TEXT: ILLUSTRATED BY FELIX MIALL
  GRANT HOWITT & CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR
  VERMISSIAN
  BLACK OPS
  
  VermissianBlackOps
  WrittenbyGrantHowittandChristopherTaylor
  IllustratedbyFelixMiall
  Editedby HelenGouldandMaryHamilton
  LayoutanddesignbyMinervaMcJanda
  ProducedbyMaryHamilton
  Copyright©2020byGrantHowittandChristopherTaylor.
  PublishedbyRowan,RookandDecardLtd.
  FirstEdition(2020)
  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
  reproduced,distributed, or transmitted in any form or by
  any means, including photocopying, recording, or other
  electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior
  written permission of the publisher, except in the case of
  brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain
  other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
  For permission requests, write to the publisher at the
  address below.
  Rowan,RookandDecard
  15TufnellCourt,OldFordRoad
  E35JJ,UnitedKingdom
  www.rowanrookanddecard.com
  Content warnings: Heart is a horror game, and as such,
  there are some unpleasant things in the text. These
  include but are not limited to: violence, drug use,
  addiction, ghosts, unwanted bodily transformation, and
  monsters that used to be people. We can assure you that
  there is no rape or sexual assault in this game.
  2
  •
  
  3
  INTRODUCTION
  1
  ALTERNATIVE RULES
  2
  ADVANCEMENT
  2
  DOMAINS
  2
  HAUNTS AND HEALING
  2
  FALLOUT AND RESISTANCES
  3
  COMBINING THIS GAME WITH SPIRE
  4
  GAMEPLAY
  5
  SESSION STRUCTURE
  5
  Operations
  5
  ENTERING THE CITY ABOVE
  7
  THRONE DIVISION EQUIPMENT
  8
  THE VERMISSIAN, BY LINE 10
  Candle Line
  12
  Fathom Line
  15
  Spiral Line
  17
  Loft Line
  19
  pulse Line
  22
  GROUPS AND FACTIONS
  23
  THE PALADINS
  23
  THE MINISTRY OF OUR HIDDEN MISTRESS
  24
  THE SPIRAL COUNCIL
  26
  THE VERMISSIAN COLLECTIVE
  27
  GUTTERKIN
  28
  
  1
  The Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress (hereafter
  just “the Ministry”) is a paramilitary cult devoted
  to the dark elf goddess of secrets,grace and shad‐
  ows. Their ultimate aim is to overthrow and
  replace the high elf government of Spire via an
  extended campaign of sabotage, blackmail and
  assassination - but at present, they’re making do
  with destabilising aelfir rule in any way they can.
  The bulk of the Ministry is divided into cells
  who have no contact with each other. These cells
  are secreted within the city of Spire and tasked
  with subverting the rule of the aelfir. But you don’t
  workaspartofacell-you’retooweird,toodanger‐
  ous and too valuable to be placed in civilised soci‐
  ety. Plucked from the depths of the undercity, you
  have been formed into a team of special operatives
  and assigned to crucial missions.
  Using illegal magic and a barely-understand‐
  able cursed mass transit network - the Vermis‐
  sian - to navigate the city, you emerge from the
  shadows and strike at the most valuable targets.
  You are a member of the Throne Division: the
  Vermissian Black Ops.
  WHAT THIS BOOK IS
  Vermissian Black Ops uses the Heart rules to tell
  stories of action and horror in the city of Spire. It
  focuses on the Vermissian - the failed train net‐
  work that runs through Spire like diseased tissue,
  spreading arcane fallout throughout the city -
  which is used to access dangerous or hard-to-
  reach locations which are valuable to the Ministry.
  The tone and content are quite different from
  the standard Heart experience. This isn’t an
  introspective descent into a shared personal hell
  to satisfy your hubristic obsession. This is des‐
  perate bullets-and-blood combat against an
  occupying force, using a cursed subway network
  to attack from unexpected directions. We use
  the Heart rules to tell these stories because
  they’re
  focused
  on
  combat
  and
  travelling
  through hostile environments.
  We’ve done our best to make this a Heart
  sourcebook that you don’t need to read Spire to
  understand, whilst avoiding repeating ourselves
  or reprinting material. However, given where the
  game takes place, reading Spire will probably help
  you gain a broader understanding of the factions
  and locations at play.
  This book functions as an expansion for Heart
  because it details the upper-city portions of the
  Vermissian. Though they’re less cursed and mad
  than the parts beneath the city, they’re still non-
  euclidian nightmare mazes of twisted steel and
  phantom trains where delvers can find adventure,
  secretsorwhateverthey’researchingfor.Youdon’t
  have to work for the Ministry to explore them.
  It also functions as an expansion for Spire
  because it details the different lines of the Ver‐
  missian, which is in that game too.
  Introduction
  
  In this section, we’ll focus on some tweaks to the
  core Heart rules that allow you to run mission-led
  games that deal with stealth, combat and para‐
  military cults in a cursed transit network.
  ADVANCEMENT
  Characters on Vermissian Black Ops missions
  don’t advance by hitting beats from their Calling
  like regular Heart characters. They should still
  have one (there’s a reason they went into the
  undercity) but they will gain advancements by
  completing missions instead.
  Each minor objective the characters achieve
  earns them, appropriately, a minor advance;
  major objectives grant major advances. You can
  learn more about mission structure on p. 8.
  There’s no means of earning zenith abilities
  within this system, mainly because it doesn’t fit
  with the overall tone of the game. Also, since
  characters all advance at the same time, this
  would result in every single delver going super‐
  nova at once - which might detract from the
  essential gravitas of the experience.
  DOMAINS
  In the standard Heart game, the Vermissian is
  (mostly) covered by the TECHNOLOGY domain.
  However, given that roughly half the events in a
  Black Ops game take place in the Vermissian,
  access to the TECHNOLOGY domain might
  provide an unfair advantage.
  So, in Black Ops games, the Vermissian comes
  under every possible domain to offer variety and
  limit how often you’re rolling that extra dice.
  CURSED locations are places where the ener‐
  gies of the Heart are especially strong. These are
  more common in the lower areas of the Vermis‐
  sian, but even the Loft line isn’t completely free of
  the Heart’s presence.
  DESOLATE locations are barren, empty and
  unforgiving. Huge lift shafts are one example, as
  are the exposed areas of track on the upper Spire.
  HAVEN locations are rare in the Vermissian,
  given the nature of the place (and that it’s so close
  to an actual habitable city) but some people
  choose - or are forced - to live here.
  OCCULT
  locations
  feature
  magic
  circles
  (abandoned or active), the theoretical libraries of
  the Vermissian Sages (i.e. the libraries them‐
  selves are theoretical, and all the texts in them
  cover theoretical topics) and no end of shadowy
  cults devoted to unearthing hidden knowledge.
  RELIGION locations include shrines to the
  Midden Mistresses of the Vermissian, houses of
  worship for banned religions and one particu‐
  larly elaborate solar temple which collected the
  sun’s energy to be funnelled into trains.
  TECHNOLOGY locations cover machinery -
  such as lifts, winches, drawbridges, signal-boxes
  and turntables - as well as the more practical
  efforts of the Vermissian Collective.
  WARREN locations are plentiful in the Vermis‐
  sian; it’s made of tunnels, after all. Some have col‐
  lapsed
  or
  shrunk
  over
  time,
  and
  countless
  maintenanceventsandpassagewaysmakeithardto
  predictwhereorwhenanambushmightbesprung.
  WILD locations are a useful contrast to the
  iron and galvanics of the rest of the Vermissian -
  having the occasional tree or deer in there can
  really spice things up.
  HAUNTS AND HEALING
  The Ministry provides safehouses, materials,
  doctors and spiritual guidance to operators
  between missions. This means that you don’t
  need to worry about using haunts to remove
  stress and fallout from your character.
  Instead, at the end of every mission when you
  return to your safehouse, you can:
  • Clear
  all
  stress
  marked
  against
  your
  resistances;
  • Remove any Minor fallout;
  • Reduce all Major fallout to Minor.
  2
  Alternative Rules
  
  FALLOUT AND RESISTANCES
  To reflect the action-orientated tone of Vermissian
  Black Ops, feel free to use the following new fal‐
  lout results.
  COMBAT fallout (generally using Fortune)
  allows you to model firefights and desperate
  battles; MINISTRY fallout is related to the fact
  that you’re working for a forbidden church that
  occasionally makes strange demands.
  COMBAT
  FLANKED. [MINOR, FORTUNE] Your enemies
  have forced you into a dangerous position, and
  your cover doesn’t provide proper protection.
  All stress inflicted by your adversaries increases
  by 1 dice size.When you move to a new position
  or eliminate all adversaries present, remove
  this fallout. [Immediate, Ongoing]
  ALERT. [MINOR, FORTUNE] Your adversaries
  know that something’s amiss. All attempts at
  stealth become Risky until the end of the situ‐
  ation. [Ongoing]
  REINFORCEMENTS.[MINOR,FORTUNE] Your
  adversaries raise the alarm and you hear the
  sound of their allies rushing to support them.
  You’ve got about a minute to get out of here
  before you’re surrounded and killed or cap‐
  tured. [Immediate]
  NO EXIT. [MINOR, FORTUNE] Your planned
  exit route is shut off; doors lock, adversaries
  take up defensive positions, walls and bridges
  collapse and so on. You’re going to need an
  alternative point of egress. [Immediate]
  DRIVEN BACK. [MINOR, MIND] You’re pan‐
  icked, shaken and driven back by fear of being
  shot and killed. If you’re carrying something
  important or heavy,you drop it; if you’re escort‐
  ing someone, they’re on their own. Once you
  get somewhere safer and catch your breath,
  remove this fallout. [Immediate, Ongoing]
  SUPPRESSED. [MINOR, BLOOD/MIND] Bullets
  ricochet and thump into the walls around you;
  you’re convinced that you’ll die if you stick
  your head out. All actions become Risky until
  another character arrives to drag you away or
  take out the adversary that’s threatening you.
  FOLLOWED. [MAJOR, FORTUNE] You’ve been
  followed into the Vermissian as you attempt to
  return to base. You’ll need to lose (or drive off,
  or kill) your pursuers before you make contact
  with the Ministry again.
  MINISTRY
  COMPROMISED. [MAJOR, FORTUNE] Your
  actions didn’t go unnoticed, and someone
  important knows what you did - or someone
  unimportant has evidence they want to share.
  Youneedtosilencethem;killthemifyouhaveto.
  SHADOWS FALL. [MAJOR, BLOOD/ECHO] The
  Hidden Mistress’ eye looks upon you, drawn by
  bloodshed and weird magic. The area is
  suffused with cloying shadows, and light
  sources are dimmed or extinguished. The
  RANGED tag is removed from all weapons and
  abilities, reducing combat to a stumbling, des‐
  perate mess of point-blank fire and stabbing -
  unless the combatants can see in the dark.
  SACRIFICE. [MAJOR, SUPPLIES] The Ministry
  feels that you have drawn too deeply on their
  resources and demands a sacrifice in return.
  You must execute a named target in a sacrifi‐
  cial (and awkward) manner to ensure the suc‐
  cess of the mission. Once completed, the
  person who enacted the ritual marks D6 stress
  to Mind, and the Goddess’ blessing allows
  them to roll with mastery for the remainder of
  the situation. Failure to offer the sacrifice will
  incur the wrath of the Ministry, and you will
  not be able to resupply or rest after this mis‐
  sion is complete.
  3
  Alternative Rules
  
