I didn't realise October went by so quickly! Between painting and playing games for Solotober (if you're not part of Board Game Geek, it's where you play at least one game a day for the entire month of October). I also picked up 2 new board games this month: Final Girl and The Dark Quarter.
Anyway, I remembered my promise to regale you with the exploits on the Streets of Peril, so here it is.
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Finkelstein’s Laboratory PART 1
A noble House in the city state of Sturmburgh recently backed a “doctor” Finkelstein (an individual with a less than stellar reputation) in his experiments, said to be able to speed up healing. The head of the House thinks it will be advantageous for them to control a revolutionary means of healing, not the least a financial advantage. However, certain irregularities about the doctor’s experiments have come to light and now the doctor has disappeared.
Unable to find suitable retainers or mercenary companies, and not wishing to involve the witch finders, Frederick Stoltz - a young, confident man with a fierce loyalty to the House - is given the task of finding some adventurers within Sturmburgh to track Finkelstein. Fredrick is tall and lithe and maintains an elegant mustache and well-groomed blonde hair.
Frederick asks around and is given three names. These individuals have a certain... reputation.
Jerzyn Cherment, a Smolyani Duelist
Eleanora Zucca, a Valentino Scoundrel
Morning
Fredrick finds Jerzyn in a bawdy house enjoying (or suffering) the aftereffects of a night’s carousing.
Fredrick finds Sayeed in a stall in the market place, selling innocuous balms and salves.
Fredrick finds Eleanora hungover and worse for wear in a tavern (aftereffects of indulging in Lotus powder, that has effects similar to hashish).
Fredrick tells each of the three the same message: he has been informed they have a certain… reputation. That is why he has sought each of them out. They are to meet him in a tavern at midday where they will hear something to their advantage…. IF they are interested.
Midday
The Trumpeting Swallow tavern. It’s in a quiet spot in the city. Not too shabby or in the slums… but not a high end tavern either. They are shown to a private room at the back. Jerzyn and Eleanora are still slightly under the weather. Sayeed is quiet and in full possession of his faculties.
Frederick serves them a fairly decent wine, decent enough to get the attention of Jerzyn and Eleanora even in their debilitated state.
Sayeed declines. Even though he’s no longer in Zahjik, he continues to hold to their tenets.
Without fanfare, a middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed beard enters the room. He is richly dressed in silk clothing but without any House colours or insignia to denote which House he’s from. He has a distinctive air of command about him.
Frederick stands up deferentially. “Sir.”
The new arrival doesn’t say anything but gives each of the three adventurers a keen look. He shakes his head at Jerzyn and Eleanora… and gives Fredrick a querying look.
Fredrick says in a low voice: “They have a reputation for getting things done, sir. No questions asked.”
The man nods and leaves abruptly.
settling down with his own wine glass, Fredrick tells the trio:
A certain House in sturmburgh has been financing a medical research project within the city. A brilliant scientist, Dr. Ruprecht Finkelstein. The doctor was expelled from the Griesdorf Physicians Guild for his questionable experiments involving necrotic tissue. Finkelstein assured the head of the House that his experiments were grossly misunderstood and could potentially save many lives.
intrigued by this, Finkelstein was provided with expensive laboratory equipment and rare texts containing alchemical knowledge in an effort to support this medical research. A secret lab was also constructed for Finkelstein in an effort to conceal his research from the local Physician's Guild.
However, the House recently discovered that Dr. Finkelstein has abandoned the laboratory and fled with the money, books and equipment provided to him.
The trio of adventurers are being hired to retrieve whatever monies given to Finkelstein (if possible), definitely retrieve the rare texts of alchemical knowledge, and see if the lab equipment can be located and is in a re-sellable condition. Finally, they are to apprehend Finkelstein for his treachery. Do not make a fuss or a scene. Do not involve the governor and the constables. Be discreet.
Eleanora (passes a Perception check) : “I suppose that House Volker will pay us well for our discretion?”
Fredrick is shocked.
Eleanora: “Oh, come now! Otto Volker has a distinctive look about him, you know… even when he’s not wearing the usual black and white House colours.”
