point of temporary Willpower, but must act according to the aspect.
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| This works largely as a negotiation, with someone indicating how they are trying to manipulate the target using an aspect. This can be an active manipulation attempt by one character against another, or might be the Storyteller suggesting that the character might act a particular way, offering a point of Willpower to do so.
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| While a compel cannot force a specific behavior, someone accepting a compel must "be true" to the aspect for the duration of the scene. Compels always result in some sort of complication for the character. Compels are intended to be dramatic and meaningful and, therefore, somewhat rare.
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| Players can also compel their own characters, suggesting that the character would want to "be true" to the aspect, even though doing so makes them act counter to their own interests. In this case, the Storyteller needs to agree for the compel to work, and award the Willpower if so.
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| == Selecting aspects ==
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| Aspects are short phrases that describe some facet, focus, relation or even obsession of a character. Aspects are best when they make the character ''interesting'', or when the phrase itself conjures up specific images. For example, an aspect like "Cult Member" is OK, but it a bit bland. Something like "Cult of the Illuminated" is a bit more exciting, providing a link to a specific cult, and implying things about the character as an extension of the cult. Something like "Traitor to the Illuminated Cult" may be even better, suggesting a very specific relation to the cult, some sort of dark past perhaps, and a pretty good indication that somewhere along the line, the character and the Cult will have a falling out. Similarly, "Strong" is OK, "Strong as an Ox" a bit better and "Adamantine Muscles" even better. As another example: "Architect" is OK and "Master Designer" says a bit more, but "Disciple of Kal Bax" says even more (Kal Bax being one of the best architects ever in Exalted lore), suggesting not only what the first two do, but also a specific style, and a link to a specific person.
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| === Aspect types ===
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| Aspects tend to fall into a number of "families". These are rough divisions, and many aspects will fall into more than one of these, but they are listed here to suggest some ways to think about the aspects you want.
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| * Traits: the aspect describes a trait of the character, such "Strong as an Ox", "Knows Too Much", "Barbarian", "Short Fuse", "Grumpy", "Smartest Guy in the Room", etc.
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| * Places: the aspect references a place, and is acts as a bit of shorthand for all the implications the place conjures up. A character in our modern real world, for example, might have aspects like "Southern Hospitality", "Long Island Driver", "Chicago Cop" or something similar. In Exalted, something like "Chiaroscuro Nights" might represent a lifetime of dealing with ghosts, for example.
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| * Events: the aspect references an event, usually one in which the character took part. A terrestrial, for example, might have an aspect like "Futile Blood", referring to the Battle of Futile Blood, where the Tepet Legions were destroyed. The character has some deep connection to the event, that could manifest in various ways when the aspect is used.
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| * People: the aspect references other person, usually with a specific relationship. For example, "Secret Enemy (Bob)" or "Unrequited Love (Sally)" or "War Buddies (Alex)" could be aspects. Something like "Loyal Sidekick" might work as well.
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| * Catch Phrases: the aspect is a literal quote; something the character typically says. Some examples are "'Today is a good day to die'" or "'I find your lack of faith disturbing'" or "'Yeah... too quiet'" or "'Cover me!'" or "'If my calculations are correct'". Note that use this aspect need not involve actually saying this phrase, but rather invoking what the phrase implies.
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| === Aspect camps ===
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| Aspects simultaneously fall into two different "camps", though, again, this is not a hard rule. You usually will want some of both:
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| * Story aspects suggest one or more sources for stories involving the character by bringing in an ''external'' element. People aspects are good examples of this, but other type can be as well.
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| * Situational aspects imply the ''kind'' of situation the character might be in, more than the ''origin'' of those situations.
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| === Why take "bad" aspects? ===
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| Consider an aspect like "Sucker for a Pretty Face". This seems like something that could only ever be a disadvantage. So why pick them? The reason is: you ''want'' that kind of trouble. Mechanically, compelling or exploiting your own "bad" aspects can regain you motes or Willpower in a way you still have a bit of control over. Story-wise, this sort of thing makes characters deeper, the story better and generally make the game more fun. You can imagine a few ways that "Sucker for a Pretty Face" might make for a memorable game session, for example.
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| Even "good" aspects are better if they offer some way to turn them against your character (or, more correctly, allow you as a player to turn them against yourself).