  EXTRACTION.
  [MAJOR,
  SUPPLIES]
  New
  information surfaces: one of the people in the
  mission area is a Ministry plant, and requires
  extraction.Failure to do this will incur the wrath
  oftheMinistry,andyouwillnotbeabletoresup‐
  ply or rest after this mission is complete.
  BURNED. [CRITICAL, MIND/FORTUNE] You’ve
  made too many mistakes and have been sold
  out by the Ministry: whoever’s in charge of
  your operations decided that you’re worth
  more as a sacrifice than an agent. You’re given
  misleading information and sent into a trap.
  Hopefully you’ll be captured and interrogated,
  therefore spreading misinformation; if not,
  you’ll just be dead and no longer a problem.
  You might manage to fight your way out and
  escape, but it’s probably not a good idea to go
  hunting for revenge. (Not that it’ll stop you
  from trying, obviously.)
  SHOCK AND AWE. [CRITICAL, FORTUNE] You
  realise that the Paladins have discovered your
  base of operations as they hurl solar explosives
  inside and begin systematically executing
  everyone they can see.If you’re lucky,you might
  escape; but most likely you’ll end up dead.
  COMBINING THIS GAME
  WITH SPIRE
  It’s possible, and indeed fun, to combine simul‐
  taneous games of Spire and Vermissian Black Ops
  into a single campaign from multiple perspect‐
  ives. Players can make a character for both rules-
  sets: their Spire characters are a cell of ministers
  in the city, and their Vermissian Black Ops charac‐
  ters are a specialised team of operatives ready to
  strike at targets that the cell designates.
  This doesn’t mean that the cell has a hit squad
  at their beck and call - Ministry protocol is still in
  effect, and they only dispatch black ops teams on
  crucial missions. However, this will allow the cell
  to focus on revolution and subterfuge without
  doing too much wetwork themselves.
  4
  Alternative Rules
  
  5
  SESSION STRUCTURE
  In general, each session will be broken up into
  three parts:
  • An initial delve from somewhere within the
  Vermissian to reach the intended target.
  • A single long situation, or several linked
  situations, detailing the minor or major
  objective the team are trying to achieve.
  • A delve through the Vermissian to return to
  base.
  Operations
  Play in Operations is divided up into two different
  parts: minor objectives and major objectives.
  Minor objectives support a major objective -
  they make it possible (or easier) to achieve a team’s
  main
  aim.
  Supply
  runs,
  stealing
  valuable
  resources, extraction of vital personnel, recon‐
  naissance, pre-emptive assassinations and plant‐
  ing evidence can all play into weakening an
  enemy’s defences to prepare for a decisive assault.
  These are generally the work of a single session.
  Major objectives are the crux of an operation
  - the action on which everything succeeds or
  fails. Assassination of prominent city officials,
  industrial sabotage and destruction of import‐
  ant resources are all common goals (see the
  OPERATION EXAMPLES below). The business
  of completing a major objective should take up
  several sessions of play, during which the minor
  objectives are completed and the job itself forms
  the final session of the arc.
  BUILDING AN OPERATION
  The Throne Division tasks operatives with
  determining the fine details of their missions
  themselves, handing down major objectives
  expecting good results and few questions.
  As such, players are free to outline their
  objectives both in and out of character. GM, you
  can guide them through the process using the
  steps below.
  • If you have a major objective in mind, share it
  with the players. If not, ask them what sort of
  thing they’re interested in doing, where they’d
  like to operate within the city and whose lives
  they want to ruin.
  • Ask them what challenges prevent them from
  achieving the mission immediately (two or
  three should do it).
  • Determine as a group what they could do to
  circumvent those challenges to come up with
  the minor objectives.
  Alternatively,you can come up with all the object‐
  ives yourself. This is a good idea for a one-shot
  game, as discussed above - but if you create the
  entire story on your own, the players don’t have
  much of a say in what’s going on. You might find
  that they become unengaged over the course of
  several sessions.
  ONE-SHOTS
  There’s no time to play out minor objectives in a
  one-shot game! You need to skip straight to the
  exciting bit. Resolve minor objectives with a
  single roll from any player who took part, and
  extrapolate the results from there. This will allow
  players to introduce their characters and get a
  feel for the tone of the game before the main mis‐
  sion begins. You don’t need to worry about stress
  or fallout from these rolls - only whether they
  succeed or fail. At your discretion, failed minor
  objectives can increase the difficulty and danger
  of the major objective, but it’s more important
  that they’re reflected in the narrative than the
  mechanics of the game.
  Gameplay
  
  For example: The game begins as the operatives
  leave Throne station and set off for their assassination
  target: a Mortician in New Heaven who has performed
  life-extending undying surgery on several of the Min‐
  istry’s greatest opponents.
  The GM asks the characters which of them led the
  minor objective where they riled up the Charnelite
  death-cultists in the area to act as a cover for their
  advance.
  The player in control of the group’s Witch suggests
  that it was her, and makes a Compel+Religion check to
  see how it went. She rolls a 6 - a partial success. The GM
  narratesthatwhileshedidindeedrileuptheCharnelites,
  shepissedoffafewofthemtoo,andtheyknowherface.
  Gameplay
  6
  OPERATION Examples
  Archdeacon Many-the-Seedlings is using his political
  sway to pass a law requiring blood purity testing for all
  those who own property in Amaranth. This would out
  dozens of Ministry operatives in disguise as prominent
  high elves. Kill him.
  The war efforts in Nujab rely on weekly skywhale
  shipments carrying guns and ammunition from the
  Sky Docks. Destroy the warmongers’ stock as it leaves
  the port.
  The Ministry cell known informally as The Four has
  gone rogue and is selling secrets to the Paladins. Track
  down and eliminate them in their Pilgrim’s Row
  hideout.
  The Warrior-Poet Sorrow-Seldom-Sings is a traitor to
  theaelfirnationandthecityofSpire.Hehasspokenout
  against the war in Nujab in several public forums, and
  led retreats that saved the lives of hundreds of drow
  under his command. He’s now under arrest in the Hive,
  Spire’sbiggestprison,whiletheCouncilworksoutwhat
  to do with him. Break in and get him out alive.
  The Ministry has uncovered a secret Paladin training
  and indoctrination temple within the depths of the Loft
  line. Acquire explosives and destroy the training
  facility, preferably with the Paladins still inside it.
  AlistofactiveMinistryagentsinSpirehasturnedupin
  the hands of the Crimson Vigil, who are now using it to
  extort favours from our operatives. Your names are on
  that list, too. Infiltrate the Vigil’s headquarters in
  Godstreet station and take that list back.
  The Infinite Library of the University of Divine Magic
  exists slightly outside the bounds of reality. The
  librarians have uncovered a new book on the shelves
  that contains hitherto unknown secrets of demonology.
  You’ve got about an hour to get in, get the book and get
  out before the Special Tactics Unit of the Allied Defence
  Forcesendintheirbestandbrightestmurder-wizardsto
  collect it.
  Archbishop Wynn is almost a decade into the
  construction of a megacathedral in Ivory Row - but it is
  actually a vast mechanical device to rupture the Heart
  Itself so that the aelfir gods can physically manifest in
  the city, and he’s just turned it on. Initial experiments
  have met with mixed success, but the Vermissian is
  dying from the strain on the system. Shut down the
  machine, even if the gods try to stop you.
  The lawless undercity of Red Row is on the verge of a
  full-scale riot, and the Council has sent in the Allied
  Defence Force to keep the peace. Eliminate the
  commanderofthetroopsinRedRow,butmakeitlookas
  though local revolutionary hero Vilham Roque
  performed the assassination.
  Here are some examples of Throne Division operations to inspire you.
  
