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Vancaskerkin the Rumormonger is probably the most compelling member of the Twilight Four and kinda deserves to be the final antagonist more than Olansa. In this thread I'm going to detail some of the homebrew additions I've made to flesh him out more.
One way to spice up Vancaskerkin's relationship with the PCs is for him to invite them to socialise with him for informal interviews. Here's some ideas on specifics:
- • After beating the Skinner, he invites them over to his office for a dinner-interview. He turns his desk into a dining table with a beautiful blue silk Taldan tablecloth (putting all his documents and curios at a corner on the floor) and gets food catered from the "Mask and Moon" restaurant (see Grand Bazaar). The menu is exquisite and varied. Offers the PCs an Impossible Cake shaped like Norgorber's Mask for dessert. "Beating those skinsaws was a piece of cake for you!" Asks them all sorts of questions about what they found in the catacombs (the answers to most of which he already knows) and what their next moves will be now.
- • After beating the Infector, he invites them to dinner at the Golden Serprent, a high-end restaurant in Ivy District. He orders wyrmling green dragon wings. Asks them questions about their adventures guarding Flakfatter (knowing he's responsible for many of the waves of enemies they fought off) and proposes they put on a production of a play about a tyrannical primarch getting overthrown together. Might even mention something about a harrow serial killer on the loose.
This is an expansion of the last chapter of book 5 where the party confronts Vancaskerkin for the final time.
If the PCs arrive at the Eyes on Absalom HQ to confront Vancaskerkin with evidence from Bottles & Blots or other evidence implicating him with the Twilight Four but while he's not publicly disgraced, they can meet him and debate him before he attempts to go into hiding in the clockwork halls below. He demands to know what evidence they have against him. If the PCs tell him, he starts making accusations against them. He lists any morally dubious and illegal action the PCs have taken during the whole campaign which his journalistic sources and green eyes all over the city have informed him of. The PCs will likely attempt to defend themselves by explaining how their actions served a noble goal. They might be shocked as he nods in agreement. "So you agree that the ends justify the means! What if that hypothetical norgorberite you are accusing also had a noble goal, just like you? Maybe then all these things you said about me would also be justified". He proceeds to rationalise how his deeds served the greater good, for example how overthrowing the primarch could improve the social situation in the city, leaning into everything he knows about the PC's morals and politics. If they seem unconvinved he reassures them there is an even greater purpose. If they seem curious, he invites them to follow him below ground to show them. If not, he attempts to escape below ground to the clockwork halls (preferably through K5 since the PCs will likely hesitate throwing themselves in there, buying him time). He continues debating anytime the PCs are near him, even during combat.
As a practicioner of the occult, Vancaskerkin is particularly keen on the idea of belief affecting reality, the symbol substituting for the real thing, the map and the territory being one and the same. The Twilight Four plan to get the primarchy is to him not an end in itself but more so an experiment to validate his theories about how belief affects reality. He does that in many ways throughout the campaign:
- • Using fake news in his newspaper to undermine Starborn's authority, shaping the beliefs of the readers.
- • Putting on a play about overthrowing a tyrant while casting The World's A Stage ritual.
- • Turning Harrowland into a dark reflection of the Harrowed Realm, where storytelling reigns supreme over realism.
The clockwork halls underneath the newspaper HQ also serve the same purpose. The machinery as a whole is a symbolic map of the city so that anything that happens up there is reflected down here. And conversely, anything that happens down here should be reflected up there. "As above, so below".
There are three sources of power for the magic that makes the Machine as a whole function:
- • Absolute truth: The Shoggoth (L11 Pool of Secrets) holds absolute, terrifying truths about the nature of the universe.
- • Absolute realisation: The kraken's ink (L5 Levialar's Prison) holds the power to transform ideas into reality. A pipe connects the shoggoth in the pool of secrets with Levialar combining the powers of both in the produced ink.
- • Absolute lies: The glabrezu (L16 Den of the Lie-Masters) take that ink and use it to write an inordinate amount of audacious lies. Thus all three powers are intricatelly woven together.
This ink cycle, that also includes the publication of the Eyes on Absalom newspaper printed with the same ink, creates the metaphysical connection between the City Above and the Clockwork Machine Below, making them reflect each other. Thus the tapestry in L13 does not contain simple lies; instead it is like a system log detailing information from the operation of the Clockwork Machine with the end goal being that the information eventually perfectly corresponds to the city above, reality changing constantly to accomodate this feat. Vancaskerkin has not fully achieved this yet but is working on it.
If the PCs come peacefully, he shows them the Tapestry of Truth/Lies which displays, among other things, a literal narration of parts of their own story so far. Regardless of what the PCs do, Vancaskerkin continues debating, even during combat, and explains how he is making this Clockwork Machine that reflects the city of Absalom and the city is reflected back down here. He tells them this research is more important than anything else they've been fighting for and even offers to use it for good. He argues that change requires sacrifice but symbolic sacrifice that powers the Machine, even if it entails real lives, will always be smaller than the sacrifices required to enact change in the real world.
If the PCs seem to relent, he can even introduce them to the Transposition Machine (L17). He explains that if the Clockwork Halls are a map of the whole City, then the Transposition Machine room maps to the Gray Queen's throne room. It can literally shift the subjective perspective of the world's narration so that he can swap his own perspective with Olansa's, bypassing most magical and divine protections. Then they can use the position of primarch together for good. If they are sceptical, he offers to physically share the primarchy with them: some of the PCs can step into the machine with him and then they will share control of Olansa's body and perspective. The machine isn't fully operational yet so Vancaskerkin asks for their help to finish it in the following days (anyone with Crafting, Occultism, Arcana or Religion skills can contribute). The price to pay is that, once activated, the machine will break down and it will be almost impossible to reverse the swap. Smart players might realise they don't need Vancaskerkin at all, they can fix and use the machine themselves on Olansa. Doing any of this can end the campaign right here and now (or you can rule that Norgorber's divine power partially or fully blocks it).
If the PCs fight Vancaskerkin, here's some ideas to jazz up his immortality ability and the Secret Knowledge one needs to defeat it.
The reason Vancaskerkin cannot die is because he convinces his enemies to believe he cannot die. They become so attached to the idea and they believe it so strongly that reality bends to accomodate it; thus is he revived. The trick to defeating him is to reach a form of enlightment detaching the self from this persistent idea. Here's what each point in Secret Knowledge reveals:
- • You cannot kill an idea. He is immortal.
- • It is the power of belief that makes him immortal.
- • When he dies the thought that he cannot die gets stuck in our minds. It is not an outside power that revives him, it's just us.
- • Whosoever would undertake some atrocious enterprise should act as if it were already accomplished, should impose upon himself a future as irrevocable as the past.
- • You cannot kill a thought by thinking about it. It's like trying to forget something, a negative reference to a thought is still a reference so it gets reinforced in your brain. The solution is to just listen to the thought without reacting to it, without believing in it or disbelieving it. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the thought has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
For more Vancaskerkin-related schemes, check out:
- • Pratchett asks to publish his memoirs from prison... Vancaskerkin tattles on him
- • Abducting Bolera
- • Murdering Bolera
- • Blackmailing politicians with spyware
- • Duplicating one of the PCs
- • Putting on a highly-symbolic play
- • Fixing Harrowland and framing a primarch
Thanks for reading and feel free to add your own ideas about Vancaskerkin!
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I REALLY hope more Norgorberite Vancaskerkins show up in adventures. Best family in Golarion.