Apocrypha, Game 7: Hobnail Prison part 2

Synopsis

The party finds secret police communiques: some that Gwen told Ulrike the secret police spy chief Guilder is the Hobnail chief Lars, some that fairies have infiltrated the Company Board, and some giving the secret police assassin Lavinia different kill orders. Brandy and Carter Cranston kill Ulrike, and the party kills them. Haden and Kiltak open two niche door safes, retrieving Gwen's Gemfire Amulet.

Warm up

I thought a few items from previous games were still unclaimed.

• I thought no one had Ash Tuner's Tabard, but Christian said that Haden had it.
• Hamza originally had the Ring of Greater Pulchritude, but no one claimed it after Hamza left the campaign after Game 3. We gave it to Kiltak, partly because he was undisguised and he could use the Ring to disguise himself inside the prison.

I gave out some inspiration points from Game 7.

• Elgis: For showing open contempt for Garth at Miss Miller's salon.
• Virgil: For pickpocketing Garth, and for rolling 28 Persuasion.
• Haden: For concisely finalizing the party's plan for the prison - "rescue Carter, kill Lars, frame Garth, kill Durer, and take Garth's stock" - and for his ballsy disguise as Garth.

I also had an inspiration point for Kiltak for suggesting the party "pull a Palpatine" and stop corruption in the city, but Kiltak already had an unused inspiration point.

The players told us a little about their characters' appearance in previous games - whether they had hair, a beard, and a barber in Hollin. For Kiltak, we knew from a previous game that he had short brown hair. Now Mike also told us (I believe) that Kiltak had a beard, and used "any old barber" in Hollin, not a particular barber.

We didn't know how Virgil's looked, and Dan told us (my notes):

In Game 6, Virgil had pickpocketed Garth's wallet, but I didn't know then what was in it. Now I reported that it had Garth's identity papers, and the notes:

They talked a little about the meteorite note, and Elgis said it could be about fairies, and Kiltak said it could be related to the meteoric iron weapons they'd forged. They also discussed the Garlington, Helmin, and Gibb list - could it be the tontine subscribers? They saw Ella and Miss Miller on the list, and they knew that Ella and Miss Miller were both in the tontine. They looked for Livingston on the list and didn't find him, but I clarified that Livingston had been killed by the harpies, and we didn't necessarily expect that he was a tontine subscriber.

We confirmed some things from Game 6. Was their plan still "rescue Carter, kill Lars, frame Garth, kill Durer, and take Garth's stock"? They said yes. Were they all still disguised as they'd said in Game 6? They said yes.

The Game

At the end of Game 6, they'd just beat demented prisoners and interrogators in room (3). They'd looked briefly in (1) and (4), and seen a man strapped down to a gurney in (4). They went into (4) now to talk with him.

The man wasn't demented and said his name was Ambrosius. They released his straps and asked him what had happened. Ambrosius said he was there being interrogated by secret police Inquisators, when other secret police came in and bricked up the entrance to (3). Soon after, a cannon blasted down the bricks, and crazed people came in talking about "the ocean." The crazed people spread their madness to others, but he was tied down to the gurney and kept quiet, and they left him alone. The party let Ambrosius leave.

Dan asked if they could hear anything. Virgil rolled Perception and heard someone shouting "Brandy! Brandy, in here!" They crossed back through (6) into (14) and then (16), where they found Carter Cranston locked in a jail cell. Kiltak released him with the guard keys he'd taken in Game 6.

They asked if they could roll Insight on Carter. Barnaby had +5 Insight, and we rolled even though Rob wasn't at the game. Barnaby rolled a 19 and thought that Carter was secret police.

Now that Carter was free, the party suggested Brandy and Carter leave the prison. Brandy and Carter resisted the suggestion, saying they wanted to loot the prison. Kiltak rolled an Insight and felt that Brandy and Carter wouldn't care if they framed Garth, so the party let them come along.

They went into (17) and found three people in cages. Two were demented, and told them...

...which they'd heard before, but also:

The third prisoner wasn't demented, and violently rattled his prison bars and shouted for the party "Get me the fuck out of here!" He told them that he was a puppeteer, Chapman, and the Company was interrogating him because they suspected his puppetry was seditious. Kiltak called Chapman pathetic and they let him go.

They briefly searched the east wing. They found a masonry shop, a chemistry lab, a shop for making electrical torture implements, and a cages full of hungry rats. They also found two forges - one for building the boom chain from Hobnail's days as boom towers, and one for building underwater mines.

Hobnail Prison, east tower, first basement

They went back to (6) and went up the stairs to the east tower first basement.

Hobnail Prison, east tower, first basement

The players decided to investigate (5) first and then visit the other rooms in clockwise order.

