TEXT: EONS Presents:
  Island at the 
  Axis of the World
  Part One
  A WOIN-Compatible Adventure for Grade 5 Characters
  
  2 | EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One
  Introduction
  W
  elcome to the first adventure in the Zeitgeist ad-
  venture path. In this adventure the party will save Risur’s 
  king from an assassination attempt, track down the traitor respon-
  sible, and play a key role in the conflict between Risur’s old allies, 
  the fey Unseen Court, and its traditional enemy, the industrial  
  nation of Danor. This adventure, and the adventures that follow it, 
  are divided into acts. Each month, a new act will be published in 
  EONS.
  By the adventure’s end, the PCs will have earned the respect of 
  their king, which will place them in a position to tackle ever-greater 
  threats to Risur. They’ll also have stumbled upon the slightest hints 
  of the grander conspiracy that drives the events of the campaign. 
  Before you run this adventure, you’ll want to be familiar with all 
  the material herein and in the Campaign and Player’s Guides, so 
  you can clear up any questions the players have about the setting 
  and their role as constables. Players should be allowed to review (or 
  keep a copy of) the People of Interest handout (see page 6), which 
  presents NPC illustrations and brief descriptions of NPCs the 
  party would know about at the beginning of the adventure path.
  From the Pen of
  Ryan Nock
  Evocative Cover Illustration by
  Shen Fei
  Stunning Cartographic Displays by
  Brian Patterson and Jonathan Roberts
  Masterful Interior Illustrations by
  Brian Lindahl, Claudio Pozas, and ShenFei
  Includes art in the public domain
  with Unparalleled Layout and Graphic Design by
  Eric Life-Putnam
  Playtested for Maximum Enjoyment by
  Jason Boss, David Braught, Josh Brzinski, Ted Brzinski, 
  Sam Coman, Neil D’Cruze, Francis Dickinson, 
  Robert M. Everson, Michael Gallogly, Matthew J. Hanson, 
  Michael Hart, Michael Iachini, Tom Jones, Laura 
  Kertz, Gene McDonald, James Robert Parks IV, Cathy 
  Perez, Romana Perez, Hamid Raoof, Bryan Rennekamp, 
  Tyrone Shekelberg, Judson Stowe, and Eugene Zaretskiy
  Seamlessly Converted for WOIN by
  Russ Morrissey
  Ably Produced and Facilitated by
  Russ Morrissey
  Special Thanks to
  the hundreds of gamers who backed the original release of 
  Zeitgeist on Kickstarter, and to the generous patrons of 
  EONS whose support has made this WOIN update possible; 
  and to Chris Carter, who got me into mysteries and  
  conspiracy theories, and to J.J. Abrams, who showed 
  me the importance of a great beginning.
  Legal Notice
  © 2017 EN Publishing Ltd.
  The trade dress and text of this article, including  
  narrative and descriptive text and character and 
  place names, are property of EN Publishing Ltd. 
  “EN Publishing,” “EN World,” “EONS,” “Zeitgeist,” 
  all EN Publishing product and article titles, and 
  Zeitgeist, EN World, and EN Publishing logos, are  
  trademarks of EN Publishing Ltd.
  www.woinrpg.com • www.enworld.org
  Adapting the Adventure.
  This adventure assumes the PCs are agents of the Royal Homeland 
  Constabulary. If your players are free agents, they might be attend-
  ing the launch of the R.N.S. Coaltongue as guests of Captain Rutger 
  Smith or as bodyguards of the tiefling engineer Mr. Massarde. One 
  of the PCs might even be a minor noble. If a PC is a Yerasol Veteran, 
  the party might have been invited to help sell the idea of the warship 
  to the public.
  Compared to modern Earth, the concept of security is slightly dif-
  ferent in Risur, where the king is well able to defend himself even in 
  his seventies, so PCs will be allowed to carry weapons, though they’ll 
  get thoroughly checked by the RHC constables before they’re allowed 
  on the pier.
  EN
  EN
  Publishing
  Publishing
  tm
  
  EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One | 3
  Introduction
  Background
  Risur and Danor have been at war on-and-off for two centuries for 
  control of the lush Yerasol Archipelago that lies between them. The 
  current ruler of Risur, King Aodhan, was just a common soldier 
  during in the Third Yerasol War, which ended forty years ago. He 
  captured territory for Risur, earned the respect of the military 
  and the adulation of the common people, and even seized control 
  of Danor’s first steam-powered warship. People of Flint still talk 
  about the day when he single-handedly steered the ship into Flint’s 
  harbor as a spoil of war.
  The king of the time chose Aodhan as his successor, and in the 
  four decades since Risur has gone from owning a single captured 
  steam engine to having an industrial revolution of its own. Today 
  it prepares to launch its first armored warship to solely use steam 
  propulsion: the R.N.S. Coaltongue, named after a mythic warlord 
  said to breathe smoke and fire.