Fredrick grimaces. “I told him not to come…” (shakes his head) “Yes. You will be well paid. 5 gold coins for the capture of Finkelstein and 1 gold coin for each book returned.”
Eleanora: “Do be serious! That’s such a paltry reward for such a task of a … delicate nature!” (Opposed Haggle check which Eleanora wins handily.) They settle on a payment of 9 gold each for capturing Finkelstein and the lab equipment and any monies recovered and 3 gold per book recovered.
Sayeed: “What is to be done with this… doctor, then? After he is captured? Do we... dispose... of him?”
Fredrick: “Oh, no! If… WHEN… you capture him, deliver him to a man named Franz Josef at a hidden location near the docks. By no means should the kidnapped doctor be brought anywhere near the Volker manor. Laboratory equipment of value should also be returned to Franz. There are three rare books… you are to bring them directly to me.”
Jerzyn: “How … no, when did you discover the good doctor fled?”
Fredrick: “Last night, when I went to the lab to get his agreement to stop his… I mean, to talk to him. He was nowhere to be seen and his assistants had also disappeared together with most of the lab equipment.”
Sayeed: “What sort of equipment?”
Redrick: “Wires, cages,… bottles with foul smelling chemical bubbling over fires while an eerie humming noise came from the wires…”
Sayeed: “You don’t know what they were?“
Fredrick: “No! I’m not… that is, my … talents … do not lie in that direction.”
Jerzyn: “Do you know where this doctor is to be found?”
Fredrick: “If we knew, would I be looking for such as you?”
Eleanora: “What is this Finkelstein like?”
Fredrick: “He is… quiet. Reserved except when talking about his experiments. Then, one can truly believe he is obsessed with his researches and experiments. “
Eleanora: “What does he look like?”
Fredrick: “He is an older man with wild, curly white hair. Rumpled, stained clothing of not particularly good quality.”
Sayeed: “Perhaps… we should start with this laboratory then? We might find some hints about where the doctor has fled to.”
Fredrick: “Yes, Otto- I mean, I was advised that we might start by searching the abandoned lab.”
Jerzyn: “Where is it?”
Fredrick: “The laboratory is located in an old warehouse in the northern slums.”
Jerzyn: “What?! In the slums?!”
Eleanora: “In an abandoned warehouse?!”
Sayeed: “This is extremely irregular! Why…”
When pressed, Fredrick reluctantly admits that Finkelstein is a rogue scientist, and Otto Volker was willing to risk the Physician's Guild's wrath for the medical marvels promised by Finkelstein.
Eleanora : “This is most suspicious! I think 9 gold isn’t enough to…”
Fredrick holds up his hands. “I will not haggle with you again, Signorina. I know when I am overmatched. I can tell you that 10 gold is the maximum I am authorised to offer and if you want more… well, I will have no choice but to look for other adventurers and I cannot offer more for the return of the books than what I already have.”
(10 gold each upon the successful capture of Finkelstein and 3 gold for each book returned).
The trio look at each other warily. It is the first time they have met.
Eleanora: “We need to talk…”
Fredrick: “I will be outside, settling the scot with the tavern keeper. When I return, you are to tell me if you are in, or out. I have no more time to waste. My House head is an impatient man… as you doubtless aware of, signorina.” He nods to Eleanora and leaves the room.
Jerzyn: “After last night… my purse is flatter than a miller's pancake.”
Sayeed: “Some funds to pursue my researches will not go amiss…”
Eleanora to Jerzyn: “Your outfit marks you for a duelist from the School of Five Strikes but you, sir... (turning to Sayeed) What do you do?”
Sayeed: “I am… shall we say… a practitioner of certain… arts that are looked down upon by the good citizens of Sturmburgh.”
Jerzyn: “A magister!” Her hand grips her longsword hilt.
Eleanora: “Oh, do settle down, girl! This Finkelstein smells worse than a week old corpse, and you said you needed the money? I suspect we might need Sayeed’s… ‘arts’… before this commission is through.”
Jerzyn reluctantly takes her hand off her longsword.
The trio are agreed: Their joint ambition is to capture Finkelstein, and return the books and whatever else they might recover for the reward.
