[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a month. This session happened May 30, 2026.]
[Like the Sudden Sea campaign, this adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, 30 years after the events of Tim’s Outlanders and roughly con-current with the Sudden Sea Campaign.]
Player Characters
Devorah Orna – female gnome mechanist
Halfrijd Iceflayer – female dwarf axe master
A’thir – male human “tracker”, name pronounce ăh-Thēr
Jorunn the Turtle – male human wizard with turtle-based spells
Kairon – male Tolk “field researcher”, actual name Enoder Gribbens
Shaes – male elf storm wizard, name pronounced shĀy-ĕhss
Bertulf of Druuna – male human cleric of Druuna the Protector
June 1, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)
6:00 PM
Having just landed in the Galan Air Yard on the Zephyr’s Embrace, the adventurers dis-embarked the airship and looked around. The air yard was outside the city walls but not very far away. The city itself had long ago spilled outside the walls although here the building growth was sparse.
A’thir and Kairon notice a short human wearing black clothes and a black hat holding a sign saying "Friends from Freegate". Kairon walked up to the man and greeted him as a “friend from Freegate”. The man introduced himself as Mykhail, personal assistant to Viktor Leonideovich who could not make it due to other obligations. He had a carriage ready once the adventurers had claimed their luggage.
The adventurers had to wait a bit for the Yard staff to finish unloading the passenger luggage before they could claim theirs from the neatly arranged rows. They then followed Mykhail to the edge of the yard field, where a carriage was waiting for them. Mykhail drove the carriage himself.
The road from the Air Yard to the city walls was fairly straight and direct and went through a slums area. Mykhail informed the adventurers that the inhabitants were mostly workers at the air yard and domestics for the wealthy living inside the city walls.
Once the carriage passed through the gate inside the city walls, it was apparent this area was well off. The buildings were made of sturdier material and painted. Mykhail drove the carriage to the end of the first block of buildings and then turned left, into a paved courtyard. He drove across the courtyard to a tall 4-story building and brought the carriage to a halt. He then climbed down from the carriage and asked the adventurers to grab their luggage and follow him to their residence during their stay.
Mykhail led them into the tall building and up the stairs to the fourth floor. Kairon made note of potential escape routes in case that became necessary. Mykhail produced a key at the fourth-floor landing and unlocked the single door there. Opening the door, he waved the adventurers inside.
The entire fourth floor was a single apartment and was tastefully decorated. Mykhail produced two keys for the apartment and Kairon and Devorah took them. Mykhail informed the adventurers that Viktor would be by later that evening, around sundown. He then went over to the dining table and manipulated some controls under the edge of the table that caused the table surface to flip over, revealing maps of the city and the local neighborhood, a sketch map of the target building, and various planning supplies.
Mykhail then walked over to the large southeastern window and rotated the vertical louvered metal shades. He pointed out the target building, which, due to the height of the safehouse and the large courtyard in the center of the adjacent block, was visible from the window.
Mykhail then asked the adventurers if there was anything else they needed immediately. They asked about food and drink and he pointed them to the freshly stocked pantry and wine closet. He then took his leave.
7:00 PM
With some time on their hands, several of the adventurers decided to stroll the area to start getting familiar with it. Kairon and Shaes both stayed at the safehouse studying the maps, Halfrijd, Jorunn, and Bertulf strolled the neighborhood by the target, while Devorah used her Green Book to locate nearby gnome-safe locations. A’thir decided to do some roof running instead and discovered that the nearby corner building had a small workout area on its roof for city guard members, which was currently occupied. Luckily he was not seen. He could also see that the top of the city wall was lit.
Halfrijd, Jorunn, and Bertulf discovered that the buildings on the target block were mostly residences with very nice, well-kept exteriors. All the buildings on the street the target building faces were raised up off the ground with no windows on the lowest floor [the basement]. The target building was a residence but looked somewhat uninviting. Stairs up to the door were lit but metal shutters closed over every window with no visible light coming from inside in the twilight shadows.
The target building sat at a T-intersection. The building across the street and to the left had a sign identifying it as Penrith’s Books. It looked like Penrith lived above the shop. Jorunn noticed some magical runes inscribed on the door into the bookshop, both alarm and paralytic magics. This suggested that the target building might also have defensive magics. The building to the right was a residence.
The trio rounded the corner where the target block sat next to the city walls, which was a clean and well-lit street. The buildings at the far corner were a bank and a city guard station, right by the city gate. Following around past the guard station was a tavern, the Azure Boar, and then a jewelry store, Aether & Onyx, with offices for jewelers and gem cutters above it. Completing their circuit around the target block, they returned to the safehouse.