  King Aodhan has come to Flint from Risur’s capitol to witness 
  the ship’s launch. However the king’s own sister, Duchess Ethelyn 
  of Shale, plots to kill her brother during the maiden voyage of the 
  Coaltongue so she can lay claim to the throne, abandon industry, 
  and restore Risur to its traditional values.
  The Duchess.
  During the Fourth Yerasol War, which ended seven years ago, 
  Duchess Ethelyn governed the city of Shale, Risur’s bulwark 
  against Danor. But the king insisted the duchess force her mili-
  tary, that consisted of traditional druid- and shaman-backed units 
  to start using firearms and cannons. Burdened with the unfamiliar 
  new technology, the duchess lost nearly every battle for control of 
  the archipelago. 
  Bitter for years over the defeat, the duchess recently learned that 
  the king plans to press for peace with Danor. Fearing what could 
  happen, she consulted a skyseer — one of Risur’s folk prophets — for 
  guidance, and he told her of a vision:
  A globe spins on its axis, and a steel ship sets off to war on a sail 
  of shadows. The world passes into night, and blackness grips all of 
  Risur as the stars fall from the sky. The king’s eyes turn a soulless 
  white, and he moves as a puppet, his strings pulled by a man who has 
  already died a thousand times.
  The duchess tried to warn her brother of the danger, to convince 
  him to return to the old ways. She tried to remind him of when they 
  both were just commoners, so he would pay more heed to the suffer-
  ing of workers in the industrial warrens of Flint. But the king was 
  too intent on achieving peace in his life, and did not listen.
  Desperate, the duchess spoke with the liaison of the Unseen 
  Court, a powerful eladrin warrior named Asrabey Varal. He told 
  her the Court would view Risur as an enemy if it made an alliance 
  with Danor. The duchess decided she would rather betray her broth-
  er than her nation’s history, and so she began to plan his downfall.
  Axis Island.
  A year ago, some of the duchess’s spies contacted one Nathan Jierre. 
  Nathan works as an astronomer on Danor-controlled Axis Island, 
  the eastern-most point in the Yerasol Archipelago. Nathan saw that 
  the island’s factories and shipyards were producing weapons and 
  warships, and so he began leaking information to the duchess. He 
  expected she would use the information to encourage Risur to keep 
  pace with Danor’s military, and thus ensure neither side would be 
  in a position to start a new war. 
  The duchess plans to assassinate her brother during the launch 
  of the Coaltongue, lay the blame on Danor, then attack Axis Island 
  and reclaim it as Risuri territory. She believes that once she shows 
  proof to her people that Danor was building new weapons of war, 
  she’ll be able to secure her claim to the throne and steer Risur in 
  the right direction.
  Adventure Overview
  Act One: The R.N.S. Coaltongue.
  The party is assigned to work security at the launching of the Coal-
  tongue. The adventure starts after they have already done all the 
  boring work of preparation and canvassing, so now their mission 
  is to ensure the dignitaries’ safety during the ship’s brief maiden 
  voyage.
  As the sun sets the ship weighs anchor, and the PCs are sent to 
  make sure Duchess Ethelyn attends a speech by the king. When 
  they check on her, they find she has fled, and that her handmaiden 
  is leading a plot to sabotage the engine. Right as a naval band starts 
  to play Risur’s national anthem and launch fireworks, a desperate 
  chase and fight develops belowdecks. The PCs have to stop the 
  assassins before they cause the steam engine boiler to explode, an-
  nihilating anything nearby with fire and a hail of shrapnel.
  In the aftermath, the party receives accolades for saving the king. 
  Hundreds of miles away armies prepare for a potential civil war. 
  Act Two: Three Towers.
  One week later, the party is called to meet with tiefling Lya Jierre, 
  the Danoran “Minister of Outsiders.” She explains that the duchess 
  has attacked Danoran territory — Axis Island — and has kidnapped 
  her cousin Nathan Jierre. She has agreed to let Risur handle the 
  task of removing the duchess, and she quickly briefs the PCs on the 
  oddities and dangers of the island. 
  The PCs are assigned to accompany and assist more experienced 
  infiltrators, who will create an opening for the Risuri assault fleet. 
  But when an accident kills the infiltration team, the PCs are the 
  only ones in position to finish the mission. Their ultimate goal is 
  a sea gate which protects the entrance to the fortress’s harbor. By 
  stealth, trickery, or open assault, the PCs must reach the lighthouse 
  that houses the sea gate controls, open the gate, and signal the fleet 
  to attack.
  
  4 | EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One
  Introduction
  Act Three: Under the Wheel of Stars.
  At this point the PCs may think they’re out of harm’s way, content 
  to let the military take control of the fortress and capture the duch-
  ess. But the eladrin liaison of the Unseen Court, Asrabey Varal, has 
  stowed away on a Risuri ship, and the PCs spot him as he heads for 
  the duchess, killing anyone on either side who gets in his way.