  As an operative,you shouldn’t go into the Spire out‐
  side of your missions.Here are some reasons why:
  You’re a wanted criminal: a terrorist, a traitor, an
  enemy of the state. The rewards for information that
  leads to your capture, interrogation and eventual death
  are huge. Spire has a vast underclass of desperate, poor
  drow who’ll gladly turn you in for a month’s wages.
  You’re strange. You’ve spent goddess knows how long in
  the depths of the Heart, and it’s warped you. You might
  not have noticed (everyone’s weird down there, after all)
  but if you step into the streets of Spire, your additional
  eyes, technomagical implants, twitchy demeanour and
  squinting at bright light is going to draw attention.
  How long has it been since you’ve seen the sun? Have
  you ever seen it?
  Your weirdness spreads. Your body is riddled with
  whatever it is that leaks out of the Heart Itself. Within
  the boundaries of the Vermissian, you wouldn’t notice;
  but if you spend too long in the City Above, the world
  warps around you as your cursed flesh radiates strange
  energies. Those too weak, young or elderly to endure
  your presence will die slowly of illnesses no Spire doctor
  can treat; the buildings around you will rot and
  crumble; animals will drop dead in the streets; and
  light will twist in unsettling ways.
  For all these reasons and more, it’s a bad idea
  to spend much time in the city; but if you decide
  to do so anyway, anything you do there requires a
  roll to achieve safely. While it is possible to return
  to the City Above after extended time in the
  Heart, it requires long periods of adjustment and
  often medical attention - both of which are out‐
  side the scope of this supplement.
  If you want to achieve something within the
  city to support your missions (e.g. planting
  explosives or equipment, clearing civilians from
  a combat area,spying on targets or acquiring dis‐
  guises) it’s safer to get your Ministry contacts to
  do it for you. To this end, each player character is
  considered to have a bond with the Ministry. Use
  the rules for Bond actions on p. 98 of the Heart
  rulebook to resolve operations they undertake on
  your behalf.
  7
  Gameplay
  ENTERING THE CITY ABOVE
  
  THRONE DIVISION
  EQUIPMENT
  Costs are listed for use in standard games of
  Heart; any weapon of D8 or higher cost may be
  acquiredinlieuofaMinorAdvanceafteramission
  during resupply as the Ministry issues the equip‐
  ment as a reward/acquired on the black market.
  ARACHNID TINCTURE
  Cost: D6
  Mend Blood D10, Limited 1.
  Throne Division Operatives often don’t have time
  to attend to their wounds given the time-sensit‐
  ive nature of their missions, and to ease their
  torment, the Ministry have developed the Arach‐
  nid Tincture. Lovingly referred to as a “Pocket
  Spider,” partially due to the rumours that it’s
  made by Midwives, this oversized, pressurised
  syrette is applied directly to the carotid artery
  and floods the subject’s system with a cocktail of
  pain suppressants, spider blood, sacred mercury
  and not a small amount of dagger (Spire,p.104) in
  an effort to get them back on their feet and in
  fighting shape.
  COFFIN-CRAWLER
  Cost D12
  Delve D8, Trusty, Unreliable, Expensive.
  What do you do when you need to get through an
  area of the Vermissian awash with invasive ener‐
  gies – very few of which are understood by
  modern science – and quickly, to boot? You use a
  coffin-crawler.
  The core of a coffin-crawler is a lead-lined box
  just slightly smaller than a drow (some use stone
  for additional protection) that, the Ministry
  believe, protects the user from most known radi‐
  ation found within the Vermissian - as well as
  shielding them from incoming small arms fire.To
  navigate the unstable, shiting tunnels of the net‐
  work the box is covered in a mess of spindly legs
  that judder and lurch in such a way to provide
  consistent, if uncomfortable, ambulation.
  To save space, the designers opted not to
  include controls inside the device, and instead
  rely on a trapped arcane intelligence like those
  found in Automatons of Burden (Heart, p. 176)
  which is taught that the environment around it is
  unpleasant and that it should attempt to reach its
  objective in as short a time as possible. Most
  arcane intelligences are wrangled out of ordinary
  animal brains; the Ministry, in their hubris, have
  scavenged psyches from stranger places.
  Lashing multiple coffin-crawlers together into
  a train arrangement is a viable way of providing a
  team with rapid insertion – often, only the lead
  crawler is given the intelligence to navigate the
  Vermissian, and the subsidiary ones are idiots
  even by arcane intelligence standards.
  EXPLOSIVE HAMMER
  Cost: D6
  Kill D10, Piercing, Loud, Dangerous, One-Shot.
  The head of this hammer explodes on contact. It
  is never issued to Throne Division Operatives,
  and instead fashioned by team members eager to
  gain an edge over the heavily-armoured and well-
  equipped aelfir paladins of the Autumn Temple;
  official Ministry doctrine has banned use of the
  explosive hammer on operations, and confiscates
  any discovered in safehouses.
  OFFERING BLADE
  Cost: -
  Kill D4, Piercing.
  Once per situation, if you end the life of an aelfir
  with the Offering Blade, you may remove D6
  stress from any of your resistances.
  Cannot be purchased; granted by the Ministry.
  The Goddess thirsts eternal for the blood of the
  oppressor; you are her sanctified tool, her bloody
  left hand, and you will bring death to those who
  would dare stand against you. The Offering Blade
  is a sacred dagger given to those who prove their
  faith to the Ministry, and forged in darkness by
  blinded, captured aelfir smiths - a fitting irony,
  considering the Ministry’s stance on subversion,
  rather than destruction, of the power structures
  of Spire.
  8
  Gameplay
  
  9
  PURGE CARBINE
  Cost: D8
  Kill D6, Spread, Ranged, One-Shot.
  Affectionately referred to as an Opening State‐
  ment by Throne Division Operatives, this weapon
  uses multiple barrels mounted side-by-side to
  unleash a short-range barrage of low-velocity
  rounds over a broad area. It’s just the sort of
  thing to massacre an angry mob of unarmoured
  assailants in a handful of seconds, which means
  that people who carry it gain a reputation for
  being trigger-happy bastards who are okay with
  firing indiscriminately into crowds.
  SMOKE BOMB
  Cost: D4
  Kill D4, Smoke, One-Shot.
  Commonly issued to black ops teams that are
  expecting to deal with significant ranged opposi‐
  tion, a smoke bomb allows a team to cover their
  approach by concealing their position. It does
  conceal their position with a great cloud of
  smoke, which means that even if their enemies
  don’t know exactly where they are, they know
  something’s up.
  THRONE-PATTERN JEZAIL
  Cost: -
  Kill D10, Extreme Range, Conduit, Piercing,
  Loud, One-Shot. Excellent quality.
  Cannot be purchased; granted by the Ministry.
  The Throne-Pattern Jezail fires oversized, over‐
  charged rounds of an unknown substance dug up
  from an alternate dimension found in a now-lost
  section of the Vermissian network.There are three
  of them in existence - one is permanently on dis‐
  play in Throne Station as an object of religious rev‐
  erence, another is in the possession of an absurdly
  wealthy aelfir weapons collector,and the third is in
  active use by multiple Black Ops teams. Before the
  weapon is fired, each part must be individually
  consecrated and the user must meditate on the
  sacred nature of their mission to reclaim Spire
  from the aelfir; every round is inscribed with tiny,
  spiralling text that praises the Hidden Mistress
  and beseeches her to guide the firer’s aim.
  THRONE PLATE
  Cost: d8
  Whilst wearing the suit, actions that involve
  sneaking or moving quickly become Risky. In
  addition, you gain 6 armour points; these can be
  spent to negate an equal amount of incoming
  Blood stress. Once you run out of armour
  points, the suit is too damaged to be of use, and
  is nothing more than dead weight; taking it off
  requires a minute or so, and assistance.
  The Ministry often eschews heavy armour - it’s
  loud, slow and cumbersome, and unfitting for
  their general mode of operation. When going
  toe-to-toe with Paladins, though, a tenth-inch of
  metal can be the difference between life and
  death - and that’s where Throne Plate comes in.
  Built out of materials repurposed from the
  structure of Throne Station itself, Throne Plate
  consists of overlapping layers of metal that
  absorb incoming damage by crumpling and
  shearing free when struck to dissipate the blow.
  WITCH-HUNTER RAILGUN
  Cost: D10
  Kill D6, Reload, Piercing, Ranged, Expensive.
  Good quality.
  If the target is an accomplished spellcaster, the
  weapon is Kill D8.
  This experimental device uses fizzing electro‐
  magnets to launch specially-inscribed Vermis‐
  sian railway spikes at truly frightening velocities.
  The runes marked on the spikes are designed to
  wrench a magician’s soul from their body and pin
  it in place, severing their connection to the astral
  plane - and if that doesn’t work, at least they have
  a foot-long length of metal stuck in them.
  Gameplay
  
  The Vermissian is broken up into five distinct lines:
  • the ramshackle Candle Line that runs the length of the city
  from top to bottom;
  • the submerged Fathom line which served the lower city;
  • the twisting and unpredictable Spiralline in the middle city;
  • the aelfir-only Loft line on top of Spire; and
  • the nightmarish Pulse line that connects the network to the
  Heart Itself.
  On the following pages you will find a breakdown of each
  line.These have been split out into targets within the city of
  Spire to which the line provides access and the challenges
  and features that await operatives who attempt to tra‐
  verse it. However, as with the core Heart book, you
  should make the world your own and invent your own
  locations, features and even entire lines. After all, the
  Vermissian is riddled with the same warping energy
  that makes the Heart so changeable.
  10
  The Vermissian, By Line
  
  MARKET
  FILTER
  EQUINOX
  GARGOYLE
  LOFT LINE
  CANDLE LINE
  FATHOM LINE
  SPIRAL LINE
  PULSE LINE
  GODSYARD
  UPPER TINTAGEL
  TINTAGEL
  JUNCTION
  CRUX
  SUNDIAL
  VERTEX
  FROSTRIME
  GALLOW
  STEERPIKE
  THRONE
  MUSEUM
  FAIRFAX
  TURBINE
  UPPER SAPPHIRE
  GULLY
  HANG
  GRIN
  MACHINE
  MILLSTONE
  NULL
  FALLOW
  SOLSTICE
  POLARIS
  THISTLE
  WELL
  GRIP
  GAP
  SAKIMAL
  FLINCH
  ENDLINE
  RATCATCH
  DOZMARY
  DREADNAUGHT
  PARADE
  AGATE
  OLDWITCH
  VULGATE
  HIVE
  CRESCENT OF
  MORNING ?
  WATERSEDGE
  SAPPHIRE
  ENFER
  SHUDDER
  LOWER SAPPHIRE
  PENNDRO
  ZOO
  COGTOOTH
  FOUNDRY
  ARCHES
  REDCAP
  LINES
  BRIDGE
  ALSO WORMWOOD
  WORMWOOD
  DROWN’D
  CANDLEGATE
  JACKTAR
  GRIST
  SUMP
  APPROXIMATE MAP OF THE VERMISSIAN NETWORK
  CHAMBERS
  (IT’S COMPLICATED)
  