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| For any aspect, try to think of three situations where you might use that aspect. If you think of at least one positive and one negative way, chances are the aspect will work quite well. Generally, you want to go for something that is ''interesting'', rather than ''good'' or ''bad''.
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| === Sample aspects ===
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| * Alone in a Crowd
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| * Architect of Distruction
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| * Barbarian
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| * Been There, Done That
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| * Biggest Sword in the Room
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| * Black Sheep
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| * Bookworm
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| * Collector
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| * Deadly Silence
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| * Death Defying
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| * Deathbed Legacy
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| * Dreamer
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| * Dogged
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| * Easy Mark
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| * Eavesdropper
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| * "The Empire must die!"
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| * Enemy: Mask of Winters
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| * Essence is a Harsh Mistress
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| * Eureka!
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| * Fearless
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| * Femme Fatality
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| * A Fistful of Truth
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| * Fly by Night
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| * Friends in Low Places
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| * Girl in Every Port
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| * Good Intentions
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| * Great Expectations
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| * Hard Boiled
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| * Haunted
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| * Heart of Gold
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| * Hidden Agenda
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| * Hidden Crush (someone)
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| * Hive of Scum and Villany
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| * I Know a Guy
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| * "It works on paper!"
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| * It Takes a Theif
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| * Interesting Times
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| * Jungle Law
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| * Naïve
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| * Nosy
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| * On the Run
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| * One of the Guys
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| * One Step Behind
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| * Player or Pawn?
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| * Raised by Wolves
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| * Respected Authority
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| * Scrappy
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| * Seat of My Pants
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| * Shadowed Purposes
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| * Short Fuse
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| * Silver Spoon
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| * Social Chameleon
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| * Soft Hearted
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| * Something to Prove
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| * "Something's not right"
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| * Strange Luck
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| * Sultan's Wrath
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| * Troublemaker
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| * Trusting
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| * Twitchy
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| * Two Fisted
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| * Unnecessary Force
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| * Veteran
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| * Well Travelled
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| * Work in Progress
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| == Initial aspects ==
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| Characters start with a certain number of aspects. The total number of these will generally remain constant, barring an extraordinary event.
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| * All characters select one aspect for each dot of Essence they have. When essence increases, a new aspect is added (often related to the quest that led to the Essence gain).
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| * All characters also select one aspect that reflects the primary nature of the character. For existing characters, translate the character's Nature into an aspect of some kind.
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| * All celestial exalts also have an aspect related to their general nature as the exalted of a certain god. By default, this aspect is "Chosen of the Unconquered Sun", "Chosen of Venus", "Chosen of Luna", etc. Abyssal default to "Corrupted by [Deathlord name]". If you wish, you can change this to be more evocative of the reason the character was exalted, such as "Priest of the Unconquered Sun", "Solider of Mars" or something similar.
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| * All types of exalted have an aspect related to their caste. This aspect can be anything, but must be related to the "stereotypical" role and purpose of the caste. A dawn caste might pick "Glorious Warlord", for example, while an eclipse might take "Prickly Negotiator". For terrestrial exalts this aspect relates to the nature of their favored element. Sometimes the "sobriquets" listed for each caste make good aspects.
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| * All solar and lunar exalted have one aspect related to their Limit Break condition. If this aspect is ever exploited or compelled, the character gains a point of Limit.
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| * All sidereal exalted have an aspect related to the tenuous nature of their own identity. This defaults to something like "Man of Many Faces" or "Forgotten in a Second", but can be anything similar. If this aspect is ever exploited or compelled, the character gains a point of Paradox.
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| * All abyssal exalted have an aspect related to the weakness that allowed them to be corrupted. If this aspect is ever exploited or compelled, the character gains a point of Resonance.
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| * All alchemical exalted have an aspect related to their machine-like tendencies. If this aspect is ever exploited or compelled, the character gains a point of Clarity.
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| * All terrestrial exalted have an aspect that must be related to their family or lineage.
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| * All characters must choose an aspect related to their highest Virtue (for solars and lunars, this must be the Virtue connected to Limit). If this aspect is ever exploited or compelled, the character must fail a test of that Virtue in order to refuse the exploit or compel.
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| * When a character must make a sacrifice to learn sorcery, in addition to whatever sacrifice they make, they must also replace an aspect with one related to that sacrifice.
