Sabotage the sinister industrial complex

Seekers Beyond the Shroud

Play report of the 5th and 6th sessions of Lana Vanne’s ascension to the occult campaign using Seekers Beyond The Shroud.

You may want to read the first, second, third and fourth parts of the campaign.

Friday, full moon - Day 5 at the Omphalos

Lana’s goal for today is to consecrate one of the tools that she would need to summon Taavi, so she heads to the Omphalos.

There, the same spy that informed her about these being dangerous times yesterday, warns her again. Lana doesn’t care about this since she should be safe today performing rituals. Daily event: inside information

She walks some more and comes across Keira, the poison researcher that she rescued a couple of days ago, she invites her to participate in a ceremony, which lasts a couple of hours. Lana doesn’t gain anything from it, but at least it seems that Keira doesn’t find her that useless anymore. Encounter: ceremony INT test

I use Mythic GME to know if Lana knew the person that invited her to the ceremony.

Lana buys some Frankincense and rents a ritual chamber for a total of 300ø to perform the Tool Consecration ritual.

She lights some candles and tries to consecrate the athame aaaaand…fails. Magic liturgy check

I roll 15, the goal was less than 10. Not that bad, but still a failure.

Lana goes home.

Saturday, full moon - Day 6 at the Omphalos

Today there is a festive atmosphere at the Omphalos, the mages are throwing black confetti everywhere, these Londoners sure like parting, it’s the second holiday in a week! It appears to be the day of Omphalos, which commemorates its creation. Event: Omphale festival Double favour with the Orders

The objective was to continue doing consecration rituals, but I cannot ignore a double favour event!

Lana goes to a pub to meet her friends, and another drunk mage says something offensive, but she doesn’t think of anything intelligent to reply. INT test

In the Hall of Orders she sees representatives from the Causa Scientiae, and the Mesu-betesh, she goes to the Causa Scientiae since she is in better terms with them. She is pleased to see that her friend Cecil has the day off, she had to work on the previous holiday after all, and Keith, a friend of Cecil’s that had an argument with Lana before, is managing the missions.

He tells her that they want to sabotage some strange business that is happening at an abandoned industrial complex, apparently they are doing something with the animals there (genetic engineering?) and the Causa Scientiae order wants to cut their supply of Alchemical Stashes and Ritual Supplies. Mission: sabotage Goal: 3

I use the Tome of Adventure Design to know more about the abandoned complex, and I get: “Animal Trainer (unusual animals)” and “Engineering (building)”.

Lana accepts the mission.

Generating the location: abandoned industrial complex

  • A - Main entrance
  • B - Hallway x8
  • C - Warehouse
  • D - Recreation room
  • E - Parking loot
  • F - Office/Room x10

The sinister industrial complex

At the sinister industrial complex

Main entrance

No enemies. There is a locked door, Lana opens it using her lock picks. Lockpicking check

Lana doesn’t find any Alchemical stash here.

Hallway 1

There aren’t any enemies. One fail safe is triggered by Lana, she is not hurt, but she hears some explosions nearby. DEX test Rec room and rooms 1, 3 and 7 destroyed

This is bad, now I have fewer places to search for the stashes…

Lana doesn’t find any Alchemical stash here either.

Hallway 2

Nothing of interest in this hallway and no stash either.

Hallway 3

No enemies on sight, the floor is full of dry blood and syringes, are they drugging the animals? Event consequence: enemies -10 defence, +20HP

mmm I kind of don’t mind this.

Lana finds an alchemy stash next to some garbage, there are two left to go.

Great, good start!

Office 2

A Curator (from an American spy agency that is tasked with researching the occult) is calmly reading an Alchemical treaty, she ignores Lana. NPC reaction: indifferent

Lana hears more sounds, maybe they are some more Curator agents… she avoids being found. Sneaking check

Lana doesn’t find any Alchemical stash here.

Hallway 3

Lana goes back to this hallway, no enemies appear.

Hallway 4

As she goes around the corner to get to the fourth hallway, another Curator appears, he is hostile. NPC reaction: hostile

Lana wins the engagement round and makes a first shot that hits the Curator, then she uses her knife, but she is very clumsy and it falls to the ground. The combat continues, the Curator scores three hits but Lana manages to kill him.

She loots his breath spray, “Surely these spies are always ready”, a combat knife, a Beretta and a pair of very cool knight vision goggles. The Curator is also wearing a Military grade armour, but is too heavy for Lana to carry.

I have yet to find if the night vision goggles would be useful, but they sound very cool already.

She tries to heal herself but she fails.

Lana doesn’t find any Alchemical stash here either.

Office 4

As Lana enters this office, a Hinn closes by. This is the first time that Lana encounters these creatures, they’re almost human but there is something weird going on with their eyes.

The Hinn is not very strong, she manages to kill it in three turns and she doesn’t take any hits.

Lana loots the Hinn’s Beretta and combat knife.

A man with a baseball bat has seen her combat against the Hinn and is eager to blow off some steam fighting against Lana too. NPC reaction: hostile NPC flavour: brutal, distracted, control

She quickly retreats! DEX check

She finds another stash!! And she is also able to heal herself. There is only one stash left to go.

Great combo!

Hallway 4

Back to the hallway, an Orisha Agent greets her. NPC reaction: hostile

The agent hits Lana twice, but after five turns Lana is able to kill her to loot her Beretta.

Office 5

There is a Sect adept organising some boxes in this office, she ignores Lana. NPC reaction: indifferent

There are some files that might be of interest here, Lana tries to understand anything from the files, but they are too complex. Occult knowledge check

She uses some time to heal her wounds.

Hallway 4

Back to this hallway a Rogue mage has seen her reading the files in the office, he is friendly and gives her a MAGIC RELIC, “Hey friend, it looks like you’ve started with this occult magic and rituals thing recently, this might help you.” The rogue mage gives her a Warding chalk, which would help her performing rituals. Lana resists her urge to hug the mage. NPC reaction: friendly

HOORAY! I can actually use this relic to get some bonus performing the ritual to summon Taavi!

Hallway 6

Lana walks with a smile to this hallway when a crazy eyed Street tough appears, he wants to steal her stuff, and she engages in combat. NPC reaction: hostile

It takes six rounds to kill the street tough, and he scores two hits in Lana. She loots his Glock, and throws a combat knife away from her backpack, she needs to prioritise the loot that sells for more obols.

This time I remembered!

Lana doesn’t find the last stash here, and she is unable to patch her wounds.

Office 10

There is an old man, an Ancient, furiously typing on his laptop. He sees Lana and mistakes her for someone else “Take this Grimoire, we need to use this ritual to speed up the process”. Lana takes the Grimoire. NPC reaction: friendly

HERE WE GO!

The room is full of filling cabinets and blackboards with strange formulae, she looks around and finds the cover of a book that looks familiar, it’s another Grimoire. Perception check

She also finds the last stash between two boxes.

These last two locations have been great.

She takes some time to patch her wounds, she still needs to go back to the exit, but she is unable to anything.

However, she is able to exit this complex safely.

Mission recap

*lots of colourful confetti flying around*

*add some more confetti*

  • 150 favour x2: 300 favour with Causa Scientiae
  • 500ø
  • Selling the loot: a combat knife, three berettas, a glock (full price) -> 2700ø
  • Found two Grimoires
  • Got her first Magic relic: Warding Chalk

*more confetti flying around*

This has been a very fruitful mission!