MACHINE CITY ZARTHOG
It is the third year of the Elm Tree War. The massed forces of the Frog Knights, led by General Olivia “the Hammer,” have surrounded Machine City Zathog for months. The siege has crippled the city, as the great engines of commerce grind solely to support the Dragonfly Knights, led by General Jasper. Machine City Zathog guards the pass into Dragonfly lands, and if it falls the triumph of the Frog Knights will become inevitable. The civilians and noncombatants of Machine City Zathog are ever-vigilant; they guard constantly against the schemes of Frog spies, Frog agents, Frog provocateurs.
Rumors run through the city like oil fires. The Frog Knights have captured Magic City Noton. They have recovered People’s Will, the mighty war machine of the First Age. They opened a gate to hell and struck bargains with Panzuzu. the Archfiend. They’re infiltrating the Dragonfly Knights disguised as new transferees. They’re blessed and funded by the Church of the Cycle… it is a bleak and paranoid time.
TYPICAL SUSPECTS
Three nights ago your longtime business contact, Mushmouth the Bug, sent you a message. Queen Abby had a job, message ran, and Queen Abby was too busy polishing her ivory to do it herself. Mushmouth met you and a few other berks night before last, in the back room of a little carpenter’s shop in the Seven Corners, but he wasn’t doing the talking. Queen Abby? She’s much smaller than you’d have expected, with little fairy wings. Maybe it was only Queen Abby’s represenative, you didn’t ask.
There was a man named Nitocris, Queen Abby said night before last. Nitocris did a bad thing. Nitocris took a box that didn’t belong to him, and then Nitocris escaped through a gate. Queen Abby just recently found out where he fled to, and now Queen Abby wants you to fetch her that box.
You told her your fee and she agreed to it a little too readily, so you upped the price and she talked you back down, which is a good sign because it means she thinks there’s at least a chance she’ll have to pay you. Half up front, half afterwards, that was the deal. She wrote a check from a numbered account and made it out to cash.
The box is four inches deep, nine inches long, and six inches wide, about the size of a small humidor. It’s made of hardwood with platinum reinforcements and should be sealed with green wax and a Godsman seal. It won’t detect as magic, but it’s heavier than it ought to be. It won’t float in water.
Don’t open the box, she said. Give it to Mushmouth, he’ll bring it back to me.
Yesterday morning you woke up when the cops started pounding on your door. A trio of Harmonium hardheads, red-eyed. They brayed about criminal conspiracy and they wanted you to visit the Barracks and submit to zone of truth interrogation, but you weren’t about to play that game, and eventually they left, said they were coming back with a warrant. So of course you packed your wordly goods in your bag of holding and cleared out.
Last night you met Mushmouth and the others at the carpenter’s, Swanson’s, and from there a hansom cab to a smithy on the edge of the Hive. Smithy was closed, so you broke in and Mushmouth activated the gate in the workshop, and then you were someplace that smells like oil and urine.
—
Mushmouth (5th level dromite soulknife)
Street Dromite 19
Exoskeleton 19
Wee with Little Legs 19
Compound Eyes 19
Fire retardant 19
Smooth-Talking 19
Panhandling and Sleeping in Alleys 19
Broadminded 19
QAM Psi Enforcer 17W1
Mind Makes Sword 19W2
Tough like a Roach 19W2
People do what you tell them to do 19W2
Move through melee 7W2
Sneak up 7W2
Dodge Explosions 2W2
Resist Mental Assault 20W1
Know the Seven Corners 20W1
Recognize Crime 20W1
Feared in the Seven Corners 6W1
Hate Triad of Order 20
Member of Queen Abby’s Mob 17
Pathological fondness for Violence 17
Greedy 17
Loyal to Queen Abby’s Mob 17
Drinking Buddies at the Binge 17
Jump 17
Carve soap 17
Love good food 17
—
Tall Anton (4th level human fighter)
New Phlan native 19
Rugged Individualist 19
Quick to Violence 19
Moonsea Geography 19
Very Tall 19
Petty Thug 14W1
Kill Using Weapons 11W2
Storm of Arrows 11W2
Stay Alive 11W2
Dodge Fireballs the Size of Haycarts 4W2
Recognize Crime 4W2
Break In 19W1
Run Down Fleeing Opponents 19W1
Fear None Living 14W1
Bareknuckled Brawling 14W1
Maintain Weapons 14W1
Familiar with Sigil 17
Greedy 17
Callous 17
Violent 17
Contacts in Sigil 17
Traveled the Planes Some 17
Retirement Planning 17
Hate Goblinoids 17
Fear Undead 17
—
Abra (4th level tiefling necromancer)
Abyssal refugee 19
Quick 19
Abyssal knowledge 19
Extremely Clever 16W1
See in Dark 19
Street Necromancer 12W1
Necromancy (Enchantment Banned) 11W2
Supernatural Will 11W2
Magical Theory 2W2
Planar Geography 1W2
Duck 17W1
Take a punch 17W1
Surgery and Anatomy 12W1
Haggle 12W1
Alchemy 12W1
Megolomania 17
Member of the Red Sisterhood 17
Hate Dustmen 17
Grandiose Planning 17
Conspicuous 17
Familiar: Orbus the Undead Rat 17
Former Mentor, Durbl the Old 17
Hate Demons 17
Fear Demons 17
0th Level Arcane Spells 20 (All but Daze)
1st Level Arcane Spells 20 (Ray of Enfeeblement, Chill Touch, Expeditious Retreat, Obscuring Mist, Silent Image, Burning Hands, Protection from Law, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Cause Fear)
2nd Level Arcane Spells 20 (Command Undead, False Life, Ghoul Touch, Gust of Wind, Resist Energy, Protection from Arrows, Web)
—
Mai (4th level orc druid)
Acheron Orc 19
Big and Tough 19
Strong 19
See in Dark 19
Acheron Geography 19
Weapons Training 19
Rat Friend 14W1
Rats Love Me 11W2
Rat-based Magic 11W2
Rend with Tooth and Claw 4W2
Skitter like a Rat Skitters 4W2
Lore of Sewer and Lost Spaces 19W1
Tough like a Rat 19W1
Shake Off Magic 14W1
Connection to the Green 14W1
Brew Potions 14W1
Dire Rat Assistant, Bik 9W2
Feral Tendencies 17
Tracking 17
Worship Gruumsh One-Eye 17
Hate Goblins 17
Hate Elves 17
Mercenary Ethics 17
Nesting 17
0th Level Druid Spells 20
1st Level Druid Spells 20
2nd Level Druid Spells 20
—
Gustau (4th level tiefling finder)
Blood War Brat 19
Lower Planes Familiarity 19
Army Life 19
See in the Dark 8W1
Skip Tracer and Tracker 11W1
Tracking 11W2
Interrogating 11W2
Resisting Enchantments 11W2
Been Everywhere 11W2
Dodging Explosions 11W2
Tough as Nails 19W1
Blend In 19W1
Subdue 14W1
Wilderness Survival 12W1
Sneak 11W1
Greed 17
Professionalism 17
Despise Celestials 17
Fated Sympathizer 17
Reputation for Professionalism 17
Soft Spot for Children 17
Worship Elemental Air 17