8:00 PM
After some short exploration, all the adventurers were back at the safehouse. enjoying a light dinner, when there was a knock on the door. It was Viktor Leonideovich, their local contact, and his assistant Mykhail. Viktor greeted them warmly and then shared information on their target.
While Viktor spoke, Kairon attempted to use his telepathy spell to verify Viktor’s identity. He was unable to contact Viktor’s mind and received no information. [His ECV roll was average and not enough to get past Viktor’s mental defenses, suggesting that Viktor has better than average EGO.]
The private museum:
- Kamal Darzi’s private museum was the room in the center of the residence.
- The entrance is a secret door on the North wall, behind a display of Galan's Gran Carta, but Viktor does not know the exact method for opening it.
- The Gran Carta is displayed on a pedestal with a colored tile pattern around the lip. Three of the four corners match, but 1 corner is mismatched. Kamal pretends the mismatched tile is the opening mechanism, but Viktor has confirmed it is not.
- Viktor suspects that the actual mechanism is on the tessellated tile pattern on the wall behind the pedestal, and Kamal Darzi stands between the pedestal and tile wall to do SOMETHING that opens the passage.
- The private museum also has a skylight that is not visible from the street.
Kamal Darzi’s daily schedule:
- Kamal Darzi leaves his home for the Ginkana Club in his personal carriage at 10 am every morning.
- He spends 2 hours at the club every morning reading unofficial government reports he should not have access to, but gets through his contacts still in the government.
- At Noon he has lunch at the club with other members,
- During the afternoon he either plays chess or other games with other club members or spends the time reading from the club’s library.
- At 5 pm he leaves the club for dinner. Dinner is at home Monday, Wednesday, and Friday or Saturday and out at various restaurants or friend’s homes otherwise.
- Security personnel are always present at his home when guests are over. Viktor was unclear on whether that security remains there always. If they are always there, then they must live in the building.
- When eating out, Kamal returns home by 8 pm and spends the rest of the night reading or working on personal projects.
- Kamal goes to sleep around midnight, in a different room every night, but Viktor believes he has observed a pattern in the room selections.
Viktor told the adventurers that Mykhail would stop in every day around Noon to see if they needed anything or had questions that Viktor might answer. He reminded the group that he was to get an answer as to whether or not they thought the job was doable by June 8th. He then bid them good night.
A’thir realized the sun had set and left the safehouse via a window. From the safehouse fourth floor, A’thir could see on top of the city walls. The city gates were closed and there were some guards on top of the gate wall playing cards.
A’thir made some noise climbing down to the nearest roof, which drew the attention of the gate guards. He was able to mostly hide himself in the shadows until one of the guards caught another guard using the distraction to cheat at their card game, at which point they stopped paying attention to A’thir's noise and start arguing amongst themselves.
A’thir made his way across the rooftops to the main road and observed some guards leaving the guard station across the street, heading up the main road, deeper into the city. He decided to jump across the main street to the roof of a building on the target block. He made the jump, but the landing was not graceful and made some noise. He made further noise as he moved across the roof of the jewelers, but no alarms went off. [He missed his Stealth roll by 1.]
At the interior edge of the building, A’thir was able to look down into the courtyard that was the center of the target block. The courtyard was lit by some lanterns, enough so that people walking in it would not trip. The courtyard was not paved and there were a few children playing in the light near one of the residences. The rear entrance to the bank was impressive looking and the rear entrance to the Azure Boar seemed to be up a set of stairs and to the second floor.
A’thir made his way around the courtyard along the rooftops towards the target building and stopped one building before reaching it. He spent several hours observing the target building until around midnight when the lights inside started to go out, indicating Kamal was going to sleep.
A’thir returned to the safehouse around 2am.
June 2, 56 IC
Morning
The adventurers spent the morning doing a variety of scouting activities.
- Jorunn, Kairon, and Bertulf went to Penrith’s Books
- Devorah scouted the target block and ended up at Penrith’s
- Halfrijd checked out the jewelry store Aether & Onyx.
- A’thir spent the morning learning how to get on top of the building across the street from the target and Penrith’s.
- Shaes spent time at the safehouse.
At Penrith’s Books
Jorunn, Kairon, and Bertulf walked from the safehouse to Penrith’s Books. Jorunn paused at the doorway, examining the security runes, whereas Kairon and Bertulf went straight into the shop. Eventually realizing he was alone on the doorstep, Jorunn followed the other two into the shop.