  Asrabey has come to Axis Island under orders from the Unseen 
  Court to execute the duchess. According to their fey logic, this act 
  will prove that the fey did not endorse the duchess’s assassination at-
  tempt. Of course, it doesn’t matter how many rank-and-file soldiers 
  get killed in the process. The PCs have a chance to intercede, and 
  they have a chance to decide the duchess’s fate, as well as whether 
  Asrabey takes Nathan Jierre as a hostage.
  Once Asrabey is dealt with, the PCs have only a few hours be-
  fore Risur must hand control of Axis Island back over to Danor. 
  They can collect a few enigmatic clues to what Danor was up to, but 
  then, as the highest-ranking representatives of the RHC, they are 
  responsible for the official hand-off. Lya Jierre arrives, thanks the 
  party for their help, and casually mentions that she’d like to invite 
  them to her wedding next year, since the king plans to marry her 
  for his peace treaty.
  The PCs leave the island, but they have met many powerful indi-
  viduals who will be enemies or allies later on, and they have the first 
  clues toward a mystery that will forever change the world.
  Adventure Layout
  In each act we present a quick overview of the situation and the 
  party’s goals. Then we detail individual scenes that are likely to 
  occur. The actions of your players may take things in unusual direc-
  tions, so don’t feel constrained to only using these scenes. Change 
  or drop them as necessary, or add new ones if you think it will add 
  to your group’s enjoyment.
  Rewards.
  At the beginning of Act Two, as the PCs receive their orders to go to 
  Axis Island, they each receive 1,000 gc that they can use to requisi-
  tion equipment and consumables. Remember, PCs who are part of 
  the RHC do not get to keep anything they recover on their missions. 
  They get a salary, and anything they “looted” they can keep only if 
  they pay for it from their salary.
  If the PCs are free agents (not members of the RHC), instead 
  have the Constabulary offer to pay them 300 gc apiece to undertake 
  the mission to Axis Island. The RHC will ask the PCs to hand over 
  Asrabey Varal’s sword, shield, and cloak because they have diplo-
  matic value — in addition, his “mundane” armor, amulet, and belt 
  are well above the party’s pay grade. But the party can keep other 
  items they find, such as the three Golden Icons in the Genius Loci 
  encounter, or Asrabey’s slippers of spider climbing.
  Finally, Before We Start…
  As with any pre-packaged adventure, you should treat everything 
  herein as source material for you to adapt to your own campaign. 
  Only you and your players know what’s fun for your group, so feel 
  free to change characters, settings, events, and even tone if you 
  think it will lead to a better gaming experience. You don’t have to 
  look at things the same way we do — at least not until the Obscurati 
  complete their grand plan.
  * https://www.patreon.com/posts/zeitgeist-guide-7747978
  NPC Roster.
  Because of the large number of NPCs the party will meet, you’ll want 
  to familiarize yourself with their appearances, goals, and mannerisms. 
  Biographical entries are included throughout the adventure close to 
  the characters’ first appearances.
  Important NPCs.
  NPC Entry
  First Appears
  Thames Grimsley
  Act One
  Assistant Chief Inspector Stover Delft
  Act One
  Principal Minister Harkover Lee
  Act One
  Duchess Ethelyn of Shale
  Act One
  Sokana Rell
  Act One
  Captain Rutger Smith
  Act One
  City Governor Roland Stanfield
  Act One
  King Aodhan
  Act One
  Minister of Outsiders Lya Jierre
  Act Two
  Nicolas Dupiers
  Act Two
  Asrabey Varal
  Act Three
  Lieutenant Hessar Marseine
  Act Three
  Nathan Jierre
  Act Three
  Recurring Characters. Stover Delft, Harkover Lee, Rutger Smith, 
  Governor Stanfield, Benedict Pemberton, King Aodhan, Lya Jierre, 
  and Asrabey Varal all play prominent roles in later adventures in this 
  adventure path. All the other NPCs who appear in this adventure 
  might recur in minor roles, but feel free to do with them as you wish. 
  If an NPC you need later on dies, you can always replace them with 
  someone thematically similar when the need arises.
  
  EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One | 5
  GM Quick Reference
  Dramatis Personae
  •	 Thames Grimsley. Grizzled sailor. Leads docker union. Dis-
  likes police. Oratorical, theatrical speech patterns. Pause for 
  dramatic effect a lot.
  •	 Assistant Chief Inspector Stover Delft. Party’s boss. Chews 
  tobacco. Walks with a cane. Spits. Good-natured.
  •	 Principal Minister Harkover Lee. King’s magical advisor/
  bodyguard. Straight-backed. Beran accent (sort of Mexican or 
  Spanish). 
  •	 Geoff Massarde. Tiefling engineer. Drinks, but low-tolerance. 
  Airy voice. Danoran accent (sort of French). Dislikes Danor.
  •	 Captain Rutger Smith. Bold. Idealistic. Loves philosophy. 
  Smokes cigars.
  •	 Duchess Ethelyn of Shale. King’s sister. Considers words 
  before speaking. Old-fashioned. Fondly recalls time before she 
  was rich and powerful.
