Quests: Gatun, City of nine Roads

Quests and Events within the massive city-state of Gatun.

Plot points/Scenes

Various Quests (Order Doesn't Matter):

1. Master's Job - Xemnas's master has a job she wants his help with in Gatun. (Quest Link -> The Other Student & Succession War.)
2. The Succession War - A large house of Nobles are currently involved within a familial battle over the new house's master.
3. The Other Student - Oliver is in town and planning something big and has been completing tasks around Gatun. (Quest Link -> Prison Break)
4. Lavender's Request - Lavender needs a thief caught but doesn't have the time to pursue them herself, instead sending Judge to find & apprehend the culprit ALIVE. (Quest Link -> The Archmage)
5. Prison Break - A number of Inmates from the city's dungeon have suddenly broken free and taken control of the dungeon and begun filling back into the city. (Major Event)
6. The Archmage - Katou Iekore has been watching the party for some time now and has some questions for them.
7. Hunt for Zol - Judge has begun hunting down the technic League and has begun by targeting Zol.

Themes

Freedom vs. Oppression

Structure

Exposition

1. Xemnas has been sent a letter by his former master and asked to meet in Gatun. Vannessa has taken on a job for one of the noble families in Gatun, although she won't say who it was and wanted Xemnas's help alongside his friends. After meeting behind a dilapidated clock tower and being explained the details of the job (after accepting), to deliver the client to a ship at port, and the 10k gp reward the PCs agreed to help. The noble family, while at this point is still unknown to the party, are apparently having serious inner conflicts amongst themselves and this particular member and client wants out before something drastic were to occur. Vannessa has taken it upon herself to protect the client personally, the party just needs to protect her.
2. Rochelle Rosengard sends a messenger at night to the padma blossom Inn to contact the Tide-Callers. The messenger relays Rochelle's intentions to hire them for an assignment and asks them to meet her formerly if they'd like like to work for her. Handing the group a one-time use portal into her home that they're to use tomorrow night, giving off a cryptic message regarding their safety before leaving. Rochelle invites them over to her home within silk-gate for dinner and to discuss the potential job offer, explaining a bit more about the power struggle currently occurring within the Rosengard family. The victor of the succession wars can be determined in three ways according to her:

1. If only one sibling remains able both physically and mentally to take up the mantle.
2. If sufficient enough documentation is found proving their father, the previous head, wanted them to become next family head.
3. If a clear distinction in Merit is found amongst a particular sibling.

The first to fulfill one of those conditions will have enough reason and influence to quickly take over the family, the others forced to follow behind or lose even more standing amongst the nobility. The job itself is a bit charged, in recent years a man now referred to as the Bandit King has been systematically interfering with high-value caravans approaching the city via land. Most notably any caravans or merchants that deal with the Oligarchy directly. Find him, discern his motives and if possible recruit him to Rochelle's faction. Should he prove unwilling to co-operate, execute him and return with verifiable proof of his demise. (If the PCs had successfully escorted her younger brother to the port she'll be more forthcoming with information and even offer additional resources. Should they have failed, she'll leverage the bounty her brother put on them within the underworld in an attempt to coerce them into assisting her. Either way the general payment on completion remains.)
3. Oliver, Vanessa's former student and Xemnas's junior is up to something in Gatun. This quest-line is directly connected to the prison break event and all of Oliver's tasks must be complete before that even can begin. Oliver's plan has been in the works for nearly three years now, and is nearing it's completion.
4. One of the outsider's safe-houses was recently robbed, in it contained sensitive information regarding Gatun and it's enforcers. Most importantly of all though, it contains a detailed history on an event known as The Abyssal Annex. (The creatures that spread forth from the abyss that day were not demons by Qlippoths.) Lavender needs Judge to retrieve the documents and find out who took them. She warns Judge though not to look through the material though, mortal minds are not meant to view it.
5. blue is lowest highest, green is middle, red is lowest, Yellow is extreme threat. (Shackle Ranking of prisoners.)
6. After inviting (or kidnapping) the party to his tower, Katou Iekore has a number of questions for them. The tower itself is a massive array of magical items put into one large overly extravagant building. And serves as the home of the Archmage.
7. Vice admiral Zol has been sending scouts and hunters to capture Judge, an android girl working with the Tide Callers. As a part of the technic league, he's taken it upon himself to have such blatant high tech recovered and... repurposed. His current base resides within the Financial District, a factory the league had made with the approval of Gatun. He's also been researching Judge's friends and allies as he finds caution and preparation the keys to success.