Fredrick enters the room and they inform him of their decision.
Fredrick: “Very well. We should leave now.”
Jerzyn: “Wait! We need supplies…”
Fredrick: “What do you require?”
“Lanterns… “
“Rope…”
“A long staff…”
Sayeed: “Do you have a diamond?”
Fredrick (shocked): “A what?”
Sayeed: “I require a small diamond if I am to be of assistance in this endeavour.”
Fredrick: “Aren’t you getting paid enough?”
Sayeed: “Oh, it is not for me as recompense. The loan of a small diamond will do just as well. I can return it to you after we have completed this commission.”
Fredrick looks uncertain but asks (sarcastically): "Anything else?"
Eleanora: “Do you have components for a dart trap?”
“And a crowbar…”
“And hammer…”
“Do you have a horn full of gunpowder?”
Fredrick shakes his head ruefully. “I can obtain all these items… as a loan, mind you.”
Before Eleanora can open her mouth, he holds up his hands again. “No, signorina, I have already said, I am sure you can be very persuasive but I have NO authority to give you anything else. I can make these items available as a loan. Will that suffice?”
The trio reluctantly agree.
Fredrick: “Meet me in 2 hours at the northern entrance to the slums.”
Jerzyn: “Ugh… I really need to rest first. I’m not at my best right now.”
Sayeed: “And I need to gather certain … items if I am to be of any use in an altercation.”
Eleanora: “I could use some rest myself.”
Frederick advises against visiting the laboratory after sunset for fear of banditry.
But the trio say they need more time to prepare.
Fredrick reluctantly agrees. They will meet at sunset then.
Sunset.
At the entrance to the northern slums. Everyone arrives at the appointed time. Fredrick has brought everything they have requested.
The party can now display their weapons openly, as it’s night and in a part of the city that’s not patrolled by the guards. Fredrick holds a lantern aloft.
Jerzyn unlimbers her longsword.
Eleanora readies her two pistols in hand.
Sayeed… takes out a small, unobtrusive wand.
Everyone ignores that last bit.
Fredrick looks at them but doesn’t take his weapon out.
As they walk through the dirty, filthy streets… deserted, mostly. Noises, sounds of motion… humans… or rats… or worse?
(Opposed Perception test. It’s a tie!!!!!)
They party moves on. Are they being followed?
(Opposed Perception test again. Pass.)
Eleanora finally notices they are being followed. Jerzyn also notices them (via her Sixth Sense) and the party now cannot be surprised if they are attacked.
Fredrick: ”I told you we should have come here earlier!”
Jerzyn: “Oh, don't be such a worry wart! Tell you what… I’ll hang behind a bit… and see if I can’t tempt them to attack me, then you can come in and finish them off.”
(Opposed Intimidate test between Fred and Jerzyn. Jerzyn flunks!)
Fred prevails! “If you want to fight, go ahead but I will not be a party to senseless violence. And I will withdraw offer of employment for this venture.”
Jerzyn sulks.
Keeping a wary eye on the cutpurses and footpads, the party makes it to the deserted lab in the slums.
(Start: A 4d6 Dice Pool to see if the cutpurses will attempt to attack if they think the party is distracted. I used this mechanic from the Grimwild: Free Edition RPG because it works even better than the standard clock from Blades in the Dark for solo play.)
They stand in front of a dilapidated warehouse. An old sign with worn, unintelligible script sways noisily from a rusted chain. The roof of the three-story structure has collapsed in several locations and all of the windows have been shattered.
Flickering light can be seen from the sagging, half open door.
The party is alert. Eleanora and Jerzyn move to cover both sides of the door, weapons at the ready.
Fredrick just pushes the door. It opens with a loud noise.
All around the warehouse interior, several figures huddled around tiny fires freeze at the sight of the party.
Fredrick: "You are trespassing here. Leave!"
The figures flee into the night.
“Homeless beggars.” Fredrick spits on the floor.
The inside of the warehouse is an enormous empty chamber with destroyed crates littering the floor. A faint smell of urine and mildew is over everything.
Fredrick points to the back of warehouse. “This way.”