(5) had an office with a desk in the front and a cot in the back, behind a curtain. On the desk they found a secret police communique:

In the back, near the cot, they found a safe with a lock similar to the niche door lock that Elgis had opened in Gramercy Books in Game 5. I told them:

I also said that while the previous 2-hole lock did force damage, this 3-hole lock did lightning damage.

Christian immediately said that the lock was like "the show with the goats," "Let's Make a Deal," and the correct strategy was to accept the hole that the lock suggests. However, there was also some wider discussion and speculation that, for example, the correct hole might depend on the character opening the safe.

Christian's character Haden put a Mage Hand into hole 1, and the trap suggested hole 3 instead. Haden followed Christian's strategy and switched the Mage Hand to hole 3, but Haden (not the Mage Hand) was shocked for 3d8 = 16 damage. The safe didn't open and the lock randomly reset.

Christian now said more explicitly that the lock was the Monty Hall paradox. Haden tried again, (I believe) putting a hand into hole 2, and I believe the trap suggested hole 3. Haden kept the hand in 2 this time, abandoning Christian's strategy. He was shocked again, for 3d8 = 9 damage. Again, the safe did not open and the lock randomly reset. Barnaby cast level 2 Cure Wounds on Haden, giving him back 24 of the 25 hits he'd lost.

Kiltak took over, putting his hand in one hole and then accepting the hole the lock suggested, hole 2. The lock opened, and they found inside:

Barnaby had much higher Insight than the others, and the players agreed to give the ring to him.

The players went to (6), which similarly had an office with a desk in the front and a cot in the back. They found five letters on the desk:

The players recognized that the order to "Purge the entire Board" referred to the Company Board and not the tontine, and that "Lilly" in the order to "remove from play" was the Board Chairperson Lilly. The players asked for a reminder on "Gemfires broke Garth and Parja's bill," and I re-read them Garth and Parja's complaints at Miss Miller's salon in Game 6.

They also discussed the communique about Ella: Ella is dead as part of the tontine, so maybe this is an older letter? Lavinia is an assassin? Is she an assassin for the Hobnails or secret police? Are Durer, Guilder, and Lilly together? They also hypothesized that Lavinia was a free-lance assassin everyone hires.

They continued to (4), where they found a desk with a letter:

After reading the letter, the party also let Ulrike read it. But as Ulrike reached the end, "deal with him here," Brandy and Carter suddenly stabbed him in the back with their daggers, and he fell onto the floor dead. Ulrike was foaming at the mouth, poisoned, and Brandy gave Elgis a look that said "You knew I was secret police."

The party fought Brandy and Carter. On the first round Brandy successfully took Barnaby hostage with a Grapple, putting her knife to his throat. Carter hit Kiltak with his poison dagger, giving him the Poisoned condition. However, they quickly beat Brandy and Carter, in round 2. Virgil took Brandy's dagger, which had one-time poison on it. Virgil quickly prayed to Ajana, giving thanks for their win in battle but asking forgiveness for killing.

They took a short rest. Kiltak rolled some hit dice and Haden recovered his Warlock spells.

They continued to (2), where the found the letter:

They continued to (1), another room with a desk in the front and a cot in the back. On the desk they found the letters:

They speculated that Durer might be a "fish person" and that fairies were enmeshed in the Board. They didn't remember Tharldon, but I reminded them that in Game 6, Garth complained that Miss Miller had defeated his bill banning Tharldon's iron in Hollin. They said that Alisandre's "new friend" must be doing all the fish stuff, and wondered whether the new friend might be Lavinia or Gregor, but Fayne pointed out that the letter called the new friend an "it."

Fayne also pointed out Colfax's assertion that Kiltak was "honest," and that Ishild was looking for an honest man.

In the back of the room, they found another safe like the safe in (5), but with 10 holes instead of 3 holes.

Virgil wanted to analyze the safe, and I suggested a Sleight of Hand check on the theory that Sleight of Hand could also cover general "thievery." Virgil had high Sleight of Hand and Barnaby gave him Guidance, and Virgil rolled a 25. He learned:

Since the 3-hole safe did 3d8 damage, Christian suggested the 10-hole lock would do 10d8 damage, and he said Haden wouldn't survive that much.

Kiltak suggested using Carter's dead hands to work the lock. Haden had already been shocked by the 3-hole lock even though he used Mage Hand to work it though, and he suggested that Kiltak try using Carter's hands. Kiltak cavalierly took Carter's dead hand and put it into hole 7 at random. The safe suggested hole 4, and Kiltak took Carter's hand out and put it into hole 4. The safe opened, and as expected they found:

Elgis claimed Gwen's amulet.

Fayne asked what the probability was that Kiltak's actions would open the safe. I declined to say explicitly for now, although I think it can be deduced from the bullets from Virgil's Sleight of Hand analysis.