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| == Changing Aspects ==
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| Aspects tend not to change, but sometimes it makes sense within the story that they do. For example, if you have some aspect related to achieving a goal and you realize that goal, the aspect is now moot and should be replaced with something else.
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| Naturally, some aspects, like those related to Limit or caste, are more resistant to change than others.
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| There are no mechanics for doing this, but if you have a good reason to change an aspect, mention it to the Storyteller.
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| == Aspects in Action ==
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| Figuring out aspects of major NPCs (in progress).
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| === Cruxis ===
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| * Working the System (Nature aspect - Bureaucrat)
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| * Chosen of the Unconquered Sun
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| * "Fucking zombies" (caste aspect)
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| * "What a waste" (limit condition aspect)
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| * Defender of Beauty (virtue aspect - Compassion)
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| * Social Chameleon
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| * Mr. Right Now
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| * Gift for Numbers
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| * Dirty Rotten Scoundrel
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| === Jorias ===
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| * Take One For the Team (Nature aspect - Martyr)
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| * Sorcerer of the Unconquered Sun
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| * Voice of Reason (caste aspect)
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| * Not on My Watch (limit condition aspect)
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| * Let Me Help You (virtue aspect - Compassion)
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| * Power at a Price (terrestrial circle sorcery sacrifice)
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| * Forgotten Family (celestial circle sorcery sacrifice)
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| * "I read this book once…"
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| * Bring the Steel Rain
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| === Regret ===
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| * Whatever It Takes (Nature aspect - Survivor)
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| * Fugitive From Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears
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| * Child of Blood (caste aspect)
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| * Easily Led (weakness aspect)
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| * Put Them Out of Their Misery (virtue aspect - Compassion)
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| * Disloyal Imperial Postman
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| * Now You See Me, Now You Don't
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| * Deadeye
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| * Fists Like Pistons
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Since this campaign starts and stops with long intervals between sessions, this page will hold a quick recap of the various chapters. This isn't meant to be fully detailed, just a quick refresher of memory.
The Unopenable Chest
Through some shenanigans involving two merchants and some ogres, the group wound up in possession of a semi-legendary "unopenable" iron chest. Seeking to open the chest, the group hears about an item that can open any lock, and some digging leads them to an abandoned house in Oldtown.
Pythoness House
The house has a sordid history, most recently as a brothel and haven for a cult called the Crimson Coil, until raided by the Knights of the Pale. After decimating the cult, the Knights cast a spell that prevents them from entering the the house again, unaware that a cache of chaositech weapons remains hidden in caverns under the house. Unable to retrieve them, surviving cultists leave the house abandoned, but ratmen, undead and various other creatures take up residence.
The group clears the house thoroughly, killing most of the inhabitants, including a demon, and helping a ghost find final rest. They discover many signs of the chaos cult in the house, including a book that details a number of the cults, as well as their obsession with bringing about the Night of Dissolution, when chaos will overwhelm the world. They also find the cache of weapons, one of which is the key they have been seeking.
Wuntad
Unknown to the group, when they entered the subterranean levels of the house, they set off an alarm set years before, prior to the Knight's raiding the place. This alerted one of the cult members who survived the raid, a half-demon named Wuntad. He and several other cultists reach the house before the group leaves. Though the spell still prevents them from entering, they manage to spot the group and offer to let them leave freely if they surrender the weapons. The group refuses and a battle breaks out. Though some of the cultists are killed, the group is badly hurt and forced to retreat back into the house.
Still refusing to give Wuntad the weapons, the group decides to try to wait out the cultists, hoping that once daylight comes, the cultists will be more conspicuous, possibly alerting outside forces to help the group. In response, the cultists bring in reinforcements, including teams that begin to assemble catapults. The group, hiding down in the subterranean levels, hears stones starting to smash into the building; however, before daybreak, a large bronze dragon lands on top of the house and electrocutes most of the cultists and drives the rest away. Not actually witnessing this, the group's only hint of it (beyond the obvious carnage) is a bronze dragoneye token on the roof, and reports of it in the following day's newspaper.
The same newspaper also reports that a large barbarian army threatens Tarsis, a historical capital of the empire.
The Knights
Returning with the key to the Path of Iron monastery, the box was opened to reveal a number of fire-based magic items, experiments of a well-known wizard. The group was allowed to keep these, as the monastery was interested only in the box itself.
