1. GM Edwin's Zeitgeist Campaign

Game Master Insnare

You can't help but poke your heads into the noisy Liontamer Mechanical Orchestra tent. The tall owner spots you and waves you inside. 'I've trained a thousand fleas to play the complete works of Hans Lizthoven' he wise-cracks, pointing into a cacophony of crank-powered musical instruments that play themselves, from simple music boxes to his showpiece “orchestra,” which has a piano, four violins (each playing just one string), a small drum set, and bellows that pump air through bassoons and oboes. There may be some sort of tune in there but you can't really make it out.

At Sechim's tent the alchemist is delighted to see you again. Since his factory featured in the newspaper in connection with the Macbannin case, Sechim's goods have been riding a wave of popularity, and he's now selling intricately etched glass and weapons to fair-goers. He presents the two of you with a tray where multiple shot glasses are labelled: 'Hydrofluoric acid', 'Fluoroantimonic acid', 'Sulfuric Acid' 'Vitriolic Etching Acid' and 'Saltpetre Glazing Agent'. 'Try one', he suggests with a grin, 'they are surprisingly fruity'.

A Drakran dwarf is selling some super-cool ammo and a pair of gnomes seem to have combined a badger with a gun in what is blatantly obviously a terrible idea, but (mostly to drag Polly away from the god-like Rock) Lemond is drawn to a booth run by a Goliath from Ber. 'Hey! y'all look at my gun!' In one second Lemond realises that this Nock has had a brilliant idea. Not only is Nock's gun big, and a big gun is always better than a small gun; but it shoots seven bullets at once!

Asher eyeballs the dwarvern bullets (promising to return to these if they look effective), eyes the badger-gun, and the double takes. He frowns at the weaponized creature before continuing on. He talks to the others as he walks. "We should add that one to our list of potential high-risk accidents. I've seen others try and adapt weapons technology with the wildlife." He stops and looks at Cretien and Falko for emphasis. "In the end, we lost a ship."

"Might I?" Asher asks, interested in large weapon. If approved, he begins to take a look at it and judge it for usable weight and stability. Without his usual gear on him, he regretted not having his muleback cords on him to help carry heavy items, his regular strength sylphishly diminished.

"Not a bad weapon. Do you have to fire it at once, or can you save a barrel to cut down reload pauses to keep a consistent rate of firing?"

Gawking at just about everything, Johnathan frequently has to jog to catch up to Angus. His eyes go wide in the Orchestra tent, clearly wanting to spend all day here and barely managing to focus on the task at hand.

He smiles to Sechim but politely turns down the drink, then whispers to Angus.

"What are we asking him again?"

He then hands over the weapon to Lemond and says, "You can shoot one barrel at a time. There is two triggers, one for single shot and the bigger one to let this lion roar. Nock didn't think it prudent to overcomplicate the weapon by allowing you to fire say 3 barrels or 2 simultaneously. The spindle operation is one of a kind, you can load a standard paper cartridge from the breech, the firing pins are razor thin fire gems that slice through the paper and ignite the firedust on the inside. The key thing is to load it ball out."

"I'm a marksman myself, but I'd have paid platinum to have one of these by my side in a skirmish." he says, almost sadly, and hands the weapon back.

"It's a gorgeous weapon. I wish you luck. If you'll excuse me, we should be moving on."

Asher looks back at the weapon one last time, and gives Cretien and Falko a slight smile.

Bluff: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

"Yes, this weapon is dangerous, but no more so than seven armed men, and probably less reliable than that. However, if you need to shoot something rather big, or fire enemies out of cover, this would be a great tool. "

His brow furrows, and he gestures onward into the fair. "Shall we?"

If the others come away, on route to his contact he turns to Falko. "What was that?" he says, stern faced and narrow eyed.

Later, when LeMond asks, he looks at him dumbfounded: "We're here to find out about a plot. Not weapons... When we shop, we need to pull something from them. I'm hoping to get them to talk about other customers, big ones."

He pauses a bit: "Got another idea?"

Only a heartbeat passes before Asher regains his composure. "I apologize... As you said, I'm a bit of an expert on these matters and I shouldn't have been distracted by a relatively mild threat like that. We're searching for a plot. Yes. A plot involving dangerous weapons, but more importantly a potential plot. We don't have any solid information on if there is anything to worry about."

Asher gestures to the fair bustling all about them. "This is a pavilion full of things to be worried about to varying degrees. We need to focus on the worst of the worst, which is why I'm taking you to my contact. Hopefully she'll give us some insight of the inventions we absolutely want to keep an eye on, or out of the hands of some active threat. We need to be vigilant not only for a plot, but for potential accidents as well. That gun, though an impressive bit of technology is only as threatening as what it can fire before a necessary reload, no worse than a handful of armed men could be, that is my expert opinion. That badger gun on the other hand, we should get a regular officer posted to keep an eye on it until this is all behind us, I swear to the winds."