  •	 Sokana Rell. Duchess’s handmaiden. Eladrin disguised as elf. 
  Quiet. Tries to avoid attention. Despises Danorans.
  •	 Flint City Governor Roland Stanfield. Aasimar. Constant 
  expression of contented optimism. Perfect politician’s smile. 
  Old war wound in his lower back.
  •	 King Aodhan. Cool-headed. Deflects trouble rather than fight. 
  Healthy despite being 70. Physically feels the emotions of 
  nearby fey.
  •	 Minister of Outsiders Lya Jierre. Tiefling martial scientist. 
  Ambitious. Haughty but friendly. Progressive. Wants peace. 
  Arcano-technological vorpal rapier. 
  •	 Mine Foreman Nicolas Dupiers. Paranoid. Golden icons of 
  earth and shadow. Pistol.
  •	 Lieutenant Hessar Marseine. Nasty eye wound. Looking for a 
  fight. Reasonable if you’re polite to him.
  •	 Nathan Jierre. Tiefling astronomer. Observant but short-
  sighted. Wants peace, but didn’t realize duchess wanted war. 
  Afraid his people will brand him a traitor.
  •	 Asrabey Varal. Eladrin warrior of unmatched prowess. Flam-
  ing sword. Animated lion shield. Cloak of smoke. Despises 
  Danorans. Sent to execute duchess.
  
  6 | EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One
  Player Handout
   Permission is granted to photocopy this page for personal use only.
  People of Interest
  Assistant Chief Inspector Stover Delft. A local Flinter in his early 40s, 
  Delft is your direct superior. Generally good-natured to his subordinates, he 
  has a penchant for grousing about people behind their backs. A much better 
  manager than investigator, Delft has advanced this far in the Constabulary 
  by finding good agents, supporting them on difficult missions, and sharing 
  the accolades from their successes.
  Captain Rutger Smith. Captain of the 
  R.N.S. Impossible, one of the RHC’s vessels. 
  Smith earned his first command five years 
  ago. Now 37, he has never led his ship into 
  battle. That, combined with his fondness for 
  the Malice-era philosophical writings of the 
  pacifist monk William Miller, has made him 
  the target of mockery by more established 
  naval officers.
  Duchess Ethelyn of Shale. The king’s 
  sister, Duchess Ethelyn was a commoner 
  before earning her title in the Third Yerasol 
  War. She dislikes industry and leads a coali-
  tion of powerful individuals with strong ties 
  to the Unseen Court. She wears extravagant 
  diamond cluster earrings – representing the 
  stars of the night sky – to show her alle-
  giance to the old ways. Accounts tell of her 
  possessing many different types of magic, 
  though many of these could be exaggerated.
  Flint City Governor Roland Stanfield. 
  Stanfield witnessed the fall of the eladrin 
  goddess Srasama five hundred years ago and 
  died soon thereafter in the chaos of Elfai-
  var’s fall. But he reincarnated, and has for 
  centuries served as Flint’s governor.
  King Aodhan. Now in his 70s, the current 
  king of Risur looks rather unassuming, and 
  was a common warrior before the previous 
  king chose him as a successor after the 
  Third Yerasol War. He prefers to resolve 
  disputes by being cool-headed and rationally 
  persuading those who will listen to his side. 
  Despite all this, though, he trains regularly 
  to keep his stamina and swordplay robust, 
  and the rites of rulership grant him daunting 
  magical powers.
  Delft chews tobacco, and thinks he 
  looks charming if he grins while suck-
  ing on tobacco juices. He walks with 
  a cane because a mimic tore a chunk 
  out of his leg fifteen years ago. He has 
  a habit of poking inanimate objects 
  with the cane before he gets too close 
  to them, and spitting on them when he 
  wants to be extra sure.
  Principal Minister Harkover Lee. 
  Perhaps the most powerful mage 
  in Risur, Lee acts as King Aodhan’s 
  bodyguard and chief of staff. Straight-
  backed and virile despite being in his 
  60s, Lee has a slight Ber-tinged accent, 
  and was said to be quite the ladykiller 
  in his youth. He always dresses in reds 
  and golds and carries a solid gold 
  wizard’s orb tucked into his robes. He 
  never eats or drinks in public.
  Geoff Massarde. A 40-something tief-
  ling with an airy voice and a fondness 
  for wine that outmatches his ability to 
  handle his alcohol, Massarde is one of 
  a handful of Danoran tieflings working 
  for the Risuri military to help con-
  struct warships and other weapons. He 
  has few kind words for his homeland. 
  He is fascinated with ice, and carries 
  a wand which can chill small objects 
  with a touch. Mostly he just uses it as 
  a novelty to cool beverages.
  Sokana Rell.
  Thames Grimsley.
  Benedict Pemberton.
  
  EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One | 7
  Player Handout
  Permission is granted to photocopy this page for personal use only.