The trio was greeted by the shopkeeper, Penrith. Jorunn asked if the shop had any turtle books and was led to the natural history books. There were four books specifically on turtles, one of which Jorunn already owned and the other he considered too basic, so he looked through the other two. Bertulf asked for books on herbalism and was shown to three shelves full of books on the topic. Bertulf started looking through them. Kairon engaged Penrith in conversation on the shop itself and was able to glean that Kamal Darzi was a silent, financial, partner of the bookshop and there was only one other individual that helps out in the bookstore. [Successful Conversation roll on Kairon’s part.]
Once he was satisfied with the turtle books, Jorunn asked for books on magical suppression. Penrith led Jorunn on a twisted path through the books to a closet all the way at the back that might have been in another building. Penrith handed Jorunn a book on magical suppression. Jorunn also noticed a book on Abjuration magics and asked to look at it. A brief perusal told Jorunn it did not meet his needs. He chose to buy the two turtle books at 3sp each and the book on magic suppression for 5gp. Bertulf settled on three books on herbology for 10sp total.
While Penrith was wrapping up the purchased books, Kairon asked for books on heraldry, specifically for books with more current information. Penrith told him this was a touchy subject locally and pricey, especially for unexpurgated versions. The cost would be 30+ gp. Kairon said he needed to think on it. Penrith said he would not make enquiries until Kairon confirmed intent to purchase.
When Jorunn, Kairon, and Bertulf left, Devorah was just arriving. Devorah pretended she did not know the guys and then Jorunn talked directly to her about the bookstore. Kairon dragged Jorunn away before he could do any more harm. Kairon’s instincts told him that Jorunn’s faux pas had been observed, but he was not certain by whom exactly. Bertulf nearly went after Devorah to ask loudly why she was pretending not to know the group but was just able to rein himself in and walk away, following Kairon and Jorunn. [The player was undecided about whether or not Bertulf would blurt out everything and I recommended an EGO Roll. He rolled an 18 on an EGO Roll and had to spend his sole Hero Point to reroll one of the dice, getting a 1 on the reroll and reclaiming control of his character’s actions.]
Kairon took Bertulf and Jorunn on a path along the city wall away from the safehouse until he could verify nobody was following them. Once satisfied they were not being followed, Kairon looped Bertulf and Jorunn in that Devorah was possibly being monitored. The trio took the long way to get back to the safehouse and arrived about an hour and a half later.
Back inside Penrith’s, Devorah met Penrith and asked about engineering books. She was lead back on a twisted path through the books to a closet all the way at the back that might have been in another building and shown Recent Abjuration. Looking through it, she decided it was what she needed and discussed price. Penrith proposes a deal: as Devorah is a gnome, would she be willing to review and comment on a copy of How Gnome Airships Fly in exchange for a discount on Recent Abjuration? If she gave Penrith 7gp now, he would give back 2gp as the deposit on How Gnome Airships Fly plus a further 1gp as a discount on Recent Abjuration when she returned How Gnome Airships Fly with her comments/review. After working out that she would only comment on the accuracy or inaccuracy of the text and not include anything proprietary, she agreed to the deal. Penrith wrapped up both books and Devorah left the shop heading back to the safehouse.
At Aether & Onyx, Halfrijd, used to the deference towards dwarf craftspeople in gem shops in Freegate, misplayed her hand with the staff and was kindly asked to leave. A bit at a loss as a result, she eventually wandered back to the safehouse, being the first to return of those who left that morning.
Meanwhile, A’thir found an access point to the rooves of the block he wanted to scout. Verifying he was unobserved, he leapt up to catch a ladder end and climbed up to the roof. [This was a maintenance access point and the maintenance workers would have a portable ladder with hooks on the end to connect with the permanently mounted portion.] Up on the roof of the block of buildings he made his way to the building he wanted and spent the rest of the morning there observing the target building across the street. [As a note to the reader, A’thir was spotted by the Competition while climbing the ladder and was being monitored by them from another building.]
End of Session
Commentary
[After several sessions of everyone mispronouncing his character’s name, in Session 5 A’thir moved the apostrophe in his name to be next to the A to clarify the pronunciation as “Ah-theer”. I’m reflecting that spelling now and going forward. This will also give you some idea of how far behind I’ve gotten in doing these write-ups.]
In Search Of…Adventures
Last Session: Session 2
Next Session: Session 4 [Not yet transcribed]
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