If Asher sees a regular officer, he'll send them to do just that.

He glances longingly back outside at the excitement of the exhibition.

"Delilah... I have been, BUSY again." he says, almost happily. Turning to the others he gestures to them. "This is Cretien Defrene, and no, I can't completely vouch for his scruples so keep an open eye on that weapon. This is Falko Escheus. Colleagues of mine. Gentlemen, this is Delilah Washer. A gunsmith from Parity Lake." He looks at his two new colleagues and arches a stern eyebrow warningly at them when Delilah can't see his expression.

"We're just keeping an eye on the expo, making sure nothing goes wrong. Tell me, have you heard of anybody who might have a particular dangerous invention they're showing off? Maybe that Zachery kid making another so-called omni-canon?"

Asher moves in a bit closer to Delilah and talks softly. "Maybe anything we should be worried about getting stolen by folks overseas?"

As you move in the direction of Colleen's Fuel Prospectus, there is a ripple in the heavily-guarded Pemberton tent over the way and the man himself, accompanied by guards and various rich industrialists, stride out in the direction of the gun alley and stage. Benedict Pemberton spots Johnathan, waves his friends to go on ahead and comes over.

'The famous Falling Johnathan Eli Holbrook! What an honor to see you again, the sacrifices of Avrangail and Joseph will always be remembered. I have been following your careers since' he greets you with a handshake respectfully. He then looks at Angus and says. "You must be Angus McCormick, you have been working with Johnathan since Axis Island, good show on the Macbannin case." He turns back to John 'I never got the chance to thank you for saving my life on the Coaltongue. You really must come to the party tonight I'm hosting in the tent. All those aristocrats and high-ranking government busy-bodies get so dull, some real heroes would liven it up.'

A red-headed dwarf with a high and tight haircut and a well manicured beard who is sporting a bone handled rifle picks up one of Dellilah's weapons to test out its weight, action and utility. The dwarf notices and introduces himself to Chretien. 'Kvarti Gorbatiy, gun enthusiast. I see you are interested in firearms pistol. Say, I think I recognize you from the papers, are you not Professor Chretien Dufrene from the RHC and whoa is that not Falko Echeues? I read all about the Macbannin case.' He grins, and adds with black humor 'Since I am an Eschatologist, I must ask - do you think Reed Macbannin seemed content with his life at the end?'

Falko shakes his head at LeMond: "I see. It's just a misunderstanding after all. I got put off by your questioning, and you got then put off by my patronizing... Looks like we're on the same page after all. Glad to work with you."

"So far, we know very little indeed. Just rumours. But we should endeavour, as you both said, to look at weapons that can do worse than kill one person at a time, or seven for that matter. That would be a start. We also need to get a sense of the kinds of people who usually frequent these shows, to identify who doesn't fit so well."

Later...

Falko beams a smile at Delilah: "A pleasure! For myself, I am interested in weapons that can impact larger areas than a usual gun. Any idea who would be showcasing such weapons?"

Unfortunately, he's cut off by the arrival of Gobartiy. As the Dwarf greets them, he realizes waaaay too late that he's now too famous to just walk around incognito.

We'll have to use disguises...

He turns to the Dwarf with a musing look: Mmmh... Hard to say. His face was so smashed in that I couldn't make whether he was smiling... but he keeps those thoughts to himself and says instead: "After all the Wrong he had done to the city in the name of so-called Good, I would expect he was not. Indeed, he collaborated once he saw his error."

"So, how are you Delilah? Still no interest in letting me teach you how to shoot these things properly?" He says all this gruff and stern, but has a slight, mocking smirk playing on his face.

He'll try to keep some of his attention on the conversation with the Eschatologist.

Dellilah turns to Asher and says, "My boy I was dropping Danorans soldiers since before you were born, believe you me" she chuckles to herself.

The dwarf's interest has been piqued and says, "What horrors might you be referring to sir? That we all die is inevitable, but how is of the utmost importance, good and evil is all relative. Slamming one's head against the wall is a very macabre way to go but it does show resolve and resolve is a thing to be admired in death. From the papers, his callousness vis a vis his responsibility towards his charges and unto the hill of cauldrons is deplorable."

Thinking of another line of questioning safe for public ears, Asher questions his old friend again. "Do you have your eyes on the inventions of anyone else this year? Any real gems you'd recommend me to have a look at?"

assuming the witchoil piece made it to the news. Cretien wouldnt discuss secrets.