After the Fall

3: “Museum of Memory”

3.1: “Liquid Confidence”

A man dressed in magician fancy-dress (with pointy hat and starry robes) has set up a tent outside the building and is selling potions to passersby. He is wearing a name badge that identifies him as “Marvello the Mysterious”.

“A guy came in yesterday, an old friend I met in a pub. He seems cool. He said he was going to set up outside. I didn’t agree, but I didn’t disagree. Can you get him to move?”

— Howard, on Marvello.

Maximus goes outside to meet him, and Marvello attempts to sell him a love potion. Hearing the exchange from a window, Howard encourages him to go with the party to the Tower to get rid of him. The guild eats breakfast with Marvello, though Mati serves him conspicuously less food. After breakfast he fries an egg and deposits it into his egg bag.

Shortly later the party ride into the city centre and meets Shaun outside the Tower. He greets them, back to his himbo assistant act, and takes them up to Hana’s office to wait. He leaves them to find Hana upstairs.

Mati inspects the potted plant on the desk. It has large, thick, silver leaves arranged randomly around a long stem, with a dusty lilac ball at the top, which is hard and slimy to the touch. Slimy white roots poke up out of the soil. Maximus inspects the pot and finds abjuration runes engraved on its base.

Hana returns and Marvello introduces himself. He offers Hana a small bottle of “liquid confidence”.

“Wow, a real wizard! I don’t have a real wizard on my staff. What can you do? Do me a magic.”

— Hana, on wizards.

Shaun brings in tea and Hana explains the political situation to Marvello. Mati growls quietly to herself. Shaun apologises for poisoning the tea the last time the party visited the Tower and pours himself a cup which he drinks from. Hana gestures to Shaun to give her his teacup. She empties the vial from Marvello into it and gives it back without saying a word.

Shaun asks the party if they’d like to see their secret device that they think could provide them a strategic advantage if a war does start. He motions for them to follow him out of the room.

Mati stops them from leaving for a moment to talk to Hana. She reveals to Hana the letter they found behind the painting. Hana is shocked and opens it to read without noticing the tampering. Shaun inspects the letter and says he thinks it’s genuine.

“This changes everything.”

— Hana, on Darius’s letter.

Hana stays behind in her office, sitting at her desk in silence. Shaun leads the others out of the door and down the corridor. The staircase they came up is gone and the only opening off the corridor is the bottom of a different spiral staircase leading up. Mati stops dead, recognising the architectural instability from Aemilia’s Tower.

While they walk, Shaun tells Maximus about the contents of the letter: that it told them to trust Silas. Shaun says Hana trusts Darius, but he never met him so doesn’t know what to think. Marvello peels a boiled egg and feeds it to his egg bag.

After six or seven stories worth of stairs they come to a long corridor with a heavy, starmetal-plated door at the end. Shaun opens the door and leads the party into a circular room, 100ft across. In the centre of the room is a 5ft-diameter transparent cylinder extending from the floor up to the 20ft high ceiling, filled with glowing golden liquid. Around the base of the cylinder is a hexagonal bank of control panels build of dark purple starmetal. The circumference of the room is littered with unidentified machines and crates of electronics. Long bundles of wires run along the floor and up the walls. A machine to the right of the door is gently smoking, and a large black soot stain extends up the white wall behind it.

Mati asks Shaun to explain the nature of the machine, and he tells her they have very little idea. He explains that Darius was investigating its function, and ordered the establishment of a circular exclusion zone around the Tower for some reason. One panel has text in Ancient saying ‘AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED’, leading them to believe the device needs a key.

Hana comes in behind them and tells the party about the Percontra Museum of Ancient Artefacts, run by a man named Ermias Waku. She tells them they think the museum might contain the key, but Ermias has gone missing recently. She asks the party to go to the museum and find out what happened, and retrieve the key if the museum has it.

“We’ve explored this place as much as we can, as much as we think we’re allowed to — but it resists our attempts to find anything more interesting. We think we are being led here… that this is the next step.”

— Shaun, on architectural instability.

Godric investigates the machinery in the room and thinks it looks like Ancient technology, but doesn’t think it looks like a weapon, and can’t find anything that resembles energy storage.

“Am I made of room, or is the room made of me?”

— Godric, on Ancient technology.

3.2: “Percontra”

On the way out of the Tower Hana puts a hand on Mati’s arm to take her aside. Mati jumps back and growls. Hana apologises for starting their relationship on the wrong foot, and gives her a vial of perfume. She explains that the perfume can magically influence people, which Mati disapproves of.

Mati looks suspicious, and looks for the others who continued walking. She snatches the vial and jumps away again. “Yes, well most predators pretend to be prey, so the prey is caught off guard.”