  The Candle line was constructed as a cheap and cheerful means of ferrying
  tourists and off-duty workers to the entertainment districts of the North Docks -
  so it wasn’t built to last. Today, some inhabitants of Spire use the crumbling
  verticaltunnelsasanout-of-the-way(ifdangerous)smugglingroutethatrunsthe
  length of the city. Others simply pitch their garbage and waste water down it.
  Atmosphere (D10)
  1. Slimy green mould and lichen
  covering every surface
  2. The echoing cackle and scattered
  light of angler toads
  3. Ankle-deep water swirling in
  strange patterns
  4. Malak smugglers with dimmed
  lanterns, visible in the distance
  5. Crumbling stone and jagged metal
  makes traversal dangerous
  6. Pigshit, chewed-up bone shards
  and the sound of squealing hogs
  7. Huge, rusted, inactive machinery
  8. Wooden platforms lashed onto
  corroded iron supports
  9. Adverts for affordable mid-Spire
  housing
  10. Reeks like a sewer, because it is one
  WELCOME TO...
  THE CANDLE LINE
  DEFAULT STRESS: D4
  
  MARKET
  GODSYARD
  STEERPIKE
  FAIRFAX
  TURBINE
  AGGRESSIVE FAUNA
  The Candle line contains some of the most dangerous
  animals in the upper city; many of them escaped from
  the Spire Zoo before it was permanently shut down in
  the Year of Seven Devils. Most infamous among them
  are the angler toads: great warty creatures the size of
  fat dogs that sprout bioluminescent antennae from
  their skulls to lure in their prey. Angler toads are fam‐
  ously disagreeable and will try to eat animals (or
  people) several times their size, so they’re not widely-
  used as light sources. They don’t pose a serious threat
  to experienced delvers, but their cackling calls and
  scattered light can attract unwanted attention.
  BONE WARDS
  The streets of New Heaven, far atop Spire, are
  a battleground. Two rival death cults - the
  ancient city-sanctioned Morticians and the
  refugee Charnelites - fight for control of
  funerary rites. When one side gains some
  groundviaquietassassinationandaggressive
  foreclosure, it loses the same amount due to
  hyena attacks and charismatic sermons. The
  conflict has been underway for the last thirty
  years,and shows no sign of slowing.
  With space at such a premium, some of
  the Charnelite cultists have expanded their
  operations into the creaking tunnels of the
  Loft Line. Bone Wards, where the bodies of
  the dead are stored after their bones have
  been picked clean by vultures and corvids on
  the Towers of Silence, are common sights
  when navigating the up-Spire Vermissian.
  These are sacred spaces, and the Carrion-
  Priests will release packs of blessed hyenas to
  ensure their sanctity.More than one group of
  operativeshavelimpedbatteredandbleeding
  into combat after attempting a“quick”short‐
  cut through the Bone Wards - or simply not
  come back at all.
  Worse:occasionally,thebonesofthefaith‐
  ful will rise up in a serpentine amalgam
  around a mad-eyed Carrion-Priest and snake
  after intruders, hungry to give the Charnel
  Lord his due. But only occasionally.
  MINISTER FALSTADT’S TERRITORY
  Falstadt joined the Ministry in an attempt to make a
  name for themselves. It didn’t work, and after trying to
  sell sensitive information to an obvious Ministry plant,
  they were hung out to dry by their former employers.
  They went into hiding (badly) within the Vermissian
  about a year ago, and are convinced by their paranoid
  delusions that anyone who approaches their hideout is
  their old Magister coming to kill them. Their actual old
  Magister, Vaunt, has long since forgotten that Falstadt
  existed and didn’t know their name to begin with.
  The tunnels around Falstadt’s safehouse are
  riddled
  with
  tripwires,
  pit-traps,
  improvised
  explosives, barbed snares and broken glass. Goddess
  knows how they’ve survived this long (or whether
  they’re already dead at the centre).
  NEW HEAVEN
  The topmost level of Spire is a maze of
  Towers of Silence: exposed platforms where
  carrion birds pick at the flesh and bones of
  the dead, as is tradition in the city. Missions
  to
  steal
  corpses
  and
  interrogate
  them
  posthumously are more common than the
  Morticians who run the place would like.
  There’s plenty of bad blood between them
  and the Ministry as a result.
  PILGRIM’S WALK
  A ramshackle fire hazard that houses more
  churches per square foot than any other district
  in Spire. The area is renowned for con-artist
  priests selling get-holy-quick schemes and suspi‐
  ciously affordable relics to easy marks from the
  lower city. The Ministry maintains multiple safe‐
  houses here, as the sheer weight of worship acts
  as a sort of smokescreen,and black ops teams are
  sometimes sent in to eliminate rogue agents.
  
  UPPER SAPPHIRE
  DREADNAUGHT
  SAPPHIRE
  ENFER
  LOWER SAPPHIRE
  DROWN’D
  CANDLEGATE
  JACKTAR
  GOBLIN MARKETS
  The Blue Docks of Spire boast finery from all over the
  world; Polaris Market, on the outskirts of the Vermis‐
  sian, offers clandestine forbidden trade to the highest
  bidder. The Goblin Markets of the Candle Line are the
  collected run-off of every other market and souk in
  the city: a disorganised heap of junk traders, smug‐
  glers, destitute wizards and absolute shysters.
  Shoppers can buy anything here, assuming it’s in
  stock where you’d expect it to be - which isn’t likely.
  Reliable suppliers are few and far between, and the
  constant back-stabbing and theft means that even
  establishments who have the stock often want to lie
  low until the heat from their latest betrayal dies down.
  The traders themselves usually don’t know where the
  market will be tomorrow (all Goblin Markets move
  daily to avoid the attention of the authorities), but if
  you’re patient and you keep an eye out, you can dis‐
  creetly purchase almost anything.
  QUESTING KNIGHTS
  The more powerful and respected a Knight of the North Docks becomes,the more quests they are expected
  to embark upon. Quests usually consist of simple acts of service to their lord, such as extortion, leg-break‐
  ing or pulling particularly dangerous bartending shifts. However, occasionally they will descend into the
  Vermissian in search of glory by slaying dangerous beasts and claiming valuable relics - or by communing
  with the spirit of their patron,St Benaferas,in his legendary chthonic pub. Dangerously drunk and egging
  oneanotherontogreaterheightsofachievement,gangsofknightsinquarter-plateroamthedamptunnels
  of the network around the North Docks. They can pose a threat to delvers, who may be mistaken for a fell
  beast or dark knight worthy of defeating in single (or not-so-single) combat.
  WRENCH CADAVER’S WORKHOUSE
  Wrench Cadaver is an unscrupulous fact‐
  ory owner in the Works (and by all accounts
  a total bastard) who saw and took the
  opportunity to expand his operations into
  disused Vermissian tunnels. The sprawling
  workhouse specialises in manufacturing
  clockwork, gears, springs and other metal‐
  work of a decent to low grade - but that’s
  not why the Ministry are interested in it.
  Thanks to the weird energies of the Ver‐
  missian infecting the metal, every item
  produced from Cadaver’s factory will
  scythe clean through ghosts and discopor‐
  ate their earthly forms, making them
  excellent anti-spectral weapons.More than
  one operative has saved their skin by
  smashing in the head of an attacking ghost
  with a Cadaver-brand carriage clock.
  THE WORKS
  A smoky knot of factories, workshops and cheap living
  quarters in the centre of Spire, and a hotbed of revolu‐
  tionary activity. The angry drow that live and work here
  provide no end of operatives for the Ministry, and the
  printing presses are key in producing the news sheets
  that can sway hearts and minds.The guns and ammuni‐
  tionproducedintheWorksarmtheAlliedDefenceForce
  in Far Nujab. Winning the drawn-out war is crucial to
  the aelfir, and each year they throw more resources into
  the conflict to maintain their position.
  THE NORTH DOCKS
  The river docks of Spire are the domain of the
  Knights of the North Docks: a once-proud
  order of drow warriors, sworn to defend
  traders and travellers, who have fallen into
  internecine conflict and racketeering since the
  aelfir colonised the city. The Knights have con‐
  trol over the waterways in and out of the city,
  and are in high demand as Ministry assets -
  assetswhooccasionallyneedrescuing,remind‐
  ing of their loyalties or a quiet execution.
  