Rising Action

1. After the PCs accept the job and begin to escort mission they find themselves quickly being watched and followed before coming under attack. A group of assassins known as the Black Hand appear and attempt to kidnap the client or at best kill him before the PCs can finish the job. The assassins attempt to ambush the group twice, once within the streets of Gatun, the other right before the port.
Additional Information regarding the Job and those involved:

• The Black Hand are a small organization operating out of Gatun as highly-trained assassins said to be in cahoots with Norgorber. Little is known about them other than various rumors of previous work they've completed and how to contact them. The organization is deeply connected to the underworld of Gatun and would require connections of that sort to contact or interact with. (For this job they've been hired by the client's oldest brother, Cecil Rosengard, to kidnap or kill him.)
• The Client's actual name is Orlan Rosengard, because of his father's untimely demise and lack of a will, a succession war over the new Rosengard head between family members had began. A war he wanted no part of and yet was forced to participate in. The internal conflict while well hidden had gotten more violent and threatening recently as his siblings began to escalate the civil-war to new heights of depravity. And lacking the ambition and resolve to either follow behind or publicly leave the family and it's riches behind, Orlan decided the best course of action would be to leave Gatun for a time.
• The temporary mission leader for the Black Hand on this particular job is one of Vannessa's previous students. A half-orc man known simply as Oliver. Should the group succeed at stopping enough assassination and/or kidnapping attempts he'll reveal himself to Xemnas and Vannessa in a ploy to throw them off. Oliver is actually Xemnas' junior, but his immense skill and leadership capabilities propelled him much farther in life than him in the past.... I wonder if that remains true today?
• Vanessa was offered this job due to her previous employment with the Rosengard family as the previous head's personal guard. She took this job knowing the dangers and repercussions of doing so in order to honor the former familial patriarch, Guisard Rosengard. Being formerly acquainted with the family and involved within their affairs gives her far more insight into the succession war.

2. Family Is as Such:

1. Guisard Rosengard (Former Patriarch), successful businessman and trader well known for his connections traditionalist views.
2. Irene Rosengard (Wife of Guisard), a rather dull women of a lesser known noble family married for political necessity.
3. Cecil Rosengard (Oldest Brother), the charismatic older brother with strong leadership skills and similar viewpoints to his father, the harshest of the siblings.
4. Pelor Rosengard (Oldest Middle Child), an unsuccessful merchant leaning heavily on his family name, who dreams of traveling the world one day.
5. Rochelle Rosencard (Only Daughter), the diplomatic and scheming younger sister, who wishes to enact drastic change within the family.
6. Orlan Rosengard (Youngest Sibling), the scared and rather naïve youngest sibling, coddled by the former body guard Vanessa and the family alike. Ran away from the succession war.

3. Oliver must complete a number of activities in order to begin the dungeon break quest. The tasks below are not ordered and may be completed at differing times throughout this Arc:

• Oliver worked with the Black Hand and Cecil Rosengard in an attempt to kidnap and later remove Orlan Rosengard. Oliver doesn't know why Cecil wanted him kidnaped but worked with the two groups in order to secure information from Cecil. The information included reputation destroying dirty secrets on another family. Information Oliver planned on leveraging for a full map of the dungeon, a rare, elusive item given only to nobles trusted by The Seven in Gatun. (Completed - Partially, got an incomplete map.)
• Oliver worked with the Outsiders for many years slowly accumulating money and trust amongst them. Recently, he's met with the founder and current arch-wizard of Gatun, Katou Iekore. Using his favor and by completing a number of private assignments for the arch-wizard, he's received a scroll capable of breaking The Architect's Seal. Katou is fully aware of this and gave this item under an special agreement... (Completed)
• After first arriving in Gatun, Oliver helped broker a deal behind the scenes between a powerful noble family and The Seven. This development led to him forming powerful connections with the nobility in Gatun, something he's used over the years to help complete his other tasks. One of the favors he used aided him in identifying and locating The Architect. (Completed)
• Oliver agreed to retrieve some sensitive documents from one of the Outsider's safe-houses regarding The Abyssal Annex for the Enforcer Captain, Rei Kanroji. After taking them and fully duplicating them he plans on giving the duplicates to the Enforcers and the main documents back to the Outsiders. He's having a number of underworld scholars do it for him. Captain Kanroji agreed to let him visit one of the dungeon's least dangerous inmates should he be successful. He plans on using that inmate as a sort of Mole for him when he breaks in. (Failed)
• Participating in the Arena of Valor under a persona to gain reputation and to slowly recruit a team of powerful and skilled warriors capable of breaking into the Dungeon. His team will be finalized after the Monster of the Month event, and he plans on approaching the champions of that event as well. (Yet to Complete)

4. The Goal is to find who took the documents and get them back. Basic Information Lavender can Provide is as Follows:

• The theft happened around midnight a few days ago, the magical sensors and traps went off but were apparently unsuccessful.
• The thief took a number of items alongside the Sensitive documents, all of which seemed somewhat random. (Red Herring - Other things were stolen to obfuscate the true goal.)
• Asking around revealed the thief to be most likely male.

