The party finds that Cankerblossom organized the tontine to kill Masters of Revels. They find that the old Steam Reasoning Guild knew that "some true statements can never be proven true," and strangers protecting that secret attack them. They restart the guild's giant steam reasoning engine and solve the two guards riddle with it. Anya harbors the party's allies ahead of their trial, and tells Kiltak that Voorman makes glass eyes.
My neighbor Brian was curious about all the cars at my place on Saturdays, and he sat in on part of this game just to see it. Brian played Terian, Elgis's martial master. We cloned Elgis's character sheet for Terian's sheet, so that Fayne could guide him along easily.
In previous games we discussed who had hair, a beard, and/or a barber, and it seemed that Elgis was the only party member who had a barber in Hollin. Fayne said Elgis's barber was Ander, and Brian said Terian also went to Ander.
With Garth dead and Elgis disinherited, we discussed who might be left in Lankshire House. Fayne said that Garth's wife / Elgis's mother was dead, but Elgis has a sister Minnie. We discussed what would happen to Lankshire manor with Elgis disinherited, and decided that Minnie would be the new woman of the house there.
In previous games all the players said they were right-handed, except Virgil who was ambidextrous. We'd never discussed this with Rob, who joined in Game 5, and Rob said now that Barnaby was right-handed. However, Brian said that Terian was left-handed.
In Game 11, Elgis prayed at the chapel with the sleeping figure in the Moonwell Temple of Night. He succeeded on his Religion roll there, and I owed him some enlightenment. Now I told him:
religion check
DC 15: For the first time, you explicitly realize that Terian is the only left-handed person you know, and Virgil is the only ambidextrous person you know.
They killed Lolani Phyla in the last game, and I gave them her items. We gave Barnaby first pick since he'd stood alone against her, and he picked Lolani's Moon Shadow Cloak:
Lolani Phyla's Moon Shadow Cloak
Lolani also had a Ring of Fear, which Haden claimed:
Lolani Phyla's Ring of Fear
The wearer can cast 1st level Cause Fear once per day, with the following differences:
I told the players I had some good news and some bad news, and they asked for the good news first. I said that in Game 11, the seven strange women said that there were only three survivors on the Board - Lilly, Holly, and Anya. Since Lilly and Holly wanted them dead, they were unlikely to get three innocent votes at their trial. However, I'd realized prepping this game that Mia Whitman, Zoe Shaw, and Yorvick Volstead were all on the board and alive. Further, the party had saved Yorvick's child in Game 1, and Mia and Zoe's children in Game 3, so they would be friendly to the party.
The bad news was that the players emphatically wanted to seize the Board, but I wasn't seeing a path to that that wasn't a deus ex machina. I contrasted their situation with Macbeth, where Macbeth becomes king after killing the king. Taking over the board by killing the right people would be more like the players taking over Microsoft by killing the right people, which seemed unlikely, but I would think more about it. Interestingly though, the players suggested using disguise to take over the board, which seemed promising.
At the end of Game 11, the party planned to go to the bank, and now the players discussed it a little more. Christian asked why they were going and what they already knew, and Dan said they were going because someone at the bank knew about the tontine. Christian pointed out that there might not be any bad people left in the tontine, so maybe they didn't need to know any more about it.
However, they did go.
Garlington, Helmin, and Gibb bank is a large building at Market and Meade in Braddock. It's conspicuously upscale and well-maintained, and out of place among the other dumpier buildings in Braddock.
Inside, in the bank's lobby, the vibe is kind of like the Gringotts bank in Harry Potter. There are high teller counters all around you, you have to kind of look up at the tellers when you deal with them.
They asked for the tontine organizer, and the tellers said that was Mr. Burbage, and they called Mr. Burbage down to the lobby.
Mr. Burbage arrives in the lobby a minute later. He's wearing a nice three-piece suit and a green visor like accountants wear. As he introduces himself and shakes your hands, you recognize that "Mr. Burbage" is actually Cankerblossom, the MC of the Black Cabaret.
