Swyvers: Obys’ Languid Voyage

Maisie’s Miscreants found themselves on a fog-shrouded pier, drawn by a mysterious ticket to Obis’s Languid Voyage. Before they could investigate, they were cornered by the enigmatic Detective Silence Finch. The detective offered them a deal: infiltrate the ride’s operators, a cult known as the Somber Syndicate, and he would make their warrant for the murder of Tobin Toby disappear. Seeing little choice, the party agreed to become his eyes on the inside.

Before undertaking this new mission, they had unfinished business. Realizing they had left the villainous Choir Master buried alive at St. Evanage Cathedral, they purchased a boat and returned to the island. The journey was grim, as the water was filled with the floating bodies of ten children who had drowned trying to escape the cult. After a brief debate, they decided to give the children a proper burial.

They unearthed the Choir Master, who was still alive, albeit terrified and broken. He confessed to working for the Angel’s Watch, an arm of the Somber Syndicate, but had little else to offer. His pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears as Nobby, in a startling display of brutality, stabbed the man repeatedly until he finally expired. Vincent Poe, the gravedigger, then set to work burying both the children and their former master.

Returning to the city, the party delivered the surviving children to safety, with Nobby adopting an orphan named Titch. They met with Bleeding Bessie, an occult fence, to sell a trove of forbidden books. The massive payout allowed several members to advance their skills. With their affairs in order and newly forged tickets in hand, the Miscreants returned to the pier and boarded the eerie dark ride, leaving Maisie behind to care for her distressed dog, Crusty. The ride was a slow, nightmarish journey through a river of black bile, populated by decrepit animatronics that tried to pull them into the depths. By pulling a hidden lever, they diverted their boat down a secret passage, arriving at a hidden landing with a mysterious door, guarded by a golem of the demon Obis.

OUTLINE:

A Deal with the Detective

The party was confronted by Detective Silence Finch at the pier.
Finch offered to drop the murder warrant for Tobin Toby in exchange for their help.
He tasked them with infiltrating the Somber Syndicate, who run the Obis’s Languid Voyage ride.
The party agreed to the terms.

Return to the Cathedral of Horrors

The party remembered they had left the Choir Master buried alive.
They purchased a boat and traveled back to St. Evanage Cathedral.
They discovered the bodies of ten children who had drowned in the surrounding water.
The party dug up the Choir Master, finding him alive but in a state of shock.

Interrogation and Execution

The Choir Master was interrogated and revealed his group, the Angel’s Watch, is part of the Somber Syndicate.
Deeming him a threat, Nobby brutally stabbed the Choir Master to death.
Vincent Poe began digging graves for the children and the Choir Master.
The party dealt with the surviving children, returning Jim Jim and Nobby adopting a boy named Titch.

Downtime and Upgrades

A few party members went carousing for extra experience.
They met with Bleeding Bessie, an occult fence, and sold a large cache of illegal books.
The sale yielded five pounds, which translated into a massive XP boost.
Several party members leveled up, gaining new skills and hit points.

Obis’s Languid Voyage

The party used forged tickets to enter the dark ride.
They journeyed down a river of black bile, which Lucky collected a sample of.
Animatronic mermaids and skeletal clowns attacked the boats.
Lucky was almost pulled into the water but was saved by Clementine.
They pulled a lever to switch tracks, taking a secret, more ominous path.
The path led to a secret landing with a door guarded by a golem of Obis.
Using the password ‘The coils tighten slowly,’ they opened the door to an elevator.

