The Investigative Bureau of Order is in need of investigators and regulators to follow up on leads from agents in the field. The pay is high, but most who take work from the Bureau are not seen or heard from again. Those that return are different, hollow, or broken.
This is where you come in.
The Investigative Bureau of Order. Its headquarters are contained in a group of buildings taking up almost an entire section of Bellcea, all connected by a series of underground tunnels.
In the last few years, the Bureau has put out calls for “Contract Agents”, mercenaries willing to take on the work of regular agents without the training and full backing of the Bureau. This has become necessary due to the continued troubles throughout the whole of Nyvon, leading to both major agent losses and reluctance for new recruits to join.
Contract Agents join for various reasons; a desire to do good, hopes for a quick payday, a chance to take Bureau credentials and abuse them for personal gain. Regardless of the reasons, you now find yourself sitting at a table in a Bureau meeting room, surrounded by a small group of fellow mercenaries. To call this collection strange would do a disservice to the term. As everyone side-eyes one another, the main door of the room opens. A broad Dwarfish woman enters with a stack of papers in her hands and look that says she isn’t really interested in taking any shit. She sits down at the table, her on one side and your group collected on the other.
“My name is Dessa Dimbreaker and I will be your case manager for as long as you are in the employ of the Investigative Bureau of Order. I’ve seen a lot of you come and go, most I never see again. I don’t waste time so don’t give me any reason to bounce you out of here and we’ll get along just fine. Otherwise, you are best to pack your gear and leave now.” She stares hard across the table and seems happy with what she sees.
“Down to business, your assignment will be to follow up and assist an agent in the field. He has been investigating some kind of activity in the small backwater of Istust. It is a fishing village located in Ulyiax, the smallest country of Nyvon, three day by train plus an one day carriage ride from here.” She pulls a small map from the pile of papers in front of her and pushes it across the table. “This is what we have from our field agent, it’s not much to go on but hopefully he is still alive when you arrive. His reports have been disturbing but stopped before he was able to give us real details on what is happening in this town. He believed that time was short to stop whatever it is, and we haven’t received word from him in eight days. We hope he has just gone in to hiding but we aren’t optimistic.” She sighs and pulls a large envelope from the pile as well as a small wooden box. “Here is your mission report, you will have plenty of time to review it on your trip out there as well as time to get to know one another. The items in the box should be of use, hopefully you won’t need them.”
With that she rises from the table and heads back to the door. Looking back to you she speaks
“May Shelyns blessings be upon you, what little that may bring these days.”
Settling on the wooden benches that make up the seating of the coach train car, you take the envelope given to you by Dessa back at the briefing. You pop the wax seal, marked with the symbol of the Investigative Bureau of Order, and slide out the paper inside. As you do this, you watch one of your new compatriots undo the latch on the wooden box and open its lid.
The paper reads:
Briefing Istust
Fishing town of approximately 2500 located on a small bay on the Eastern Sea. Local fishermen and a small cannery are the only industry of note in the area. There is very little information on this backwater hamlet in Bureau records.
Half-elf agent Rollins Lightseeker was sent three weeks ago to investigate reports of strange mutilations and possible planer disturbances. His reports speak of a town that appears to be under attack from the inside. Villagers disappearing in the night, strange creatures attacking livestock and seeming no local authorities to help with any kind of investigation. He wrote that his full report would show a need to send a full task force to deal with the goings on in Istust but his hasn’t been heard from in over a week.
He was staying at the Cods Tail inn, seek him out there and review his findings. Assist him in every way possible and neutralize any threats found in Istust.
In the box you find five identification cards with your information as supplied to the Bureau as well as five leather badge wallets. There are four Regulator badges and one Investigator badge. I will leave it to your group to decide who takes the lead role. Vote on it, whoever grabs it first, I don’t care. Bureau procedure states the Investigator is in charge. Once you’ve sorted that, put your ID card in with your badge. Agent Lightseeker was working undercover but his disappearance leads us to think he may have been found out by hostile forces. Your Bureau credentials may be more of a hindrance than a help in this situation but they are yours to use.
The box also contains five vials of Quinine (restores 1D6 plus character level of sanity when consumed) and five potions of Cure Light Wounds. Distribute these among yourselves as you see fit.
May the Lady’s Light Guide You
Looking up from the letter, you see the others sorting through the box contents. You ponder how to handle the badge situation, rocking gently as the train passes through the rainy countryside.
What have you gotten yourself in to?
Characters will start at 3rd level, 75gp and a basic magic item. Everyone will get the bonus Archetype of their choosing as well.
The campaign will have an additional stat, Sanity. This is calculated by taking your characters Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores and adding them together. For example if you have 10 int, 14 wis, and 12 cha you would have a Sanity total of 36. These points can be reduced by events in the game that will have side effects based on how low your score goes. You can regain them via items like the one included in your kit but large amounts will require serious time and resources you won’t likely have access to in the field.
Our first game will be a session zero so don’t worry about having everything ready by then. I’ll put up more world info to help with character backgrounds, the only think you really need to think of is what would push you to take this job in the first place.
Early Frost Warning 