  Ship Layout
  The R.N.S. Coaltongue has a wooden hull sheathed 
  with 5-inch thick iron armor plating, engraved with 
  subtle magical icons that grant both defensive and of-
  fensive power. Measuring 205 feet long with a beam 
  of 50 feet and a draft of 20 feet, the warship has three 
  lower decks and a two-story command bridge amid-
  ships the main deck. The steam engine, powered by 
  heating a boiler with burning firegems, gives the ves-
  sel a top speed of 18 knots (roughly 20 miles per hour).
  A heavy turret on the main deck fires enchanted 
  shells in a forward arc. Twenty-three cannons line the 
  gun deck, which is capped abaft by the galley. If the 
  ship is being pursued, the galley can be converted into 
  a firing platform.
  Below the gun deck is the berth deck, capped by the 
  ship’s magazine at the fore and quarters for the ship’s 
  wizard and guests at the aft. Finally, the bottom deck 
  contains the engine, fuel bins, and various cargo.
  The bridge’s main level contains quarters for cap-
  tain and officers, while the second story command 
  deck has a number of speaking tubes with which to 
  communicate with various sections of the ship; this 
  is where the captain must stand to direct the Brand.
  All the lower decks have sections of grated floor 
  panels to help circulate air. Characters can acquire 
  line of sight through this grating.
  Capacitor and Brand.
  On the Coaltongue’s main deck sits an elaborate 
  glass frame, reinforced by magic to be as strong as 
  steel, and shaped in a half-cylinder to resemble the 
  boiler of a train locomotive. While its design is par-
  tially aesthetic, intended to evoke the power of Risur’s 
  new industry, this innovative structure is Risur’s 
  secret weapon against Danoran warships: a magical 
  capacitor. 
  Excess energy from the engine is stored within the 
  structure. Even while storing its full power, the inte-
  rior of the capacitor is perfectly safe to walk through, 
  and its expansive windows let it serve as venue for 
  ceremonies and celebrations. But the capacitor’s real 
  purposes are to power attack spells cast by the ship’s 
  warmages and to charge the Brand. 
  Main Deck.
  Gun Deck.
  Berth Deck.
  Engine Deck.
  The Brand fires a massive blast of pyromantic energy from the ship’s figure-
  head, often enough to destroy a smaller vessel or cripple a larger one, burning 
  an image into whatever surface it strikes. Its range is limited to about a hundred 
  feet, and after firing it takes hours to recharge the capacitor, but combined with 
  the Coaltongue’s speed and maneuverability, the Brand should deter attacks by 
  Danor’s navy.
  Golden Ward.
  The gunports, windows, and main deck are all ringed by a thin inlay of gold wire. 
  As detailed in the Player’s Guide, this prevents teleportation across the barrier.
  
  8 | EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One
  Act One: The Coaltongue
  Setup
  Before launching the first scene of the campaign, give the players a 
  chance to familiarize themselves with each other’s characters, since 
  they’re part of the same unit in the Constabulary and have likely 
  been working together at least a few weeks. Make sure the players 
  are familiar with the “People of Interest” handout, to help them 
  keep track of the characters they’ll be dealing with, and have a copy 
  of the “Ship Layout” handout to show them once they board.
  Launch Party
  The PCs keep an eye out for trouble before dignitaries arrive for the 
  launch of Risur’s new warship.
  Read or paraphrase the following to your players.
  It is spring of the year 500 A.O.V. (After Our Victory). Seven years after 
  the end of the Fourth Yerasol War, the shipyards in Flint have completed 
  the first Risuri warship powered solely by steam engine, not sail. Your 
  monarch, King Aodhan, has come to Flint to witness the official launch 
  of this mighty vessel. Wooden-hulled but with a heart and skin of iron, 
  the Royal Naval Ship Coaltongue will act as a deterrent against future 
  aggression from Risur’s enemy across the sea, the nation of Danor. 
  The Royal Homeland Constabulary has been called upon to provide 
  security, and you have spent the past several weeks working to make sure 
  this event goes off without a hitch — canvassing the docks, performing 
  background checks on the guest list, coordinating with the local police to 
  set up a perimeter around the royal docks, and following various direc-
  tives of your superiors.
  Now, as a warm breeze blows off the sea, mingling with the scents of 
  elaborate floral decorations with the pervasive coal soot that always hov-
  ers over Flint, you’re at the first of two checkpoints, working with Flint 
  police to let in a crowd of local citizens who just want to line the streets 
  and cheer their king.
  Crowd Security
  A crowd of hundreds waits at a security checkpoint. In half an hour 
  they’ll line up along streets to cheer the king’s arrival, and you must 
  make sure no one dangerous gets through.
  To set the tone for the campaign, the first encounter is a quick 
  investigation. Thousands of visitors have poured into the city, 
  hoping to see the king. They’ve gathered in Royal Square, on the 
  mainland side of a bridge that leads to the Royal Shipyard. The 
  police are counting off exactly seven hundred people who will be 
  let onto the bridge and into Fleet Square on the shipyard island 
  so that they can cheer as the carriages of the king and other dig-
  nitaries arrive. 