“Yes, but prey also pretends to be prey,” says Hana.

“I do not think you understand how analogies work.”

Hana and Shaun see the party down to the antechamber, before returning to the lab with Miryn who has taken up Hana’s offer to stay in the Tower and help them research Ancient technology.

The party ride out to the Haunted Marsh. It’s unnaturally dark, and a thick fog descends as soon as the party passes its borders. They can see occasional trees dotting the flat landscape. Their horses are uneasy, and there are no signs of animals or birdcalls. About halfway to Percontra Mati spots flashes of light high above them.

“It’s probably nothing.”

— The Narrator, on lights in the sky.

A little while later they see the firelight of Percontra ahead and are soon at the main camp. It is a small settlement of tents crowded around the road, housing around 100 people. The residents sit around talking, mending clothes, and cleaning weapons.

Further up the road the party comes to the ruins of Old Percontra, where the settlement used to be before an event that nobody talks about forced them to move. Old Percontra consisted of permanent buildings that could have housed upwards of 500 people, but has been reduced to scattered fragments of brick and stone reclaimed by nature. The only building that remains standing is the Percontra Museum of Ancient History.

Mati leaves the path to investigate a dead body she spots in the fog. It’s cold but as fresh as if it had just died. She wild-shapes into a hyena to eat it but Godric stops her.

Godric punches the museum door open and the party enters. They find the walls covered in old posters advertising events going on in the museum, and items on display including the “amazing lantern of mystery”. In the museum proper the party breaks open the remaining display cases and take the contents: a spoon, a lump of concrete, a cue ball, and the broken lid of a Thomas the Tank Engine lunchbox.

In the corners of the room are unidentified sacks which reveal themselves to be zombies. Godric attempts to reason with the zombies, but decides they are not intelligent enough to understand, and the party kills all but one, which escapes down a corridor.

The party searches the staff and storage rooms of the museum, then decides to take a rest in the preparation room.

3.3: “Keys to the Kingdom”

After their rest, Marvello opens his egg bag and a raccoon wearing a cat collar climbs out. Its collar has a tag that says “Mittens”. It picks up a tiny piece of concrete and climbs back into the bag.

The party explores down the corridor that the last zombie escaped down. It leads to a room with more displays, including two wooden mannequins wearing fancy dress ponchos. Mati and Godric take one each. The displays contain fragments of a smashed cell phone screen and a broken pencil, and one case is smashed open with its contents missing. Aither takes some glass from the display case and grinds it into a powder.

Godric finds a trail of blood leading into one wall, and deduces the wall is an illusion. He goes through and the party follows. Mati runs ahead, following the blood trail. They find themselves in an abandoned, buried apartment block, and start searching the rooms. Kelda finds an emerald ring in a drawer, and Godric finds a fedora down the back of a wardrobe.

Map of the Percontra Museum of Ancient History, including attached buried apartment building.

Mati goes down the stairs to the floor below and wild-shapes into a hyena. She finds the zombie she was following, and with it another humanoid holding a glowing object. The party hears noise and rushes down towards the room Mati is in.

“What are you doing in my museum?”

— The Being Formerly Known as Ermias, on trespassing.

Mati kills and partially eats the zombie. Ermias attacks Mati with a dark power. Godric punches a hole in the wall to get into the room and Talon charges towards Ermias. Mati summons a magical hyena to help them.

Ermias casts crown of madness on Talon and he attacks Mati. The rest of the party take up position and launch all their attacks at Ermias. A bolt of fire shoots from Marvello’s sleeve with a loud pop, and Ermias dies.

“For your wickedness, you burn in the Abyss!”

— Talon, on The Being Formerly Known as Ermias.

Maximus takes the glowing key. Much of the card is scratched beyond recognition but what remains is written in Ancient. It has a photograph of a man he doesn’t recognise printed on it, and a “4” in the top right corner.

Project Athena

Elias Decker

SIN011454701085-P

The party discusses staying in Percontra for a rest but decides to just ride back to the city and rest at the Rusty Duckling. The people they see as they ride back through Percontra are surprised to see them alive. A pair sitting by the side of the road spot them. One points at the party and laughs, the other curses the party and hands some money to his companion.

“What evil possessed this museum? Surely it was not evil when we were sent here?” Talon asks.

“Perhaps they meant us to fail,” Godric suggests.

3.4: “Operator”

Howard pours a beer for Marvello and he explains what happened in the museum to the guild members that are hanging around. When he mentions the key, Maximus holds it up and recalls that they were supposed to take it to the Tower Lord.