The players were initially stymied on what to do or say. Virgil said that they'd heard there was "this wonderful venue, that travels around - how could we discover this place?" "Mr. Burbage" replied, "A place with Anise and her enchanting chorus? A place of wicked wonders, twisted delights, and racy riotous dangers and desires? Of course I would have no knowledge of such a place."
Elgis asked what "Mr. Burbage" gets out of the tontine - does he get a cut? Mr. Burbage said he should have thought of that. In turn Mr. Burbage said that independent of the tontine, he'd heard that the acting Master of Revels Helmholtz was missing - did the party know anything about that? Elgis said Helmholtz might have died. Mr. Burbage took out a pen and paper and scratched off a line on the paper.
Mr. Burbage suggested that he might organize another tontine and recruit the next Master of Revels as a subscriber. Kiltak said, "I don't think you should do that," and rolled an 18 Intimidation.
The 18 didn't seem to affect Mr. Burbage though. He continued, "Several others seem to be missing: Lars, the Hobnail gang leader; Carter Cranston, a Hobnail; Durer, the secret police chief; Garth Lankshire; and Lolani Phyla. Do you know anything about those?" Barnaby said, "It's summer, they might be travelling...to a farm." Mr. Burbage gave a knowing "ah" and scratched over several more lines on his paper.
The party took their leave.
Praying at the chapel to Ajana in the Cathedral of Gradska in Game 4, Virgil had received the enlightenment, "The True Name of Ajana is every true statement that can't be proven true." At Miss Miller's salon in Game 6, Annie from the Quaternion Society said she had discovered that "some statements are true, but can never be proven true"; and was going to the old Steam Reasoning Guild to investigate more. Then in Game 11, Ishild sent Haden a message asking him to find the true name of God (Ajana) and 20M gold pieces worth of Greencake.
In Game 10, they'd revisited Annie to understand more, and they agreed to go to the Steam Reasoning Guild with her. Now they were ready to go. They picked up Annie at Morningstar Observatory and headed over to the abandoned Steam Reasoning hall, at Ballard and Weaver in the Shipyards. There were doors on both Ballard and Weaver, which were boarded up, but Kiltak rolled a 21 STR and tore the boards down.
Inside they found a giant steam engine: a coal furnace with a steel boiler on the top for making steam, which fed a piston that drove a giant flywheel, 65 feet in diameter. The flywheel's axle had a leather band on it, which went down through the floor and presumably drove something below. There also found several skeletons around the building, and at the far west, a stair going down.
Steam Reasoning Guild, ground floor
They immediately started to talk about restarting the steam engine, and we discussed how it would have been abandoned 500 years ago, but they went downstairs first. This first basement floor was filled with mechanical reasoning engines resembling one of Charles Babbage's machines, and there were again a few skeletons. The players said the whole thing was like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - a giant machine for computing that the meaning of life was "42."
They went down the stairs again:
Here they find a large collection of the guild's journals. The journals discuss the steam-powered reasoning engines they built and the calculations they performed with them. The entries show that the guild members were logicians, and often used the engines to prove logical statements automatically.
The most recent journal entries describe their discovery that some true statements can never be proven true, and discuss whether a new engine could be designed to find such statements. But they conclude that finding the full list of unprovable statements with a machine would be a contradiction, since all of the "unprovable" statements on the list would actually be proven just by being on the list.
The entries speculate that a spell could make the list of statements. Again though, they say that actually creating such a list would be a contradiction, and they weren't sure what the consequences of actually physically manifesting such a contradiction would be.
They started to talk again about restarting the machinery, and mentioned using the engines to find the true name of Ajana. Dan/Virgil thought aloud (my notes, a somewhat abridged version of what Dan said):
The seeking of knowledge, the statements, the True Name of God...the seeking of knowledge brings about it's own questions and suffering. The more we want to learn, the more questions it brings up. So to continue to design to seek and know is suffering without end. So maybe the True Name is the emptiness within us, our own heart. The infinite Name - it's void. Because we can't solve anything, there's no solution. We just keep doing it.