  Adarkandblightedplace,theFathomLine
  was beset with disasters even before the
  Vermissian
  Event. It
  was
  prone
  to
  flooding, breakdowns, loose hexes and
  ghostplagues,andwasfamouslyregarded
  as cursed by the inhabitants of Spire.
  Today,thelineisriddledwithblackmagic,
  unquiet spirits and pallid gutterkin. It is
  shunned even by the Vermissian Sages,
  who have largely decided that there’s
  nothingofusetobefoundthere.
  Atmosphere (D10)
  1. Ectoplasm clinging to the ceiling,
  unusually cold
  2. Gutterkin prayer circle around a
  stolen altar
  3. Graveyard manifested in the tunnel;
  dirt crumbling beneath your feet
  4. Ghostly echoes of trains and platform
  announcements
  5. Water drips upward and spells out
  curses on the roof
  6. Thousands of tiny holes in spiralling
  patterns that whistle in the wind
  7. Evidence of cult warfare - magical
  residue, the reek of spireblack
  smoke, blood
  8. Your voice echoes before you speak,
  not after
  9. Abandoned shrine to a rival goddess
  10. Lostwanderer,scaredoutoftheirmind
  WELCOME TO...
  THE FATHOM LINE
  DEFAULT STRESS: D6
  Cannibals
  The Ministry are, officially, allied with
  the cannibals of Grist - but not every
  ghoul got the message, and there are
  rogue elements within every organisa‐
  tion. In the rickety tunnels that criss-
  cross the area’s rooftops, operatives
  should be wary not to attract the atten‐
  tion of flesh-eaters looking to prove
  themselves in the eyes of their peers by
  taking down a serious opponent.
  Our Lady of the Underground
  Buried within the depths of the Fathom Line, this
  ramshackle cathedral has been hammered together
  from spare train parts, carriage siding, stolen church
  walls and industrial chains. Within, a sect of renegade
  Vermissian Sages worship the train network as a
  goddess. Some even drink the greasy runoff from the
  walls and claim it sends them into a divine trance,
  revealing the hidden pathways that surround them.
  They regard black ops teams as trespassing on sacred
  land, and while they don’t have the capacity to tackle
  them head-on, they will spit curses and oaths of
  damnation from the shadows until they leave. They will
  gladly gang up on a single operative - perhaps a
  wounded one - and drag them into their church to be
  sacrificed on the rusted engine-block altar.
  
  MILLSTONE
  NULL
  FALLOW
  SOLSTICE
  POLARIS
  THISTLE
  ENDLINE
  DROWN’D
  GRIST
  GRIST
  A famously grim neighbourhood
  within Derelictus where gaunt
  cannibals under the semi-divine
  rule of King Teeth rule the streets.
  The Ministry brokered a deal with
  Teeth for safe passage through the
  district for their operatives, and
  so must uphold their end of the
  bargain on occasion. It’s bloody
  work, and looked down upon by
  self-respecting operatives.
  RED ROW
  The criminal undercity of Red
  Row is home to thousands of
  vagabonds, scoundrels, ne’er-
  do-wells and thieves, alongside
  someofthefinestentertainment
  in the city. On occasion, when
  the Ministry’s business overlaps
  with that of the lower-city crime
  lords,blackopsteamsaresentin
  to remove the opposition with
  scalpel-likeprecision.
  DERELICTUS
  The
  grimiest,
  lowest-rent
  districtinallofSpire,Derelictus
  is renowned for poverty and
  dilapidation.
  The
  black
  ops
  division has little interest in the
  area, aside from sending strike
  teams
  to
  extract
  valuable
  magicians and cultists whose
  interestshaveseenthemfleethe
  upper city for fear of discovery
  by the authorities.
  Shadowy Cults
  There are fewer places less observed within the city of Spire
  than the Fathom line,and the Ministry takes advantage of this.
  The line is riddled with hideouts, stashes of supplies and
  access routes to illegal temples of Our Hidden Mistress.
  Unfortunately, almost every other secret church or rebel
  organisation in Spire has had the same idea. It’s quite
  common to find that a location you thought was secure has not
  only been cleaned out,but completely taken over by a rival cult.
  The groups active within the Fathom line include, but are
  not limited to: the Ministry of Our Hidden Mistress, the Ver‐
  missian Collective, the Crimson Vigil, the New Anarchs, the
  Void Glorious, the Liberate! Newspaper, the Aelfir Church of
  the First Gods, the Hungry Deep, an unnamed collection of
  carrion-priests that worship maggots and bacteria, the
  Unseelie Court and the Council for Drow Emancipation.
  Skull Orchards
  Someone’s been collecting skulls - a
  lot of skulls. Thousands of them are
  stacked atop each other in unstable
  cairns, attended to by ghoulish
  priests who clamber across the ceil‐
  ing like spiders. If you knock down
  one pile, the odds are good that
  hundreds more will collapse in a
  domino effect that will bury you in
  the
  dead
  and
  alert
  everything
  nearby to your presence.
  Ghosts
  Something about the structural make-up of the
  Fathom line - and the thousands of luckless workers
  who died during its construction - makes the place a
  veritable magnet for the unquiet dead. The Ministry
  recommends that any operatives making use of it
  should pick up resources that will allow them to fight
  or evade the attentions of phantoms: lacrimal salt,
  portable warding circles, ghostbane pollen and so on.
  For more details on fighting ghosts, see Heart, p. 187.
  The Gutter Gallery
  In this disused water storage facil‐
  ity,
  the
  mad
  gutterkin
  spirit
  medium Bullthroat has spent the
  last decade covering the walls in
  spiralling murals, depicting the
  lives (and eventual deaths) of the
  many ghosts they have spoken with.
  The art style is rustic to say the least,
  and the poetry is so filthy it would
  make a hardened delver blush - but
  it forms a useful record of everyone
  who died with unfinished business
  in the surrounding area.
  
  TheSpirallinewasthemosttechnologicallyand
  magically advanced portion of the Vermissian,
  using
  a
  wide
  variety
  of
  mechanoarcane
  techniques (mainly as a show of power from the
  aelfir owners of the company). Since the
  Vermissian
  Event,
  the
  malfunctioning
  machinery and the spells within it make the
  Spiral line one of the least predictable sections
  in a very unpredictable network.
  Atmosphere (D10)
  1. Faded pro-aelfir propaganda posters on a
  disused public walkway
  2. Unstable pivoting platforms
  3. Thick glass viewing ports showing
  thrumming blue energy
  4. Vending machine graveyard
  5. Abandoned surgical table for machine
  implantation
  6. Warren of cramped parallel tunnels for
  servants’ trains
  7. Glitchingterrainflickeringinandoutofreality
  8. Subway map updated and corrected by
  several, increasingly mad, people
  9. (Seemingly) never-ending staircase
  10. Invasive briars of thorned heartsbloom
  rose bushes
  WELCOME TO...
  THE SPIRAL LINE
  DEFAULT STRESS: D6
  SUMP
  GULLY
  GRIST
  MACHINE
  PENNDRO
  REDCAP
  MUSEUM
  THRONE
  UPPER
  TINTAGEL
  TINTAGEL
  JUNCTION
  The Hive
  Spire’s foremost prison, and home to dissidents,
  terrorists, traitors and enemies of the state that are too
  valuable to kill straight away. In the central section, the
  cells are rigged to drop hundreds of feet into the
  ground should the prisoners prove too dangerous to
  control. The Ministry has only managed to rescue a
  handful of operatives from within its walls.
  Lost and Found
  The Lost and Found office for the entirety of the
  Vermissian was constructed in Sump station.To make sure
  that it worked, the engineers hijacked the resonant energy
  of the network to metaphysically attract all mislaid items
  to the help desk. It worked rather too well. The station
  actively sought out items of value that it felt were “lost,”
  which meant that a vast quantity of stolen goods arrived
  within the first few months of operation. The office
  eventually had to shut following several catastrophic
  administrative disasters.
  Since the Vermissian Incident, the magic powering the
  officehasgrownmorepowerfulandhungrythankstoalackof
  maintenance.It draws in lost people (most often the dissolute
  and desperate, the hopeless addicts and self-sabotagers, the
  unfortunate and mad; but on occasion just relatively sane
  well-off people who happened to lose their way) and keeps
  them there. If you lost something within the network, odds
  are that it’ll eventually turn up here; but getting it back from
  the washed-up caretakers of the office will be a challenge.
  Switch Plates
  These great iron discs were designed to accommodate an
  entire subway train, rotate each carriage to face the direction
  and orientation that the operator chose, and send them on
  their way to serve the city. Now they spin and grind of their
  own volition, helped along by groups of Signal-box Cultists
  (Heart, p. 196) who attempt to scry meaning from the wildly-
  spinning innards and interlocking patterns painted on the
  surface. The many connecting tunnels make switch plates an
  excellentwaypointondelves,buttheunpredictablemachinery
  andmadattendantsmakeactually using thema challenge.
  
  ZOO
  COGWORTH
  HIVE
  FOUNDRY ARCHES
  OLDWITCH
  VULGATE
  AGATE
  CANDLEGATE
  PARADE
  WATERSEDGE
  DOZMARY
  SAPPHIRE
  RATCATCH
  ENDLINE
  CRESCENTOFMORNING
  BRIDGE
  Also:
  • The North Docks (p. 12)
  • Pilgrim’s Walk (p. 12)
  • The Works (p. 12)
  Ivory Row
  A tumbledown warren of interlinked mansions, abandoned parks and owners
  desperately clinging onto the last vestiges of their respectability, Ivory Row
  houses a handful of important aelfir (and a lot of unimportant ones, too). The few
  movers and shakers that remain are common targets for Ministry subversion,
  and black ops teams are called upon to neutralise their private security forces.
  The Crescent of Morning
  The aelfir engineers of the Spiral line realised that it was impossible to build a transit system that was
  completely free of breakdowns, malfunctions and accidents. Instead, they magically arranged for every
  problem on the line to take place in a single station, freeing up the rest of the network for efficient travel.
  That station is The Crescent of Morning, and it has been off-limits to everyone but specially-trained and
  shielded personnel since it was (cautiously) opened in the Year of Winter Ascendant.
  Inside the triple-locked vault doors and crumbling wards, The Crescent of Morning is a perpetual
  accident: a rolling health and safety violation, an eternal sequence of misfortune and bad luck that is
  theorised to make the remainder of the network navigable. Many parts of it have been on fire ever since it
  was opened over a century ago. The area around the station is surprisingly safe and stable, but most people
  still give it a wide berth just in case.
  Ptolemy Bay’s Domain
  Ptolemy Bay (Spire, p. 127) is one of the most
  prolific and successful arms dealers in the city.
  In an effort to more efficiently distribute
  weapons from his headquarters in the Works,
  he has carved out a portion of the Vermissian for
  his own purposes. Ptolemy established security
  checkpoints, brought in dissolute wizards from
  up-Spire to reinforce the warding rituals, and
  destroyed any nightmare creatures that dared
  show their faces (or whatever they have instead
  of faces) with sheer weight of fire.
  He now seems to have reached a stand-off
  with the Vermissian. He can’t advance any fur‐
  ther, and the weirdness of the place clusters and
  roils at the edges of his mystical barriers. He
  allows passage through the“safe zone,”as he calls
  it, for a price; and his guards are famously brib‐
  able, should you wish to know who else has come
  through in recent memory.
  Wormwood
  Wormwood station was the pinnacle of the Spiral
  line’s technological achievements: a station that
  existed in two places at once, allowing instant
  travel between them. On some maps of the city,
  Wormwood is shown as being in both the upper
  Spireandtheundercity-thisisnotaninaccuracy.
  Unfortunately, Wormwood couldn’t limit itself to
  only appearing in two simultaneous locations. It
  began to appear (and disappear) all over the net‐
  work: suddenly flickering into view, replacing
  other stations, manifesting in the path of trains
  and growing organically in unconnected vents.
  When traversing the Spiral line,there is a decent
  risk that Wormwood station will make an appear‐
  ance. If you’re lucky, you’ll see it coming (or you’ll
  arrive after it has manifested).If you’re unlucky,the
  floor beneath you will stutter and glitch out of sync
  with reality as Wormwood suddenly exists in the
  samespaceastheoneyouwerein.
  WORMWOOD
  ?
  