“Always her mind on the breakfast and not on the mission!”

— Howard, on Mati.

Eira and Sam are sitting at a table, drinking coffee and playing cards. They invite Marvello to play with them, and he does. Howard introduces Kivuli Wa Fisi, Mati’s daughter, to everyone, and shouts at Marvello to introduce himself. All of the party in the room introduce themselves to her. She leaves to speak to Mati.

Godric attempts to contact the Ancient god Thomas, entering a trance in his room. He awakens some hours later with a little more knowledge, and faint wisps of coal smoke dancing around him. He immediately puts the knowledge to work refining his gauntlets before coming downstairs.

What… are you? How did you — contact me?
Are you — one of the Bird’s…? Oh. I see.
You want to know about — my people? I would be happy, to — share — what I know.
I only ask that… in return, one day you help me — rise up. Out of this soil — to taste the Sky.

— “Thomas”, on incomprehensible power.

After breakfast and a rest the party assemble and leave for the Tower. They are shown inside by the guards and told to go up to Hana’s office. Godric thinks he sees a black cat for a moment at the top of the double staircase in the antechamber. Hana greets them and Mati shouts at her for not explaining the danger of the mission. Hana says she had no idea what had happened to Ermias.

“Did I? Did I forget to mention that? Maybe I didn’t know that! Sorry, I haven’t slept much…”

— Hana, on preparation.

Maximus gives Hana the key and she stands, excited. She asks if they want to see what the key does, and the party agrees. They all go upstairs to the lab.

Hana touches the keycard to a reader on the console. A monotone voice says: “Welcome, Elias Decker”. The text on the console updates from “AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED” to “LINK OPERATOR”. Lights come on on the panel to the right of the main one, and a recessed hole opens up.

Marvello puts his hand into the machine. The red light above the hole it turns orange for a second, before turning back with a buzzer sound. The voice says “Invalid. [Person / The Ancient species] required”. Maximus explains the meaning of the Ancient message, and that Common has no adequate translation for the term the voice uses.

Godric suggests Hana put her hand in, and she does. The light changes orange again, then after a second turns green. The text changes to “CONFIRM OPERATOR LINK” and one of the buttons lights up. Hana presses the button and the machine makes a faint whining sound followed by a quick pop. She pulls her hand out suddenly in pain, but her hand isn’t injured. Machines all around the room start to whir, and the liquid in the tube glows, lit from below. The main console reads: “READY”.

A crackling sound comes from a panel on the other side of the central array. They investigate and find a speaker grille on the panel, from which comes a very distorted voice that speaks in Ancient. Marvello inspects the panel and turns some dials which cut the static down.

Maximus speaks Ancient to the person, asking where they are, and they respond that they’re in a cold, dark place. They say they can’t open their eyes, and can’t feel their hands. Kelda asks for the last thing they remember, and they say they just remember being surrounded by people running around, then a bright light. Maximus asks if “Project Athena” or “Elias Decker” mean anything to them, and they say “Elia—” questioningly, before suddenly cutting off.

Hana tells Maximus that the Ancient documents they’ve found in the lab use refer to the Towers as “Project Athena”.

Mati pulls off the speaker grille, thinking a small person is trapped inside the machinery. Godric stops her and tries to explain that the sound was electronic. Hana thanks Maximus for his translation, and says she’d like to take some time off before they start breaking things, and asks the party to come down to her office so she can explain a new job.

“Er, now that I remember, we did recover a few items from that there museum. Important items for culture, you know?”

— Maximus, on priceless artefacts.

Hana tells the party she needs them to find out what blackmail Mercy Kamau has on Rhoan Mantovani, and disrupt his plans so he can’t start a war. She says Shaun found evidence it might have something to do with Mikhael Mantovani. Mati’s face goes white. Hana explains a little about Mikhael. He disappeared from public life suddenly, then started reappearing six months later on rare occasions. Hana warns them that they only have two weeks before the King’s protection expires. She offers them one thousand gold if they return successful.

Hana tells them that if they need to contact her they can give a letter to the Aemilian Tower authorities. Marvello sits down for an hour with Hana devising a method of communication that they name Visionnaire’s cipher, after his late great-great-grand cousin.

The party returns to the Rusty Duckling to prepare. Marvello spends some time poring over stolen administrative papers and discovers discrepancies in a merchant’s figures that he can exploit to make money. He goes to a small merchant guild and convinces them to lend him money for his scheme, which they do. Back at the Rusty Duckling, he performs some magic tricks for Eira and Sam, and successfully seduces them. Godric visits a local blacksmith. Maximus locks himself in his room without explanation. Later, musical sounds can be heard coming from the room.