Eye for an eye: assassination for the Causa Scientiae order

Seekers Beyond the Shroud

Play report of the 24th day of Lana Vanne’s ascension to the occult campaign using Seekers Beyond The Shroud.

You may want to read the first, second, third, fourth, 5th & 6th, 7th to 14th, 15th to 17th and 18th to 23rd parts of the campaign.

Wednesday, first quarter - Day 24 at the Omphalos

Lana has recently joined an online site where you can trade objects that you cannot usually find in the shops of the Omphalos, and she is expecting to meet Ethan Vanderpool who has a couple of swords that she would like to acquire.

True fact, these are swords that I previously ogled in this play report but I couldn’t get any because my character is still weak compared to the Sect Adepts that usually use them.

They meet at the designated time and place in the Omphalos and the trade takes place, a Sword of the Children of Erlik (d10 + 20 damage) for an alchemical ingredient, a Lac Sulphuris. Lana thanks the man and smiles happily to her new one-handed sword!

You can trade and buy/sell stuff that you get from your missions in Blackoath Enternainment’s Discord, here is an invite.

Lana has no use for her old Knife, so she sells it, and manages to score a good price for the item. Appraisal check OK +200ø

As soon as she exits the shop where she has just sold the knife, a spy from the Causa Scientiae order comes closer and gives her some heads up regarding possible hostilities in her next mission. Defensive skills +10%

She meets with Cecil, apparently there is some gossip going on about her since she failed her last mission, she tries to pretty up the facts, but of course, Cecil knows everything since she was there when Lana reported the failure on her mission. -50 favour with all orders CHA test fail Encounter: rumours

*ouch*

Lana heads to the Hall of the Orders, she only sees Causa Scientiae stand open, and Keith is managing it. She asks for a mission and Keith tries to disguise his lack of enthusiasm when explaining the details of the mission to her, but he can’t hide it well enough.

Apparently one of the elders of the Causa Scientiae order has been murdered and the order wants revenge. Her goal is to find the mastermind behind this attack and deal with it. Keith stares directly into Lana’s eyes, and gives her a photo of her target, she nods in agreement, she understands the implications. Mission: revenge Location: house

Generating the location: The mastermind’s house

  • A - Entrance
  • B - Library
  • C - Dining room
  • D - Bedroom x9
  • E - Kitchen
  • F - Study
  • G - Hallway x2
  • H - Living room
  • I - Yard

The mastermind's house - Ground floor

The mastermind's house - First floor

The mastermind's house - Second floor, the hallway here is the second one (G2)

At the mastermind’s house

Entrance - Ground floor

A Vessel is looking the furniture in the entrance, Lana prepares herself to fight but they enigmatically smile at her and give her a book. Then they leave. NPC reaction friendly Magic relic: The Wheiley Diary

What! This relic is huge. Apparently it can absorb up to 200 points of sanity lost!!! Woa, this is really great. By the way, Lana lost -7 sanity in the last mission so I need to check when I can meditate again, she will recover sanity after a week without sanity lost, which now it is guaranteed since I got this magic relic, but I want to use the Meditation skill to level it up after 5 uses.

Kitchen - Ground floor

Lana arrives in the kitchen and looks around, her target is not here, she accidentally scrapes her hand with the edge of a chair… the chair doesn’t look very clean. Event: infected wounds Healing reduced by 50%

I’m immune to that event, I can’t manage to heal my character either way, ha!

Dining room - Ground floor

She opens the door and enters the dining room, there is no one here either but when she is about to leave she starts feeling a nasty and very dark presence… WIL test OK Event: fear manifest

She leaves this uncomfortable room and heads out to the yard.

Yard - Ground floor

The yard is ill-maintained, it looks like a jungle out here, and Lana cannot see her feet, there are too many weeds and brushwood, something scratches her hands again. Event: infected wounds Healing reduced by 50%

Okay… this is very bad.

Living room - Ground floor

She goes back inside to the living room, it is a mess, there are random things laying around, she searches some book piles, there might be something useful, and finds a Grimoire. Discovery: lucky find

Perfect!

Entrance - Ground floor

Back at the entrance she goes up the stairs.

Hallway 1 - Floor 1

A Golem is guarding the hallway. She cannot sneak past the enemy and her parries fail a couple of times before she manages to flee. -46HP

She takes some time to catch her breath and tries to heal her wounds, but fails. First aid check fail

If some aliens abduct me and try to impersonate me, you know how to detect them.

Entrance - Ground floor

She decides to go back to the ground floor before exploring the house any further to try to patch her wounds a little. First aid check fail

I don’t want to give up on this mission just yet, moreover it would be the second mission on a row that I would have failed from Causa Scientiae… and that’s bad. I also want money.

Living room - Ground floor

First aid check fail

Lana is now angry, ‘To hell with these bandages!’

Entrance - Ground floor

She takes the stairs to the first floor.

Hallway 1 - Floor 1

She cannot see any enemies guarding this part of the hallway.

Bedroom 1 - Floor 1

A Rogue Mage is standing in the middle of the room, she looks hostile and Lana avoids her. NPC reaction hostile Sneaking check OK

Lana finds a gruesome discovery in this room, the remains of her target are lying around in a corner, madly butchered, blood is everywhere. ‘Well, mission accomplished.’ Lana smirks. WIL test OK Discovery: gruesome discovery

Hallway 1 - Ground floor

The hallway is still silent.

Entrance - Ground floor

A Street tough sees her as she is going down the stairs to the entrance. He is hostile and Lana accepts the challenge. Lana is quicker and wields her new sword very well, the Street tough hits her once with his knife, but Lana manages to kill him. She loots his knife and a Glock.

Mission recap

Back at the Omphalos she manages to get a full price for the knife and half price for the glock looted from the Street tough. Appraisal checks +600ø

  • Got a Grimoire
  • Got a magic relic: the Wheiley Diary
  • Mission reward: 500ø
  • +150 favour with Causa Scientiae
  • +5 order points

I would totally have given up the mission after another battle given Lana’s wounds and the Infected wounds events, but the discovery of the corpse saved us!