Virgil also asked if Annie was dating anyone.
Haden suggested that the skeletons were guild members who were killed because they discovered the True Name. They asked what their impression of the skeletons was, if they could discern anything from e.g. where the skeletons were lying. I said their positions might be consistent with guild members killed where they were working.
They asked if any of the journals seemed more worn or more frequently used than the others. I hedged at first, but then said the most worn book would be the manual or F.A.Q. for running the machinery.
They mentioned using the machines to find the True Name again. I reminded them that the journals said it was impossible to find the Name with a machine, and Rob/Barnaby suggested they use the machines to solve the two guards riddle instead (!!). Virgil suggested the machine could "solve all the problems and tell us how to date all the ladies."
They went back upstairs to try to restart the machine and solve the two guards riddle. However, as they started to study the steam engine, three others came in the Ballard Street door. One said quietly to the others, "Kill Annie first but make sure the others don't escape."
The players asked what kind of people the three were - martial, arcane? I said neither - they looked like accountants or something. They fought the three and were surprised that the three could replace their rolls with lower values, similar to Divination wizards' portents.
They focused on the leader first. Terian scored a crit in Brian's first attack and also used his Action Surge, hitting for 35. Haden and Virgil also hit, and together the three hit for 81, bloodying her. Mike had brain fog and struggled to remember how Kiltak worked, and I gave him a "D&D citation" for not "learning your character." Elgis missed his two attacks, then also missed on his Action Surge attack, and received a red "REJECTED" sticker.
The enemies fought back with a nerfed Feeblemind. Kiltak was the first target, and rolled a -1 on his INT save, and received a "DISAPPOINTMENTS ALL OF YOU" sticker.
However, Kiltak and Elgis both hit early in round 2, finishing her. Kiltak finished one of the others at the top of round 3 with a critical. Haden reduced the last one to a few hits with his pact weapon and Eldritch Smite. Christian got an Inspiration point for asking, "I have more, is he dead yet?", then finished him off with Thirsting Blade.
Unlike some other fights, they didn't keep any of the enemies alive to question them. However, during the fight Barnaby rolled a 23 Insight and thought the attackers were trying to keep the True Name secret. Examining the bodies, they also felt that their clothes were reminiscent of Merrick of the Penance Chapel, who they'd helped in Games 1-4.
The fight over, the party restarted the machinery by restarting the furnace, while Annie went back down to the first basement to program the reasoning engine. The successfully used the machine to solve the two guards riddle:
Ask either guard, if I asked the other guard which door is safe, what will they say?
If the guard you asked is the honest guard, they'll honestly report the other guard's lie. If the guard you asked is the lying guard, they'll lie about the honest guard's answer. Either way, the answer is the wrong door and you take the other door.
We talked a little about the puzzle's appearance in Labyrinth. I also asked Christian whether Haden was actually going to give Ishild the answer. Initially he was unsure, but they discussed going back to Ishid to give him the answer. However, they decided to get the Greencake and True Name of God before going back to him, and decided to hunt down the Greencake next.
When the exited back onto Ballard Street, they saw Anya walking there, the Keeper of the Lion's Mouth. She recognized them, and said:
You know that the Advocate, Holly, has called a trial on your entire party.
Lilly and Holly are gunning for you. Parja and Helmholtz might have voted you innocent, but they're missing. I can vote innocent for you, but Zoe Shaw, Mia Whitman, and Yorvick Volstead can already give you all the innocent votes you need.
When Holly called a trial on Garth though, Holly and Lilly held the trial and counted the votes when Zoe, Mia, Yorvick, Garth himself, and I weren't there. Unless you want to be the next Garth, you need to get Zoe, Mia, and Yorvick to the trial to vote for you.