  I
  n this act, the party handles security dur-
  ing the launch of Risur’s newest warship, and 
  thwarts an explosive assassination plot.
  The Assassination Plot.
  Barring PC interference, the duchess’s plan would start around eight 
  in the evening, after the Coaltongue is launched and has set out for 
  a party on the open water. The duchess and her handmaiden Sokana 
  would retire to an aft room on the ship’s berth deck, supposedly for 
  the duchess to nap. There they’d link up with three other saboteurs 
  on the ship—a smallfolk assassin posing as a cook, and two human 
  engineers who came to the launch ceremony as servants of other 
  nobles unaware of the plot.
  At sunset, as the ship weighs anchor, the duchess will use all her 
  magical power to call upon an archfey of the sea: Beshela, servant 
  of the fey titan known as She Who Writhes. The archfey will subtly 
  inhibit teleportation so that the king cannot teleport to safety. Then 
  the duchess will use a scroll of water breathing on herself and her 
  allies. Meanwhile, Sokana is given an elemental gem by duchess for 
  use in the boiler room.
  Shortly after sunset, nearly all the crew will assemble on deck with 
  musical instruments, forming a military band to play Risur’s national 
  anthem. With only a skeleton crew below decks, the assassin and two 
  engineers will head to the magazine and engine room, where they will 
  kill the guards and crew. The assassin will return to the duchess to 
  report that the lower decks are clear, at which point the duchess will 
  exit out the window, calling upon Beshala to carry her to safety.
  The engineers begin to sabotage the boiler. The smallfolk assassin 
  will head down to the magazine to remove fire wards, while Sokana go 
  to the engine room. She’ll place the elemental gem in the engine’s fur-
  nace, summoning a fire spirit to heat up the boiler. After summoning 
  the spirit, Sokana will rust the door shut, while the engineers empty 
  the fuel bin and pile the firegems around the furnace, causing it to 
  rapidly heat up. The group then heads back to the duchess’s room and 
  dive out the window.
  By timing the sabotage to coincide with the blaring music of the 
  national anthem, the duchess hopes people on deck won’t notice that 
  steam has stopped coming out of the ship’s stacks. The engineers’ 
  sabotage will ensure that no warnings alert the crew on the bridge.
  As the three-minute anthem reaches its final crescendo, the build-
  up of pressure will cause a boiler explosion. The shockwave of the 
  steam blast will shatter and ignite the firegem fuel, which will send 
  forth waves of fire through the ship’s lower decks. These will in turn 
  detonate the firedust in the ship’s magazine, and the resultant explo-
  sion will tear the ship apart and kill anyone within a hundred feet with 
  concussion, shrapnel, and inferno.
  
  EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One | 9
  Act One: The Coaltongue
  Four dockers — Coulton, Mercliffe, Iscalio, and a war vet named 
  Dafton — have come to the event, ready to cause some trouble. 
  They’re angry that the city police force has been cracking down on 
  docker gatherings; indeed, all of them but Dafton still have bruises 
  from a scuffle earlier in the week. Mostly they just intend to heckle 
  and shout insults, but Dafton plans a more dramatic gesture: he 
  wants to assault Governor Stanfield.
  Meanwhile Thames Grimsley, a grizzled sailor who is trying to 
  organize an official dockers’ guild, has caught wind of the men’s 
  plan, and he’s trying to get to them before they get themselves ar-
  rested or worse. 
  The four dockers are spread throughout Royal Square, waiting 
  for the cops to finish their count before they link back up. Once the 
  cops reach seven hundred, they’ll let the whole crowd through the 
  check point and onto the bridge. The PCs have about half an hour 
  to survey the crowd for possible threats and spot the dockers. If they 
  fail, Thames Grimsley arrives just after the parade crowd is let in. 
  The police won’t let him pass, but if the PCs investigate, Grimsley 
  might be willing to help them.
  If the PCs are lucky, they can pull the dockers aside early and 
  avert a crisis, but once the crowd gets sent in, the four men will 
  link up, making it much harder to deal with them without a brawl.
  Find the Dockers
  Key Skills: deception, history, insight, intimidation, perception, per-
  suasion, stealth
  Difficulty: Unless otherwise noted, all skill check difficulties are 
  Challenging [13].
  This challenge has four goals, requiring a total of eight successful 
  attribute checks to get a full victory, and six or seven for a partial 
  victory. The party has about half an hour, represented by a fast 3d6 
  countdown, to accomplish these goals, and they cannot progress to 
  the next goal until they have succeeded the current goal. 
  •	 Goal One: Brief the Party and Police. 1 success.
  •	 Goal Two: Canvass the Crowd. 4 successes (5 total).
  •	 Goal Three: Find the Dockers. 2 successes (7 total).
  •	 Goal Four: Find the Fourth Man. 1 success (8 total).
  Passage of Time.