The Full Picture is as follows:

• The thief is a well known man in the underground district and a part of The Collectors, a local thieves guild. He has Red eyes, black hair and beard, long curved goat horns, a straight non-prehensile tail and red skin marked with tattoos. His name is Rezavix.
• The thief took the job for the high pay and oddly substantial amount of legwork already done for him. (Easy Money essentially.) Although he doesn't know the employer.
• The documents were dropped off inside a popular tavern Zannys',native to the underground district. Someone came to pick them up, the person was wearing blue robes with a symbol of a buried book.
• The people who retrieved the document from the thief are scholars and traffic illegal literature into the city. (Sigil knows exactly who they are and a good idea on where to find them.)
• The entire job was orchestrated by Oliver in a plot to steal the documents, copy the contents and then give the copied documents to someone else. He plans on returning the originals.

Finding the scholars means finding the documents. Upon entering their run down library, PCs will notice many of them fervently copying pages with a mad expression on their face. The Golden Warrior (Oliver) will attempt to scare them off while forcing the scholars to finish the work.

5.
6. Katou Iekore has a number of questions for the party. And for every question he asks he allows them a question in return:

1. Why are the Tide Callers in Gatun?
2. Why were you in the Cusi Jungle?
3. Where did you get the the Prismatic Crystal Artifact?
4. What business do you have with the Rosencard Family?
5. What are you plans for Oliver?

7. Vide Admiral Zol had first found out of Judge's existence back in the Cusi Jungle. The technic league had spies planted deep within the Organization that had once owned Solstice/Dom and they'd reported her existence after some of their members escaped the destruction of the Organization's base back in the Cusi Jungle. Soon after the report, a scout reported seeing her walking through Gatun soon after the whispering wood's arrival. Zol assigned more hunters and scout's to continue observing her over the course of a month although after she'd found them out any future attempts often ended in failure and possible information leakage. Fortunately, one of the hunters that had failed to capture her and escaped her provided the last bits of information Zol needed to enact his plan. Vice Admiral Zol was an ambitious man, he'd risen to the rank of Vice Admiral by taking calculated risks and seizing opportunities no matter the cost. With his resources and the league's connection to the Gatun Government, the Rosencards and other minor benefactors though, he knew he could begin a new operation. Operation: Shooting Star, an operation in which he would create a number of duplicate models of Judge, and implant her skills, abilities and programming into all of them. Modified to fit his purposes of course. An army of Judges, one that would propel him beyond the scope of the league and into the realm of Mechanical Emperor. He just needs one final thing... Judge's Head. With it his wishes will always come true.

Resolution

1. Successful completion of the job nets each member of the party and Vannessa 10k Gp and a bit of reputation in the underworld of Gatun. The tidecallers will now be recognized by well-informed people as individuals capable of completing dangerous jobs. Should they fail, Vannessa and the party will be framed for the murder by the oldest sibling within the Rosengard family and a bounty will be put on their heads, although their lack of reputation may help them in this matter.
Either way, the party will find themselves contacted by the only female within the family and asked to help her take down the oldest sibling, Cecil Rosengard. (Quest Link -> The Succession War.) (Knowing Oliver is in town will allow Xemnas, Vanessa and the party to search for him at a future date if they'd like to.)
2.
3. Oliver was freed from Katou Iekore's control and no lone wishes the demise of Gatun as the old mage does. He is firmly on the side of the Tide Callers now.
4. Lavender promised to reveal to judge the conditions in which the curse on the magical ship in a bottle could be removed. She gives Judge a special card that brings her face to face with the archmage of Gatun himself, Katou Iekore. The most powerful spell caster in Gatun, and one who originally put the spell on the bottle. The ship in the bottle's curse was removed and the group met Katou. (Continued in Quest 6)
5. ???
6. After meeting the party and interviewing them Katou let them leave.
7.

Plot type

Quests/Event