NPCs:

Bleeding Bessie: The mother of the rescued child, Jim Jim. She is an occult fence with one eye and constantly bleeding hands who pays 25% of market value for occult goods.
Charles Entertainment Cheeks: Lucky Clover’s son, who is a rat the party kidnapped.
Choir Master: The former leader of a child-enslaving cult at St. Evanage Cathedral. He worked for the Angel’s Watch. After being buried alive by the party, he was dug up, interrogated, and brutally murdered by Nobby.
Crusty: Maisie’s aptly named dog, whose fur is crusty and gross. He is considered the most dangerous member of the party.
Detective Silence Finch: A detective investigating the Somber Syndicate. He is a master of concealment and coerces the party into helping him in exchange for dropping a murder warrant.
Golem of Obis: A large, slow-moving golem made of black bile, wax, canvas, and iron coils, modeled after Obis. It guards a secret entrance inside the dark ride and requires a password to pass.
Jim Jim: A child the party was tasked with returning to his mother, Bleeding Bessie.
Obis the Langwood: One of the twelve Despots, a powerful demon-like being associated with sloth and lethargy. The Somber Syndicate serves her. She is also known as the Queen of Spades.
Titch: An orphan child who survived the cult at the cathedral. Nobby adopted him.

ITEMS:

Black Bile: A thick, cold, black sludge that smells slightly sweet and fills the river of the dark ride. It is valuable to occult fences.
Forged Tickets: Copies of the Langwood Voyage ticket created by Lucky in his forgery workshop, allowing the entire party to enter the ride.
Illegal Occult Books: A collection of forbidden texts the party sold to Bleeding Bessie for a large sum of money.
Langwood Voyage Ticket: An authentic ticket to the dark ride, engraved on a brass plate with a dark leaf motif. The party originally only had one.
Orid Rags: A set of rags, one of which was used to cover the Choir Master’s face before Nobby executed him.

LOCATIONS:

Circus and Broadwater: The pier district where Obis’s Languid Voyage is located. It’s foggy, dark, and mostly deserted at night.
Obis’s Languid Voyage: A creepy, dilapidated dark ride run by the Somber Syndicate. It features a slow boat trip down a river of black bile, surrounded by malfunctioning, hostile animatronics.
St. Evanage Cathedral: An old cathedral on an island that served as the base for the Choir Master’s cult. It has a graveyard where Vincent Poe was found.
The Adjective Noun: A local tavern frequented by the party. Bleeding Bessie, the occult fence, can be found here.
The Smoke: The largest city in the world, perpetually dusty, foggy, and grimy like old London. It is full of criminals and ruffians.

FACTIONS:

Angel’s Watch: A sub-faction or ‘arm’ of the Somber Syndicate. The now-deceased Choir Master was a member.
The Somber Syndicate: A mysterious and morose cult that operates Obis’s Languid Voyage. They serve the despot Obis the Langwood and are suspected of causing people to fall into unnatural sleep across The Smoke.

QUESTS:

Deal with the Choir Master: The party’s self-imposed task to handle the Choir Master they had buried alive at the cathedral.
Infiltrate the Somber Syndicate: A quest given by Detective Silence Finch. The party must go inside Obis’s Languid Voyage, identify the leadership of the Somber Syndicate, and sabotage their operation in exchange for having a murder warrant dropped.
Return Jim Jim: A lingering task to return the kidnapped child, Jim Jim, to his mother, Bleeding Bessie.

PLAYER CHARACTERS

Clementine: A smelly ex-prisoner who is not afraid to get his hands dirty. He is surprisingly strong, possessing a skill he calls ‘bending’. He took Maisie’s place on the dark ride.
Lucky Clover: A bootlegger and erstwhile magician. He is in unrequited love with the local tavern mistress and has a ‘son,’ a rat named Charles Entertainment Cheeks, that the party kidnapped.
Maisie Faye: A 78-year-old fortune teller who is half-scammer, half-true believer. She is always with her crystal ball and her crusty, dangerous dog, Crusty. She is not afraid to lie to get what she wants.
Nobby: The self-proclaimed ‘Baron of Rookery,’ though no one has ever seen proof of his nobility. He is skilled in appraisal and fighting, which he considers fun rather than labor. He recently adopted an orphan child named Titch.
Suki Botticelli: A new member of the party, described as a ‘rat man.’ He is trying to fit in with the group.
Vincent Poe: A sad boy gravedigger who descends from a family of ‘poor steaks’. Morose and obsessed with death, he feels more at home in a graveyard than anywhere else. He acts as though he is already dead because he simply doesn’t care about life.