V: Deep Into Insara Report
General Summary
The curtain dropped on two mine carts full of Our Adventurers -- their yeti guides Yanna & Rudy standing anxiously near -- pulled up just outside the great excavation site: a burly yeti worker yanked Robin up by his collar, put a dagger to his throat, and is demanding to know why under-haired, under-grown strangers are sneaking onto his site. During the daily royal inspection, no less: very suspicious. How did we ever get to this point? Well. Word from Magda, proprietress of the Crown & Trident, was that Stanis & Co. were most likely to be found forcefully-housed at a former guardhouse or working at the excavation site. Our Bold Wayfarers focused on the guardhouse. After a hearty meal of dairy-free yeti-delectables they headed through a hidden passage in Magda's kitchen into an underground tunnel system and, eventually, found a subterranean stairway. A stairway to: the guardhouse latrine. Mark led the way, backed by his buddies, and after some close calls Vrmsk confirmed that there was at least one friendly yeti, Yanna, being held prisoner upstairs and she was wounded. Mark & Robin managed, between them, to render unconscious two yetis who'd intruded on Our Adventurers' hiding spot. Stepping over their slumped bodies, the Adventurers made it up the stairs undetected, knocked the guard out the hard way 'cause Robin's sleeping spell failed with a puff, and freed Yanna plus one rather cagey Oct person who pointed them to a possible rooftop escape before slipping, camouflaged, down the stairs and out. Our Adventurers had no rope to use in descending from the roof! Sorrow. Daunted but not deterred, up to the rooftop so quickly they sprang! and found, among a pile of otherwise useless roof-clutter, a length of rope to serve their purpose. They dropped off the roof and into an alleyway, Saji patched Yanna up and when darkness fell everyone skulked back to the Crown & Trident. A couple of meals and one good night's rest later, Our Adventurers and Yanna met with Magda's friend Rudy, a simple but good-hearted fellow who worked in the Great Excavation and was willing to help smuggle them in for Magda and Stanis' sake. The plan: to stuff some empty rubble-removal-carts full of Adventurers and get them down to the worksite. Unfortunately Stanis wouldn't be there at this hour, but the daily royal inspection was on. More skulking. And a great climbing-into of carts. Then: disaster! Bad luck struck Robin: he caught the eye of lower-level excavation management AND his sleeping spell fizzled. Now Robin is apprehended, there's a sharp & pointy blade at his throat, and it's Mark's move.
Character(s) interacted with
Players have a lot of questions RE what are yeti doing about the problems with their leadership + forced labor of Stanis et al. ??? What ARE the yeti doing? What will they tolerate? How will they respond to the intolerable in a way that allows the Adventurers room for heroism? !!! Yeti response will be out of alignment with the degree of threat -- esp. if excavation reveals a weaponizable item of power. The Adventurers will have an advantage if they perceive and can neutralize/prevent the threat.
Created Content
Rudy: NPC laborer who escorted Adventurers to excavation. Old-school, moves rubble, doesn't hold with new-fangled machinery, thinks Prince Alexi is a good guy who would help folks but has no power. Can gain access by way of carts.
Notes
Need to tighten plot around: * number of yeti taken to work * resistance to New Order, lack of, timeline -- should feel urgent * goals of: king, prince, ambassador, council, common yeti * limits of yeti tolerance for forced labor, locations of laborers in work + living quarters * excavation should appear to be revealing lost civilization and ambassador will argue it is a restoration of yeti power. perhaps images of forced labor, gangs. * what items have been unearthed so far? * the game-essential item: is it dangerous? one of the 8? how will it be recognized? what happens if PCs prevent it being unearthed; gain control of it; lose control of it?
