Masks of Chaos – part 6

Part 1 – background – is here.

Part 2 – Grey Mountains/Peru – is here.

Part 3 – Nuln/New York – is here.

Part 4 – Altdorf/London – is here.

Part 5 – Marienburg/Egypt is here.

BRETONNIA (Kenya)

Who would have thought having a baby and moving house would be so disruptive? Apparently not this guy!

I’ll be leaning into the first edition depiction of Bretonnia as being the same early modern period as the rest of the Old World, essentially a heavily corrupt and brutal version of France under the Sun King, rather than the bizarre Arthurian depiction of later editions. If that version is more your jam, adapting my final long-form notes (aiming for December) is unlikely to take long.

BRIONNEN

City of Thieves: Piracy is common nearby and daylight robbery in the form of massive corruption at the docks if widespread.

• Abelard Simeon, importer, is tailing them. He has been sent by his aunt, Tiphane Cazier, a wine seller, to follow them.

Seeking Abelard Simeon

If the PCs do not spot Simeon, they may seek him out from references in previous clues.

• Warehouse and offices are at the Profond Harbour.
• Four thugs.
• Safe:
  • 300 GC
  • Various invoices
  • Ledger listing multiple shipments to:
    • Folke Holmstrom (Sartosa)
    • The Peniger Trading Company (Altdorf)
    • Marius Schaake (Marienburg)
    • Sylvain Naquin (Nuln)
    • Teodoro Ramirez at the Ramirez Shipping Company (Estalia)
    • Tiphane Cazier (Quenelles, Bretonnia)

Sailing to Quenelles

The Brienne river is broad and deep enough for sea-going vessels all the way to Quenelles, 800 miles inland.

• Evidence of extreme class difference, such as peasants having to trudge along the river instead of being allowed to sail, dozens of peasants crucified outside the walls of a passed city for being involved in an attempt to demand greater protections by law, etc.
• Tiphane Cazier takes a ship that follows the PCs’ ship. Summons a fire elemental to burn their ship. (Elementals not in your game anymore? Consider a lesser fire daemon or just Bright Magic).

QUENELLES

Dark, dirty and squalid. Aristos lead especially indulgent, decadent and cruel lives behind their mansions’ high walls.

• L’Astre de Quenelles – heavily censored news sheet.
  • Natalie de Machin-Chose
• Tiphane Cazier attacks once again
  • Risk of being accused of arson or witchcraft
• Carsten Expedition stayed at Chez Halphen, and dealt with both Dr. Horace Saunier and Néville Jermyn. Also stayed at the hunting lodge of Henri Eppinette.
  • Sir Alberic looked very young. Hypathanil Marsreal looked manic.
• Samuel Marez, a gardener, discovered the bodies while visiting family outside of the city, and then lead Cpt. Marc Sellier of the city militia and his men there. Sellier later died in a tragic fire.
• New captain is Montfort.
  • Only man still around who saw the murder site is Sgt Léonard Buisson.
    • Claims he saw the expedition members and recognised them photographs. This is a lie.
  • Does know Bertrand Villeneuve, who drinks in the Défenseur inn.
    • He can confirm he saw Jens ‘Brass’ Brandt in Luccini, Tilea.
• Judikael Kerjean is a local community leader amongst the non-aristos.
  • Offers to take the PCs to Old Branoc.

Tiphane Cazier’s Shop

• Observe people with same red headbands as in Nuln entering the shop.
• Admits she talked with Alberic, but only to sell him some particular wine.
• Hidden trapdoor in storeroom
  • Smells of death. Dead bodies buried in the earthen floor.
  • Shrine to the Bloody Tongue.
  • Pillar with chains
  • Locked stone cabinet:
    • Meat cleaver with etched symbol of Bloody Tongue.
    • Incense that gives visions of the chaos gods
    • Dried ‘fruit peel’ actually from mutated plant that lets you brew [SPACE MEAD].
    • The Black Tome
    • Yellow robe

The Game Lodge

Run by Henri Eppinette. Only servant remaining is Silent Jacques, who fakes being mute.

• Carsten Expedition raised various ghosts, including Eppinette’s dead wife and son, which now rise every night to torment the living.

Old Branoc

Introduced by Judikael Kerjean in village outside Quenelles. Breton peasant priest of Taal of great power. May help the investigators if their quest leads to the Mountain of the Black Wind.

• Helper, Oanez.
• If shown fragments of the Eye of Light and Darkness, will commune with Thungni Grungni’s son during the time of the ancestor gods (RoS 1ed pg99). Will provide clue to Sartosa and how to reforge the rune.
• May gift them the caged frog – Who-Is-Not-What-She-Seems – and who turns into a fenbest; as well as his Stag Skull (Bundari’s Fly Whisk)
• At the least, points them to Samuel Marez (or Oanez if Marez is unavailable) in Quenelles to be a guide to the mountain.

Towards The Mountain of The Black Wind

The mountain sits in the Wild Heath surrounded by forest.

• Ourse (‘bear’) village
  • Site of the Carsten massacre
• As is.

The Mountain of The Black Wind

Essentially the same, except:

• Identical advanced clockwork orrery as in Nuln’s Daroir House, in Sartosa, and in the home of Marius Schaake.
• Altar stone is made from a solid chunk of warpstone.
• Sacrificial Pits: Mutated rats, snakes and (devil bug) beetles, all the size of cats or dogs.
• It’s also possible to make the Tongue more Slaaneshi in its description. See the proper GM notes when I write them.