I believe they mentioned getting Anya's vote at the trial, and she said to Kiltak:
You don't need my vote, but I do have something you need.
Kiltak asked what that was, and she said:
Information. I want something first though.
Virgil the Valorous has made quite an impression on the ladies of this town. I know that Zoe Shaw invited him for dinner, and that one of Miss Miller's girls, Velvet, got him alone "someplace quiet."
For his part, Virgil invited Miss Miller for drinks. I've even heard whispers that Virgil has some skank in Lofton forest.
Well, I met Virgil at Miss Miller's salon last week. I didn't get any drink invitation though. I didn't get any alone time "someplace quiet." And I even took Virgil's hand at the salon and said how gallant he was. I even…fanned myself. I put myself out there and fanned myself like a common prostitute. And still no cosmopolitans, no alone time, no dinner.
I have information that you need, but first I want a...cosmopolitan with Virgil.
But so there are no misunderstandings, Virgil's cosmopolitan better...satisfy me, or no information.
Virgil apologized profusely for the oversight, and we discussed how sometimes a cosmopolitan isn't a cosmopolitan. Virgil and Anya went to her apartment for the night, and the others got a long rest.
In the morning, Anya found the party having breakfast together at the Mooncalf. Satisfied, Anya told Kiltak:
Voorman, a prosthetist in the Shipyards, makes glass eyes for people who lose an eye.
Mike/Kiltak immediately took the hint, which related to Kiltak's background. Anya also said:
Why would someone attack your parents?
Kiltak just said that his parents were attacked by their long-time enemies. I also gave a brief recap of Kiltak's background, which Mike seemed to approve of.
They discussed how to keep Mia Whitman, Zoe Shaw, and Yorvick Volstead safe until the trial. They discussed having the Mooncalf sommelier Vincent keep them, but I also suggested Anya, and they agreed to Anya. Although it seemed that Virgil had already mastered Anya, he also used his last drop of love-in-idleness on her so that she would fall in love with him and help them. Anya agreed to keep the three of them safe until the trial.
As the party finished up with Anya, Elgis and Terian's barber Ander came into the Mooncalf, looking around. He saw Elgis and asked Elgis if Burgess was around, the watch captain. Elgis actually knew that Burgess was dead, but said no and asked if he could help. Ander said that his shop had been attacked and tossed. Also, when he went down the street to check in with his fellow barber Matilda, Matilda's shop had also been tossed and Matilda wasn't there. Ander said that since Burgess wasn't there, he'd go down and check in at Barber Hall, the barber guild, and see if they knew anything. Elgis said he would keep an eye out.
They went to Zoe Shaw's house to ask about Greencake.
Zoe had given them a little tin with 2,000 gp worth of Greencake for rescuing Flora, and they asked "The substance you gave us before, where did you find that?" She said that Shaw House's business was primarily privateering - Company sanctioned piracy - off of Hilde. Her ships attack the ships of rival city-states. The most profitable booty was Greencake taken from Blackwells ships, and they typically sell the Greencake back to the Blackwells.
The players seemed a little at a loss. Zoe asked whether they were looking for run-of-the-mill Greencake or refined Greencake? Haden initially said "quantity is probably better than quality," but I reminded Christian that Ishild had asked for "doubly refined Greencake," and he changed his answer to "doubly refined Greencake." Zoe said:
She has heard that "doubly refined" Greencake was only produced in one place, the Hargraves Greencake mine. The Hargraves mine belonged to the city-state of Blackwells, but has long been abandoned. It's said to be near the coast of Hilde, near the city of Highpure, near the arcane north pole.
She says one or her privateer ships could take them there, or Captain Burns might be willing to take them - he loves this kind of stuff.
The party was leaning toward asking Captain Burns. However, they wanted to do the trial first, and talk to each of their three supporters - Zoe, Mia, and Yorvick - before the trial.