The party warily makes their way deeper into the warehouse, lit with flickering light from the small fires of the homeless beggars.
On a stone wall, opposite the entrance, Frederick presses a solitary red brick. A section of the stone wall rotates like a door, revealing a small room.
“This way.” Fredrick enters.
Expecting a yell to come from inside the room, the party enters. Eleanora covers the rear. Sayeed in the centre.
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The room contains a long workbench stained with blood and other unidentifiable liquids and shelves long the walls, but is otherwise empty with the exception of a variety of animals preserved in jars. The smell of urine and decay is stronger here.
Jerzyn and Sayeed check out the bottles.
Dead rats. Cats. Squirrels. Birds. Larger large containers contain carcasses of dogs.
Sayeed notices the skillful precision with which these animals have been dissected and sewn back together. “Whoever was working on these animals possesses surgical training.”
He picks up a bottle containing a dead rat. It looks very different from a normal rat. Appendages of random creatures have been sewn to its body.
Suddenly… it twitches!
(Sayeed passes a Willpower test.)
He doesn’t drop the bottle! “By the Goddess!”
The others cluster around the bottle, shocked. They forget to keep a lookout.
(Make a Dice Pool test to see if the cutpurses will attempt to attack if they think the party is distracted. 2d6 left. when zero, the Curpurses will attack at the earliest opportune moment.)
Sayeed to Fredrick: “So… THIS is the ‘rogue’ doctor you were talking about? A NECROMANCER??!”
Jerzy and Eleanora mutter. Curses? Protective charms?
Fredrick: “Yes. Yes. But you notice my employer has disavowed the doctor.”
Fredrick explains that his employer discovered Finkelstein's research involved the reanimation of dead animals. Threats were issued: cease all experiment to do with necromancy or funding with be withheld. A few days later, Finkelstein’s lab was found deserted and the doctor hasn’t been seen or contactable.
Fredrick: “That’s why he fled, remember?”
Sayeed looks unconvinced but finally accepts Fredrick's words at face value.
The other animals in the bottles show similar signs of ‘life’ and also other appendages grafted onto their bodies.
Eleanora: “Is this all?”
Fred: “Why… yes.”
Eleanora: “What about all the equipment Otto Volker bought and paid for? Where is it? Was there more? Could it all have fit in here?”
Fredrick: “Why… I… I don’t know. I saw some equipment, but… ”
Sayeed: “What the signorina means is that to perform ‘research’ of this kind will take more space and equipment that can fit in this room. You will need multiple places to dissect cadavers, store them…”
Jerzyn: “Ugh.”
(They make an Investigation check).
Sayeed & Eleanora point to a red brick set in one of the walls. “That one” (said together).
They cluster around the red brick. Jerzyn keeps guard. (No Cutpurse Dice Pool roll because the party is alert.)
Eleanora notices scuff marks on floor, indicating … feet?
Sayeed to Fred: “Well?“
Fredrick: “Press the brick?”
Standing back, they use a staff Fredrick brought to press the brick.
The door opens much like the earlier secret door. Stairs lead down.
Fredrick: “By Sigurd.”
Sayeed: “Did you not know about this?”
Fredrick shakes his head.
Jerzyn takes a step down, and gestures to Fredrick who’s holding the lantern.
Fredrick gulps but moves down the stairs, lantern held aloft, following Jerzyn. Sayeed in the centre. Eleanora takes the rear. All three adventurers have their weapons at the ready. (No Cutpurse Dice Pool roll because the party is alert.)
At the base of the hidden staircase is a small stone hallway ending in a reinforced door. There are six holding cells here, similar to those found in a prison. At the center of the hall is a drain where blood and viscera has collected.
They examine the cells.
In two of the cells are gaunt, naked figures. These disheveled men sit upon the cold floor, hunched over and wheezing.
Fredrick: “Hello! Can you tell us where Finkelstein is?”
The men’s only response is to lift their heads to stare at the party with milky and lifeless eyes.
Sayeed: “By Sahira! What are they?”
Jerzyn sees a series of levers at the end of the hallway. She flips one. “May be this will open…”
Eleanora: “No! Wait!”