  Every ten minutes of the encounter is one “round,” and each PC can 
  make one attribute check per round. All told, a five-person party 
  will get to attempt fifteen skill checks during the half hour, and 
  they need a total of eight successes. For smaller parties, reduce the 
  number of successes needed by 1 for each character below five.
  In the first ten-minute round, the crowd waits idly and people 
  chatter amicably. In the second round, a half-dozen messengers 
  hand out lyric sheets of the royal anthem, to make sure people get 
  the later verses correct. In the third round, the excitement builds as 
  people press toward the ropes, and various unsynchronized groups 
  start singing the anthem or other festive sounds.
  After the third round, the impatient crowd will go through the 
  checkpoint. If the PCs don’t want to let them, the small contin-
  gent of police they have are insufficient to hold back so many. Only 
  something drastic will get the crowd to stop, but since the whole 
  point of the assignment is to avoid ruining the event, doing so will 
  lessen the PCs’ clout. Later in the evening, when real threats crop 
  up, people might not believe the party at first.
  Accomplishing Goals.
  Each goal requires one or more successful attribute checks, and 
  we suggest the skills best suited to each goal (as listed under “Key 
  Skills”). If a character is proficient in a Key Skill, they can use 
  the proficiency with any ability so long as they can convince the 
  GM — such as making a Strength (intimidation) check instead of 
  a Charisma (intimidation) check, for instance. 
  If a PC comes up with a clever use of a skill not on the Key Skills 
  list, let them use it! Note that some things certainly won’t help, like 
  using spellcraft to sense for magical threats, since there aren’t any 
  here. You might want to nudge the players in the right direction if 
  they start wasting their actions like this. Failing a check doesn’t 
  carry a penalty, but remember the party is on a clock.
  Skyseer Vision.
  If any PC has the Skyseer career, mention that last night he had a 
  vision of a crowd, a purple ribbon, the Beran city Seobriga, a girl with 
  a lisp singing the Risuri royal anthem, an empty bed, and a broken tin 
  whistle. The PC’s attribute checks explode during the third goal of the 
  Find the Dockers challenge, and if they share their vision with the 
  other PCs, the other PCs gain this advantage as well.
  When the PCs start looking for suspects, they find squat Coulton 
  drinking from a flask near a tree with a purple ribbon wrapped around 
  it. Lanky Mercliffe stands outside a mapmaker’s shop reading a map 
  of Ber in the window, and scummy Iscalio glowers at a young girl try-
  ing to sing the royal anthem. The rest of the vision pertains to other 
  threats throughout the day. 
  Thames Grimsley. A grizzled sailor, still with a full head of hair in 
  his early 50s, Grimsley acts as head of a nascent dock workers guild in Flint. 
  Though he only worked the docks in his youth, Grimsley spent decades sail-
  ing—primarily as captain of a ferry service in Flint’s harbor, but with a stint in 
  the navy during the last Yerasol War. He took a gash from a policeman’s knife 
  on the side of his face in the last big docker riot, and since then has tried to 
  organize a unified front for the dockers’ concerns. A couple of months working 
  at a theater as a child gave him a very stylized public speaking voice, one full 
  of unnecessary, melodramatic pauses.
  
  10 | EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One
  Act One: The Coaltongue
  Goal One: Brief the Party and Police.
  You can’t just question everyone. You need a clear idea of what ap-
  pearances or mannerisms might be clues that someone’s a threat.
  In preparing for today’s event, the RHC determined that four 
  groups in particular are likely to cause trouble. The fastest way for 
  the PCs to search for threats is to figure out who in this crowd of 
  seven hundred people fit any of these profiles.
  •	 Dockers, angry because of how the city treats them. 
  •	 Primalists (believers in the old druidic faith), angry at all the 
  new industry.
  •	 Agents of the fey terrorist known as “Gale,” who might try to 
  sabotage the ship.
  •	 War veterans, who might target the ship’s tiefling designer.
  Therefore, the PCs’ first goal is a relatively simple one:
  •	 Create a Threat Profile. LOG (history) or INT (insight). 
  To be able to brief the police and the rest of the party, a PC 
  needs to have a clear sense of the different threats. A PC’s 
  rolls explode on this check if any member of the party has the 
  Docker or Yerasol Veteran career.
  Once any PC makes a successful check, give the party the follow-
  ing information.
  Dockers are usually burly working men with eclectic fashion. Primalists 
  have particular hairstyles, wear sandals, and adorn themselves with dru-
  idic religious icons. Fey saboteurs are typically elves or half-elves with 
  impeccable grooming from their rituals, though they often try to hide this 
  by dressing in soot-stained clothes. War veterans will usually be either in 
  the mid- to late-twenties, or late-fifties/early-sixties, and they tend to be 
  in better fighting shape than common citizens.
  Goal Two: Canvass the Crowd.
  You have to look for possible threats out of hundreds of men, women, 
  and scampering children. Work together and with the police to sur-
  vey the whole crowd.
