Premade Campaign 12: The Strange Disappearance of Joseph P. Rossum
The Strange Disappearance of Joseph P. Rossum is intended for Heroic level characters and is Part One in a Three Part series.
Approached by a stranger asking for help, the party is hired to investigate the disappearance of an inventor named Joseph P. Rossum, who went missing several weeks prior. His last known location was a local inn that he stayed in for just one night, so the party will likely begin their searching there. The innkeeper hasn’t yet put anyone else in the room because of slow business, and further investigation reveals that much of his belongings were scattered around the room. A dagger, some clothing, calculations, wands, and other items are pushed around, but one object stands out: a handbag that appears to be moving slightly.
Once opened, a voice from inside the bag screams to be let out, and when turned upside down a severed Warforged head lays on the bed, mumbling incoherently.
The talking head will take some coaxing to bring back from the brink of insanity, as its time spent in the bag has driven it quite mad. Eventually it can be coaxed into explaining that it is a creation of Rossum, and that he shoved him into the bag before being kidnapped. Since he was unable to see the attackers, he can not help describe them, but feels that there must have been a reason that his creator would have tried to keep him a secret. With a 25 Arcana check a party member should be able to realize that it isn’t normal for a Warforged to be able to survive without a body, despite being mostly machine.
The Warforged identifies himself as Domin, and asks to be brought along so that he can help them find Joseph. He says that the one thing he did hear was a mumbled word that sounded like “Drinks,” so with that non-information the party can begin their investigation. Not many people in this town know much about Rossum, who only stayed one day, but if the party is persistent they should be able to meet a man who had a conversation with him, during which he mentioned a rival inventor named Linx. If they don’t peruse finding this information, they will have to come upon it by either going to a different town or trying to find the man who hired them, who also would have known about Linx. Linx conducts his business from a sea-based vessel, and the nearest port is a town away, so the party must get there to find him. Along the way they are ambushed by several humans and Iron Defenders, who try and steal the head of Domin. They fight them off, and continue on their journey. If Domin is lost it doesn’t mean that the campaign is over, the party is just sort-of screwed later down the line.
Getting to the city nearby, they find that there is a bounty on their heads and they are falsely accused of the murder of Joseph P. Rossum. Several town guards attack them, and they are able to escape. They can either try and take a boat from here, or go to another town, but either way they should need to fight several more encounters with thieves trying to steal away Domin. A few sessions (and pirate battles) later, the party finds themselves in Linx’s floating factory, mass producing Warforged and other types of constructs. His establishment is well guarded, but if infiltrated they should be able to find Rossum chained up, cut and nearly dead. He tells them that he was able to find a technique to make Warforged much more powerful by eliminating their need for a body (or any body parts except for the head, for that matter). Linx has captured him and demanded he reproduce his results for nefarious deeds, and so far he has just built a body. If the party still has Domin’s head, Rossum is able to attach it to the party.
The prison room is rushed by Linx, who has bound machine parts to himself to enhance his body, as well as several powerful looking mechanical creations. They battle, and when Linx is slain his body crumbles to nothing. As the last bits of him fade away, an alarm goes off on the ship, as it is going to break apart in less than a minute. The party must escape from the ship, eluding more Warforged guards and other constructs. A successful perception of 30 will have a character see what appears to be a gigantic hand on the construction bay as they run past it. If they are quick, they should be able to escape back to their ship with Rossum, saving him from his slavery.
Come back tomorrow for the Paragon continuation of this Premade Campaign!
Paul says:
Your giant hand speak gets me feeling all warm.
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:20 pm