  The Loft Line rings around and through
  the upper Spire. It is a twisting maze of
  wrought-iron decoration, stained-glass
  advertisements for century-old products
  andincongruous,dilapidatedluxury.
  Of all the lines in Spire, this is the
  hardest to enter, as it provides access to
  Amaranth, the Solar Basilica and the
  Council
  Chambers
  themselves.
  The
  aelfir in charge have made sure that
  they’re as well-protected as possible.
  Atmosphere (D10)
  1. Creaky, unstable and ancient
  2. Rushing wind so loud you can barely
  hear yourself think
  3. Rusted and dilapidated art deco
  features
  4. Frozen due to magical overspill
  5. Carpeted viewing platforms and
  informational brass plaques abound
  6. Flocks of escaped messenger-
  hummingbirds, most of them dead
  7. Stained-glass windows look out on a
  false sky
  8. Exposed, windswept, hanging off the
  side of the city
  9. Sweltering hot due to a poorly-
  maintained heat vent
  10. Bashed-through, suggesting a secret
  smuggling route
  WELCOME TO...
  THE LOFT LINE
  DEFAULT STRESS: D8
  Autumnal Vaults
  There are certain practices which even aelfir balk at;
  the artless hounding and murder of drow for
  religious purposes is one of them. The masked
  devotees of the Harvest Church do their ceremonial
  reaping in private, drugging luckless dark elves
  with narcotics before throwing them into the
  Vermissian and hunting them down with wicked,
  curved blades. The so-called Autumnal Vaults are a
  loose collection of sanctified murder-corridors,
  altars to Brother Autumn and the gory remains of
  dozens, if not hundreds, of sacrifices.
  The Bridge
  One of the rare exposed areas of the Ver‐
  missian, this rickety stretch of line
  extends alongside the nailed-on district
  of Perch on the side of the city. The curi‐
  ous whistling caused by the wind rushing
  through the tunnels drives skywhales
  into a blind frenzy, so anyone approach‐
  ing on one from this side of the city must
  plug the beast’s massive ears or risk
  smashing into the side of Spire.
  
  FILTER
  GALLOW
  EQUINOX
  CRUX
  SUNDIAL
  CHAMBERS
  FROSTRIME
  MARKET
  VERTEX
  GARGOYLE
  TINTAGEL
  JUNCTION
  Amaranth
  An aelfir district kept below freezing by magical coolant systems, fea‐
  turing acres of absurd luxury, alien aesthetics and unspeakable cruelty
  in the name of art and hedonism. Like the Council chambers, the Black
  Guard are present here, but not in such great numbers. Missions here
  include abducting or assassinating prominent aelfir, stealing valuable
  artefacts and general terror attacks.
  The Council Chambers
  The seat of power in Spire,
  and the ultimate target for
  the Ministry.Hugely difficult
  to break into (Dangerous,
  with wards and counter‐
  hexes inflicting D8 stress on
  a failure) and protected by
  Black Guard troopers.
  Also:
  • New Heaven (p. 14).
  The Solar Basilica
  A vast complex of interlinked cathedrals to the high elven gods, stretching
  acrossanentiredistrict.Publicsquaresandaltarsthrongedbypilgrimshide
  dozens of private aelfir-only worship rooms. At the centre of the structure,
  an exposed crystal absorbs sunlight to power Amaranth’s climate control
  and many other aelfir miracles. The batteries in which the magic is stored
  are well-guarded,but would be immensely useful to the Ministry.
  The Poet’s Reprise
  Aelfir fashion and society moves in patterns
  inscrutable to even the aelfir themselves. The
  latest trend is Vermissian-Chic,and the Poet’s
  Reprise caters to an eager crowd of cursed
  subway enthusiasts. The lower areas of this
  fashionable bar are merely train-themed; but
  the private upper floor extends fully into the
  Vermissian with a flagrant disregard for
  public health and safety. The clientele watch
  elaborate magical performances that take
  advantage of the thin reality in the place.
  Vault 86
  The nondescript Vault 86 is curiously absent from
  all official records that detail the original
  composition of the Vermissian. This is because
  the Autumn Church quietly excised all proof of it
  from the world with an extensive cover-up
  campaign and several illegal rituals. The vault
  houses ten Paladins with their weapons and
  armour, basking in the protective light of a
  fading sun and ready to strike anywhere in Spire
  at the slightest notice by marching through the
  occult dangers of the Vermissian.
  No member of the Ministry has ever seen
  Vault 86. Its existence is theoretical, extrapolated
  from Paladin response times and the ghosts of
  old architectural records in the Sepulchral Stacks
  of the Grand Vermissian Library.
  
  YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN...
  SUMP
  HANG
  GRIN
  SAKIMAL
  THISTLE
  FLINCH
  GRIP
  GAP
  WELL
  The Heart
  ThePulselinespiralsdownunderneaththecityandintotheHeart.Thankstothethinreality
  in the City Beneath, it has spread out into patterns that were not intended by the original
  architects.As such,almost any location referenced in Heart can conceivably be reached from
  the Pulse line, but getting there will be far from straightforward. The Ministry has
  expressed interest in these locations:
  • Redcap Grove, an overgrown den of black-market druids (Heart, p. 140)
  • The Temple of the Moon Beneath, a prominent heretic church (Heart, p. 141)
  • The Tower, a successful experiment in acoustic mind control (Heart, p. 144)
  • Ghorryn, a den of conspiracy theorists who might be onto something (Heart, p. 147)
  • Hallow, home of the Witch cult (Heart, p. 149)
  • Trypogenesis Chamber, portal to the megaconsciousness of the Hive (Heart, p. 156)
  • Papilious Both, a warren of secret-hoarding moths (Heart, p. 166)
  •Any of the Eight Heavens,the afterlives of the various peoples of the Spire (Heart,p.168)
  
  ThePulseline(andmanyofthestations
  onit)isdetailedextens
  ivelyinthe
  Heart
  cor
  eb
  o
  o
  k
  ;
  pleaserefert
  othatforanyinformationyourequire.
  THE PULSE LINE
  Descending into the depths of the undercity,the Pulse line was connected to
  the Heart Itself. This caused the Vermissian Incident and pitched the entire
  network into a state of unreal nightmare. Each year, the insidious
  otherworldlyradiationcreepsfurtherupthetunnelsandvents,infectingthe
  CityAbovewiththestickycrimsonoftheCityBeneath.
  Atmosphere (D10)
  1. Fleshy walls that quiver in time with a distant heartbeat
  2. Tunnels constricting and expanding with a sickening groan
  3. Bone-flowers, so thin as to be translucent, growing from the ceiling
  4. Non-standard gravity
  5. Heartsblood enclave, distrustful of outsiders
  6. Animals with rusted replacement limbs scraping along the ground
  7. Ravenous gutterkin hiding behind every corner
  8. Resonant crystals jutting through the iron walls
  9. Witch cult territory marked by gory runes and wards
  10. Thick circular windows showing an alien sky outside
  DEFAULT STRESS: D6
  