Not keen on using the chaositech weapons themselves, the group took them to the headquarters of the Knights of the Pale, suggesting that they be destroyed. This the Knights did, appreciating the effort and the news of the chaos cults from the previous night.
Iltumar
After days spent more fully healing, spending their spoils and training, the co-owner of the Bull and Bear Armory, Hirus Feek, tells the group that his employee, Iltumar Shon has been missing for several days. They hired one Lavis Fallomire to track him down, but she disappeared as well. They ask the group to take a look at the last place Lavis mentioned to Hirus, loaning a few suits of armor for the duration.
The group finds a small house being used to perform bizarre surgical procedures that meld chaositech onto human bodies. The party realizes that this may be the work of the Surgeon of the Shadows, almost an urban legend within Ptolus for performing this kind of work on kidnapped victims. After finding both Iltumar and Lavis, and killing most of the strange inhabitants of the house (as well as some on the roof), the group sees the Surgeon of the Shadows. He sees them as well, and teleports away.
No longer looking to join the chaos cult, Iltumar reveals numerous things he overheard various cultists:
- The cultists are up to something big and believe they can bring about the Night of Dissolution.
- The cultists speak frequently of something that is going to happen in the sky soon.
- The cultists are about to destroy a powerful anti-chaos device in a place called the "Kaleidoscope Temple".
- The Cult of the Ebon Hand is actually a chaos cult involved with all these others. They have a temple in the Temple District.
- The Cult of the Ebon Hand and the Brothers of Venom have some joint project, centered on a certain location in Oldtown.
This last bit makes sense of some papers found on one the cultists killed by the group, the address of an apartment in Oldtown.
The Approaching Horde
While gearing up to raid the apartment, the newspapers are full with stories about the barbarian horde, which bypassed Tarsis entirely, and now seems to be headed right for Ptolus.
The Apartment
The group raids the apartment in Oldtown, finding it filled with mutated thralls in cocoons, violet slime, nests of chaos-spawned insects and some spellcasting cultists. Two different cults appear to be at work in the apartment, but those from the Brothers of Venom appear to have killed one from the Ebon Hand just before the group arrived. This cultist, evidently named Reggaloch was warned of such treachery, as the group finds this note on him:
Reggaloch,
I agree. The Brothers of Venom likely do plan violent treachery so they can be in sole control of the venom-shaped thralls. You should leave and find Malleck in the Ebon Hand Temple, to tell him what’s going on.
—Rhinnis
The group also finds an opening into a pit that seems to lead to a sewer system. A bit spent, they leave and return the following day to investigate it.
Temple of Deep Chaos
The sewers lead to a door that opens into a series of underground rooms. The group gets ambushed by a swarm of ratmen, with spellcasters of some kind attacking them through a peep hole. With the help of a huge fire elemental (original from the iron box), the group took down their attackers, eventually finding stairs that led into an even deeper level, this one more luck an old part of the city that had been buried.
After fighting yet another concealed opponent (this one summoning monsters on them from a hiding place in the ceiling), the group also killed a spider-like, spellcasting creature of some kind, on whom they found a note addressed to the "Brothers of the Quaan":
The chaos cultists prepare something big. They talk of a huge machine in the caves beyond, and of something called the Final Ritual, which will be performed beneath a temple.
The group also gets into another fight, with more thralls and ratbrutes. Further down the corridor, they find a room contain both traps and a medusa. While they avoided the trap fairly well, half of the party gets turned to stone before they bring down the medusa. Rifling through the medusa's belongings uncovers a map to part of the temple they are in, with a note about "the machine" being down the "long passage".
Using a bed as a sort of stretcher, they retreat out of the temple, use some scrolls to depetrify and return. Waiting for them in the rooms they previously cleared is an infernal centaur with demon backup.
After dispatching these and some other creatures, they come to a crossroads. In one direction is pretty clearly the "long passage" from the map. In the other is an intriguing iron door. They check the door first, revealing a small room following by another door. After three manage to survive setting off a trap that locks them in the small room with poison gas, they decide to go the other direction and go down the long passage.
On the way, they run into more evidence of different chaos cults attempting to work together, but failing. Three Brothers of Venom (one dead) are fighting a minotaur that, based on his tattoos, probably belongs to the Ebon Hand. What starts as a non-lethal attempt to figure out what's happening devolves into webs and fire, leaving all the cultists dead but one of the Brothers, who now sleeps.