Too late! A cell door swings open and suddenly the gaunt figure imprisoned inside springs out at… Fredrick!
“AAGGHHH!!!!! Help!”
(Initiative roll! Also Cutpurse Dice Pool Roll since the party is distracted. Still 1d6 in Pool. However, the sight of the wiedergänger makes the Cutpurses following the party turn tail and run!)
Quick as lightning, perhaps already suspecting something is wrong, Sayeed jumps back out of the way, standing beside Eleanora. He tries to identify the creature (Passes an Intelligence test). “Beware! It’s a wiedergänger! Don’t go near it, it has an aura that will affect you…!”
Knowing she screwed up, Jerzyn charges in anyway. “Come on Fredrick! Fight!” Eleanora dances around the combatants, hoping to get a clear shot with her pistols and curses the fact she didn't have her rapier instead.
But Fredrick just blubbers at the undead creature menacing him.
(I’ll just provide the mechanics for Combat here since it’s the first time. Jerzyn uses her Special Technique [2/3 remaining] allowing her to roll black dice [success on rolls of 2-6].
Jerzyn normally has 6d6 Fighting dice, but she has a penalty of -2d6 for wiedergänger aura. However, she gets a bonus of +2d6 due to outnumbering and +1d6 for charging.
Swinging her longsword, she gets 7 successes!
The wiedergänger gets 1 success for defence.
Total 6 successes! +3 bonus Damage dice, rolling damage on RED dice [success on 3 to 6].
Deals 10 damage! [Thanks to exploding dice].
The wiedergänger rolls his armour save and gets 1 success, giving it a total of 9 damage dealt. Since it only has 7 HP, it’s dead!)
Jerzyn’s mighty swing shears the undead creature’s head clean off its shoulders!
(End Encounter)
The other wiedergänger snarls and rattles the cage doors but they hold!
Fredrick collapses on the floor, gasping and wheezing while the lantern clatters on the floor!
Eleanora (passes an Agility test) picks up the lantern before it has a chance to go out or roll over the floor. She picks up the pistol she dropped while doing so.
Sayeed kneels next to the wiedergänger’s corpse. “Jerzyn! Keep an eye on the other monster!”
Jerzyn does so.
Sayeed (barely passes an Intelligence test) sees more sophisticated surgery, claws instead of normal human hands, fangs…
“This… man has been changed, like the animals in the lab above.” Pokes at the flesh. It’s necrotic, overladen with a strong smell of rot and vinegar.
“So. They steep the flesh in vinegar to slow the rot.”
Jerzyn eyes the other wiedergänger still in its cell. “It’s… an abomination!” Seeing the metal bars are holding the creature, she turns back to the levers on the other end of the room.
There’s a large wooden looking panel set into the wall there, about the length and breadth of a set of large double doors. There are no obvious signs of handles or keyholes.
Sayeed turns to Fredrick, still shivering on the floor and examines him. Thankfully, the young man hasn’t been touched by the wiedergänger.
“Come, man, pull yourself together!” (Fredrick passes a Willpower test).
“It’s… that’s… “ he gasps.
Before he can continue, sounds of footsteps are heard on the stairs. Bobbing light and muttered voices float down…
TO BE CONTINUED
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Backstory: I've eyeing this RPG called Streets of Peril for quite a while now. Firstly, the system it uses - Perilous D6 - is free. I read it and was very attracted to the game. And the main book, Streets of Peril is actually set in an alternative fantasy Renaissance setting, which is one of my favourites.
I waited for a sale to happen, but there wasn't any so I pulled the trigger anyway and I'm glad I did so.
I created three PCs out of the 7 classes available :
Brute (melee focused warrior)
Cultist (cleric)
Duelist
Engineer
Magister (magic user)
Man-at-Arms
Scoundrel (thief)
Wayfarer (ranger)
and each class has 2 sub-classes.
It took a while to get the hang of it, but somehow I found playing the game very easy and enjoyable.
Stay tuned for part 2!
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OFF TOPIC: Good news! I found my missing cards for the Anno Domino 1666 game that I painted the minis for last month. So look forward to a game report in November.
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