  23
  THE PALADINS
  “This world is ripe with sin, and we shall reap a terrible
  and wondrous harvest.”
  A glorious army of sanctified killers, the
  Paladins are the military arm of the Solar Church
  in Spire. Their mission is the absolute destruc‐
  tion of every heretical cult on their territory, with
  the Ministry as their foremost opponent.
  The Paladins strike against Ministry assets like
  thunderbolts. Magically-crafted explosives deton‐
  ate within structures, dazzling and burning those
  within with blazing sunlight; while the occupants
  are unable to retaliate, the Paladins smash win‐
  dows and kick down doors before opening fire
  with military-grade weaponry. Their trademark
  golden armour (which is mostly made from steel)
  can turn aside bullets and blades alike, and they
  are protected by the prayers of mad-eyed priests
  andvaluablesacrifices.Theyare,alltold,oneofthe
  worst problems that a Minister can have.
  What’s more, they too use the Vermissian to
  navigate Spire. With the right equipment and
  rituals, it’s the fastest and least visible way to get
  from one place to another. Hidden behind
  magical wards and locked vault doors, staging
  posts for Paladins are dotted throughout the
  train network. Should a black ops team get
  pinned down by enemy fire or take too long to
  achieve their mission, the odds of a reprisal
  strike increase with every minute. More than one
  team of beleaguered operators returning from a
  mission has blundered into a squad of gold-
  armoured killers en route to something else
  entirely.
  Thankfully for the Ministry, there are less than
  a hundred Paladins in active service, and they
  can’t be everywhere at once (yet; maybe the Ver‐
  missian could provide a way). Current Ministry
  doctrine is to stay the hell out of their way, and in
  extreme circumstances, launch a preemptive
  attack against a staging post to reduce the
  chances of Paladins ruining a mission.
  PALADIN OF THE AUTUMN CHURCH
  NAMES:
  Brother
  Pierce-the-Brow-with-Wis‐
  dom, Sister Westward-March-the-Faithful,
  Souvain Thousand-Feathers-Bleeding
  DESCRIPTORS: Shining like the sun in absolute
  darkness; Intoning prayers to their reaper god
  under their breath as they reload; Shrugging
  off small-arms fire
  MOTIVATION: To destroy the Ministry of Our
  Hidden Mistress and look good doing it
  DIFFICULTY: Risky
  RESISTANCE: 9
  PROTECTION: 2 in battle, 1 if you catch them
  unawares
  RESOURCES: Paladin uniform (D10, Haven - D6
  if it’s covered in blood and bullet holes); high-
  quality ammunition (D8, Technology)
  EQUIPMENT: Finely-balanced shortsword (Kill
  D6, Brutal) and clip-fed pistol (Kill D6, Pier‐
  cing, Ranged, Expensive) or Custom legrand
  rifle (Kill D8, Piercing, Ranged, Expensive)
  DOMAINS: Religion
  SPECIAL: If the Paladins take you by surprise,
  they will lob an explosive towards you that det‐
  onates with solar energy. Anyone nearby must
  pass an Endure+Religion check; on a failure,
  they mark D6 stress to Blood as they’re
  blinded, deafened and wrong-footed. Due to
  their subterranean ancestry, dark elf charac‐
  ters mark D8 stress rather than D6.
  Groups and Factions
  The Solar Pantheon
  The Solar Pantheon is made up of four gods,each
  tied to a particular time of day and year. Sister
  Spring is a patron of art, beauty and sunrises;
  Father Summer is a god of plenty and boisterous
  noonday celebrations; Brother Autumn is a
  sunset god of endings and blood; and Mother
  Winter is a midnight artisan and scholar.
  On paper, the aelfir worship them all equally;
  but in practice, the death-cult of Brother
  Autumn has been pushed out of favour due to
  the rise of arcane surgeries that indefinitely
  extend a person’s life. The Paladins, sworn to
  Autumn above all others, have found themselves
  underfunded and unpopular; the Ministry is
  entirely in support of this.
  
  PALADIN FORSWORN
  These gaunt, heavily-armoured fighters use the
  above Paladin stats but have protection 3, resist‐
  ance 11 and carry blessed swords that inflict (Kill
  D8,Brutal) damage in their hands (Kill D8,Tiring
  in anyone else’s). They are part of a sect that gives
  up the pleasures of the flesh to better serve their
  lord. To an aelfir, anti-hedonism is strange, and
  the Forsworn are viewed with extreme suspicion.
  PALADIN CAPTAIN
  The best and brightest in the Harvest Church,
  Captains are fighters par excellence and fiercely
  devoted to their bloody mission. They have Resist‐
  ance 13 and are Dangerous if they get the drop on
  you, thanks to a variety of blessings and wards
  placed upon them by vassal sun-priests. Captains
  often find themselves promoted as a celebrity of
  sorts, with the Autumn Church using them as
  poster children for their cause. If you see a Cap‐
  tain, odds are you’ve already heard of them and
  could relatively easily find out who they’re dating.
  DUSK PRIEST
  NAMES:
  Subdeacon
  Victory’s-Last-Glimmer,
  Underbishop Crimson-on-Ivory, Solar Acolyte
  who has forsaken their name until they ascend
  DESCRIPTORS: Slitting the throat of an ox to
  bless an assault; Surrounded by a storm of
  auburn leaves; Executing a fallen, grievously-
  wounded Paladin
  MOTIVATION: To bring the blessing of Brother
  Autumn, the reaping god of endings, upon the
  inhabitants of the world
  DIFFICULTY: Standard
  RESISTANCE: 6
  PROTECTION: 1
  RESOURCES: Solar incense (D6, Religion); Solar
  Pantheon relics (D8, Religion, Beacon)
  EQUIPMENT: Harvest scythe (Kill D6, Brutal,
  Tiring)
  DOMAINS: Religion
  SPECIAL: If a Dusk Priest sings sacred hymnals
  over a Paladin squad, the protection of all
  squad members (aside from the priest)
  increases by 1; if they’re silenced, their protec‐
  tion is reduced to its standard level.
  THE MINISTRY OF OUR
  HIDDEN MISTRESS
  “We are her Temple Sinister, her bloody left hand! We
  are her knife in the dark! We are vengeance!”
  A sacred crusade cloaked in shadow; an invisible
  war against an implacable foe. The Ministry has
  sworntodestabilise,subvertandeventuallydestroy
  the systems of high elven rule in the city of Spire,
  and they have the weight of a forbidden goddess
  behindthem.Toensuresecrecy,theorganisationis
  divided up into many cells of agents: the ministers.
  They are under the control of senior agents known
  as magisters, who in turn are under the control of
  inscrutable exarchs. No-one within the Ministry
  has more than the barest understanding of
  operations beyond their own actions.
  Most people in the city view them as religious
  extremists at best and unstable terrorists at worst
  - the aelfir have set up extensive propaganda
  campaigns
  against
  them
  in
  Spire’s
  many
  newspapers,most notably the Torch.Despite their
  best efforts, not all of their operations are
  successful, and innocent people often get caught
  in the crossfire. Those within the Ministry have
  made their peace with selling their lives for the
  cause, but their friends and families haven’t.
  Thoughpublicopinionisagainstthem,theMin‐
  istry is one of the more successful revolutionary
  frontsinthecity.Theirboldtacticsandrecruitment
  of unstable individuals from every part of drow
  society have paid off, and funding from interested
  partiesinAliquam(androgueelementsoftheaelfir
  governing body) have allowed them to extend their
  operationsintotheVermissian.Thisgivesthemthe
  capacity to strike almost anywhere in the city.
  The official name for the black ops section of the
  Ministry - one of the official names, anyway - is the
  Throne Division,as the headquarters of the depart‐
  menthasbeensetupintheSpirallinestationofthe
  same name. Throne station is within the Desteran
  palace that housed the central drow government of
  Spireuntiltheaelfirinvaded,andit’sfromherethat
  the Ministry launches devastating attacks against
  their many and varied enemies.
  The Throne Division is watched over by the
  implacable and mysterious Exarch Ventrix: a small-
  statured and terrifyingly intense drow whose skin
  is covered in alchemical and arcane tattoos (which
  many theorise are what’s keeping her alive).
  Groups and Factions
  24
  
  Motivations
  There are four general reasons why you’d decide to throw your lot in with
  the Ministry:
  •
  BROKE. They pay well and they mean business; and maybe you got
  kicked out of the military and no-one else would employ you. You
  could do a few black ops jobs for the Ministry and retire, assuming
  they don’t send someone else after you to tie up loose ends.
  •
  PROUD. You’re convinced that you’re the best and you like to live your
  life on the edge. The only stuff dangerous and exciting enough for you
  is working for an illegal cult destabilising the government.
  •
  COMPROMISED. They’ve got something on you - something big.
  Rather than have it come out and destroy your life (and the lives of those
  close to you) you’re working for them.
  • ZEALOUS.You are prepared to give your life in service of
  theMinistry’sgoals.Youloathetheaelfirandallthey
  stand for; you are a holy warrior on a righteous
  crusade to destroy those who have enslaved
  your people and destroyed your culture.
  In reality, you’re probably a bit of all four.
  Even if you weren’t compromised to begin
  with, the act of working for the Ministry
  gives them something to use against you.
  25
  Groups and Factions
  
  THE SPIRAL COUNCIL
  “We’ve received word from the front that the Dust ter‐
  ritory has once again fallen into gnollish hands. I’m
  proposing we instigate a demonic incursion to mitig‐
  ate the losses; total projected allied casualties would
  number in the low thousands. All those in favour?”
  The Spiral Council, hereafter just “the Coun‐
  cil,” are the rulers of Spire. Sitting atop a
  massive bureaucratic pyramid of adminis‐
  trants, civil servants and lackeys, these seven
  individuals are some of the most powerful
  people in the city. It is they who fuel the war in
  the south and throw innocent enlisted drow
  into the meatgrinder that is the Nujabian foot‐
  hills; it is they who oversee the list of banned
  religions and practices, erasing the history of
  the dark elves; and it is they who will pay for
  their sins at the hands of zealous ministers.
  At present, the council members are as fol‐
  lows; they are aelfir unless stated otherwise.
  • Archdeacon
  Many-the-Seedlings,
  unspeakably beautiful cleric of the Solar
  Church, with secret dreams of fierce ethnic
  cleansing through the Harvest cult of Brother
  Autumn.
  • Councilman Drynn, a human spymaster,
  who carries a shard of aetherically-resonant
  crystal
  in
  his
  brain;
  it
  broadens
  his
  perceptions and is driving him mad.
  • Lord Errin Jubilant-the-Devoted, a staunch
  traditionalist, who has nonetheless been
  infiltrated by an interdimensional blood-
  song parasite called The Vyskant and is
  quietly ushering in their arrival.
  • Madame Fey-Aranyen, a token dark elf
  member of the council who cannot support
  her fellow drow past empty gestures and
  meaningless platitudes.
  • Lady Grendelmyn Stars-Softly-Shine, who is
  surprisingly straight-laced for an aelfir;
  except that she is allied with the cult of the
  Spire Ascendant, who wish to awaken the
  City Above as a god.
  • LordVeqLight-Through-Splintered-Glass, an
  old-school
  businessman
  with
  deep
  connections to the criminal elements in
  Spire’s undercity.
  • Captain
  Wander-the-Lost,
  a
  Warrior-Poet
  addicted to blue: a human-made drug that floods
  users with a cathartic wave of chemical grief.
  Each has their own aims (and allegiances) but, as a
  whole, they work to uphold the status quo and rein‐
  force the aelfir’s hold over Spire. Killing them is diffi‐
  cultandperhapspointless,asthereisnoendofequally
  despicable replacements waiting in the wings. The
  Ministry must locate and compromise a suitable
  alternative candidate, fund their rise through the
  ranks of the government and then place them in an
  idealpositiontotakeaseatonthecouncil.
  The Council is protected by the Black Guard of
  Amaranth: elite warriors specially selected from the
  ranks of the Allied Defence Force who are paid exor‐
  bitantly for their services. There are also countless
  wards, counter-scrying magic, retaliatory hexes and
  a well-established intelligence network. Taking on
  the Council is no small undertaking.
  BLACK GUARD OF AMARANTH
  NAMES: Ybyssmette, Varellian, Destera (they only
  use surnames)
  DESCRIPTORS: Standing perfectly motionless for
  days at a time to guard a particular chamber;
  Shielding an aelfir with their body; Laying down
  suppressing fire to cover the approach of hal‐
  berdiers
  MOTIVATION: To protect the Council - and to a
  lesser extent, every other aelfir inhabitant of
  Amaranth
  DIFFICULTY: Risky
  RESISTANCE: 10
  PROTECTION: 3
  RESOURCES: ID papers (D10, Haven, Niche)
  EQUIPMENT: Ebony-stocked repeating shotguns
  (Kill D8, Spread, Unreliable); Wide-bladed hal‐
  berds (Kill D8, Tiring)
  DOMAINS: Haven
  BLACK GUARD AEGIS
  The best of the best. These soldiers are brain-
  washed with aelfir music that speeds their reaction
  times, dulls pain and discomfort and ensures a
  zealous loyalty. They use Black Guard stats, but
  their difficulty is Dangerous.
  26
  Groups and Factions
  
  COUNCIL MEMBER
  What follows are generic rules for each Council
  Member; individual abilities and quirks are listed
  in the SPECIAL section of this stat block. For the
  sake of an exciting climax to your story, we’ve
  assumed that each Council Member is quite good
  at fighting (thanks to blessings, magic, training
  or drugs) - if you’d rather have something less
  dramatic and more stark, give them Resistance 3
  and have them be easily killed.
  DIFFICULTY: Risky
  RESISTANCE: 10
  PROTECTION: 2
  RESOURCES: Jewels and assorted finery (D10,
  Haven)
  EQUIPMENT: Master-crafted weapon (Kill D8)
  DOMAINS: Haven
  SPECIAL:
  ARCHDEACON MANY-THE-SEEDLINGS:
  Autumnal magic means that all Blood stress
  suffered by player characters in his presence
  is increased by one dice size.
  COUNCILMAN DRYNN: Drynn’s intelligence
  network and brain-shard means that he
  always knows you’re coming and cannot be
  surprised. If you’re lucky, he’ll be too mad to
  counteract your attack.
  LORD ERRIN JUBILANT-THE-DEVOTED: If
  you suffer Major Blood or Echo fallout whilst
  fighting Lord Errin, in addition to whatever
  effects the GM determines, you have become
  infected with the interdimensional Vys para‐
  site.Errin will re-grow himself from your flesh
  unless he is painfully excised.
  MADAME FEY-ARANYEN: The adoration for
  madame Fey-Aranyen amongst the populace
  of Spire is so strong that, should she mark
  stress, crowds of bystanders will blindly and
  zealously rush to her defence. After the first
  successful attack against her,all stress marked
  against her is halved as people offer up their
  lives to save hers.
  LADY
  GRENDELMYN
  STARS-SOFTLY-
  SHINE: Stars-Softly-Shine conjures the walls
  around her into spikes and traps with her Spire
  Ascendantmagics,givingherweapontheBrutal
  and Piercing tags when she wields it in combat.
  LORD VEQ LIGHT-THROUGH-SPLINTERED-
  GLASS: Lord Veq has wired the room you fight
  him in to explode upon his death or incapacita‐
  tion; roll Evade+Occult or mark D10 stress to
  Blood when he’s reduced to Resistance 0.
  CAPTAIN
  WANDER-THE-LOST:
  Wander-
  the-Lost’s Warrior-Poet training gives them
  Protection 4 and Dangerous difficulty; weep‐
  ing, they sing unearthly songs that warp the
  world around them as they fight.
  THE VERMISSIAN
  COLLECTIVE
  “All that can be known, is.”
  The Vermissian Collective, as it is known, is a
  loosely-organised group of scholars and explorers
  who plumb the depths of the forbidden train net‐
  work in search of knowledge strewn across mul‐
  tiple dimensions and parallel timelines.
  Sages form the academic backbone of the
  organisation, many of whom have been exiled
  from polite society thanks to controversial ideo‐
  logies. They are supported and protected by the
  mysterious gadoliv (a sect of sworn protectors of
  libraries) and Vermissian Knights, who dress
  themselves in experimental armour to weather
  the dangers that lurk in the unpredictable tun‐
  nels. Within the hidden territory of the Vermis‐
  sian, they collate and guard the historical secrets
  of the drow peoples of the world, which the aelfir
  would much rather see destroyed.
  In general they maintain peace with the Min‐
  istry - their aims are broadly similar, after all.
  However, the Collective seeks to achieve their
  goals in a far less militarised manner. While the
  Sages will share information with the Ministry
  and Knights will act as guides to spec ops teams,
  the two groups will occasionally come to blows
  over territory or resources.
  27
  Groups and Factions
  
  GADOLIV
  NAMES: Aubinet, D’Encre, Podepapiyae
  DESCRIPTORS: Wrapping their scarred skin in
  strips of paper inscribed with warding texts;
  Feeding fruit to a messenger-bat hanging
  from their wrist; Absent-mindedly eating
  spare books
  MOTIVATION: To protect the information stored
  in the Vermissian Vault and those who collect it
  DIFFICULTY: Standard, but see below
  RESISTANCE: 8
  PROTECTION: 1
  RESOURCES: Books of inscrutable writing they
  believe is in code (D6, Occult)
  EQUIPMENT: Punch daggers (Kill D6, Piercing,
  Unreliable)
  DOMAINS: Occult, Technology
  SPECIAL: When Gadoliv attack, they do so by
  shifting the Vermissian around them with
  spells and machine-keys that allow them to
  ambush from hiding. The first action made by
  each player character against them in a situ‐
  ation is Risky.
  GUTTERKIN
  “What don’t you understand, big man? Give us your
  food and your map and we won’t cut you. Do something
  upcity, we come at you thousands!”
  “Gutterkin” is a derogatory Spire term for gob‐
  lins, kobolds, trash fairies, toadgirls and crow‐
  boys - any diminutive humanoid who doesn’t
  quite fit into society. The gutterkin form an
  under-underclass in the city: they’re not at all
  seen in the mid-Spire and above, are rare in the
  lower city, and only really show their faces in the
  undercity districts of Red Row and Derelictus.
  However, gutterkin flourish in the Vermissian.
  Some gutterkin are able to hold a conversation
  in the local language, but most only understand
  about 500 words and struggle to follow complex
  instructions or hold advanced concepts in their
  heads. This means they struggle to find work (or
  even understand the notion) and generally rely on
  scavenging, theft, pack-hunting and light robbery
  to survive. Individually, a gutterkin is no threat to
  a seasoned delver; but en masse, they can over‐
  whelm an injured or weakened target in seconds.
  GUTTERKIN MOB
  This stat block represents a gang of about a dozen gut‐
  terkin working as a team. A standard scavenging party
  will be made up of three or so teams.
  NAMES: Skint, Biglot, Ord, Grub, Haslock, Fegg
  DESCRIPTORS: A goblin with terrible facial hair;
  a psoriasis-addled kobold; a sort of dogboy
  MOTIVATION: To kill you without dying them‐
  selves, then eat you and steal your things
  DIFFICULTY: Standard
  RESISTANCE: 8 (most of them will run away
  once their mates start dying)
  PROTECTION: 0
  RESOURCES: Filthy gewgaws, worthless trinkets,
  the knife they’re all sharing (D4, Haven)
  EQUIPMENT: Claws, rusted knives, fish-hooks,
  chair legs (Kill D6, Degrading)
  DOMAINS: Warren
  SPECIAL: Weapons with the Spread tag increase
  their stress dice by 1 step when used against a
  gutterkin mob.
  28
  Groups and Factions
  FALLOUT: REARRANGED. [Minor, Fortune] The
  Gadoliv retreat, but the delvers realise that the
  Vermissian has changed during the encounter.
  Add D8 resistance to the current delve as they
  attempt to navigate the strange, hostile environ‐
  ment.[Immediate]
  FALLOUT: SURPRISE! [Minor, Fortune] The
  gutterkin have set a trap: a big rock positioned
  above head-height, a pit full of shit-caked spikes,
  a length of metal under tension with broken glass
  and used needles tied to it and so on. The next
  time a player character marks stress as a result of
  attacking the gutterkin, the gutterkin retaliate
  with a (Kill D8,Brutal,Piercing) weapon.
  
  From the depths of the cursed mass transit
  network known as the Vermissian, the Ministry
  of Our Hidden Mistress wages a shadow war
  against their cruel high elf overlords.
  You are part of the Throne Division: cells of black ops
  paramilitary assets drawn from the people of the Heart. You
  undertake vital missions in support of the Ministry’s cause,
  using the miles of twisting tunnels to move secretly through
  the city.
  This sourcebook for the Heart RPG contains expanded and
  alternative rules for sending your undercity delvers on
  dangerous missions for the dark elf revolutionary front. You’ll
  alsofindinformationonthefactionsthatmaketheVermissian
  their home, a guide to building operations and a line-by-line
  breakdown of the network.
  A copy of Heart: The City Beneath is required to use this book.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Heart - the City Beneath/Vermissian-Black-Ops-1-con5ih.pdf