  The crowd can be roughly divided into four quadrants. To search 
  the whole thing for people matching the above profiles, the party 
  has to succeed a total of four checks, but they can do that with any 
  combination of the following methods (or creative ideas of their 
  own). If you have four PCs skilled at perception, they might all just 
  hang back, but most likely the party will use a combination of skills.
  •	 Mingle with the Crowd. INT (insight). A PC could go into 
  the crowd and look for people who match the profiles. 
  •	 Recruit the Cops. CHA (leadership). A PC might coordinate 
  a small group of cops to also scan the crowd.
  •	 Recruit some Rascals. CHA (bribery or negotiation). A PC 
  could try to convince a few kids to be his eyes and ears.
  •	 Scan the Crowd. INT (perception). A PC can watch from 
  afar to spot people who look like they match the profile.
  Goal Three: Find the Suspects.
  You’ve picked out about twenty people of interest, but you need to 
  separate the innocent parade-goers from actual threats.
  Failed skill checks here probably result in the party pulling aside 
  innocent people, and then wasting time questioning them before 
  realizing they’re not a threat.
  The PCs need two successes. The first success identifies Coulton. 
  The second identifies both Mercliffe and Iscalio. If the PCs are 
  smart, they can pull the three aside peacefully, but if they antago-
  nize the men, the dockers might try to fight. If that happens, see 
  Docker Brawl, below.
  •	 Confrontation. CHA (insight). A PC could go to people of 
  interest and ask questions.
  •	 Lying. CHA (bluffing) A PC might feign camaraderie with 
  the different people of interest in an effort to draw out an 
  admission.
  •	 Good Cop, Bad Cop. CHA (intimidation or persuasion) This 
  option is only available once the party identifies Coulton. Two 
  PCs must both spend time on this action. One PC makes an 
  Intimidate check, and another makes a Diplomacy check. 
  They each gain a +2 bonus to their check. If both checks 
  succeed, the dockers also rat out Dafton, which counts as a 
  success on goal four.
  •	 Observation. INT (perception). A PC could watch the various 
  people of interest to see how they react to all the law enforce-
  ment activity. 
  •	 Yank Them All. AGI (stealth). A PC might just grab as many 
  people of interest as possible, but must do so discreetly so that 
  no actual threats get tipped off and try to hide in the crowd.
  Goal Four: Find the Fourth Man.
  Once the PCs have the three dockers, drop some obvious clue that 
  there’s a fourth man, Dafton. The three dockers aren’t too bright, 
  and they let slip that someone else is with them, but they don’t want 
  to cooperate with the PCs. With likely little time left, the party 
  needs to find the most dangerous member of the group. They just 
  need one success.
  •	 Various (Various skills, Difficult [16]). The PCs can use any 
  of the methods from the previous goal.
  As with above, Dafton might go peacefully, but if the PCs anger 
  him, he’s ready for a fight.
  Development.
  If a fight breaks out at any point, see Docker Brawl, below.
  After the crowd goes through the checkpoint, Thames Grims-
  ley arrives in Royal Square and tries to get onto the bridge. If the 
  PCs didn’t manage to achieve Goal Two, they might think he is 
  no threat at all. Regardless, they’re scheduled to meet with their 
  superior, so it might not be worth the hassle to listen to what the 
  old sailor has to say.
  If any of the dockers got past them, though, Grimsley can point 
  them out to the party. By that point, though, the men will have 
  linked up, and they’re so close to their goal they feel overconfident. 
  Almost any attempt to remove them will result in a fight.
  
  EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One | 11
  Act One: The Coaltongue
  Docker Brawl
  The gathered crowd panics as a street fight breaks out.
  The moment anyone draws a weapon, people scream and the 
  crowd backs away in panic, giving the PCs and dockers the 30-foot 
  wide bridge to themselves. The thick crowds keep the police from 
  getting there for 10 rounds. Of course, if the fight occurs elsewhere, 
  things will go differently.
  If the PCs have treated him and his men well, Grimsley might 
  stand aside and let the constables do their job. If they’ve been rude, 
  he might side with his fellow dockers.
  The three docker longshoremen, Coulton, Mercliffe, and Iscalio, 
  use bandit statistics. Dafton, a seasoned sailor, uses bandit captain 
  statistics. Thames Grimsley uses pugilist statistics, and fights with 
  his bare fists.
  Tactics.
  The three longshoremen (bandits) brawl wildly with only unarmed 
  strikes, but pull out daggers when things are looking bad for them. 
  Dafton stands back for a moment and claps a jaunty beat to mock 
  the party, though his performance has no mechanical effect. Then 
  he goes after whichever PC has the most interesting melee weapon, 
  trying to disarm them and then take on the rest of the party. If 
  Grimsley gets into the fight, his goal is to grapple PCs so his men 
  can dive off the bridge and flee to friendlier areas of the city. 
  Terrain. If the fight’s on the bridge, it’s a 20-foot fall to water 
  (1d6 blunt damage) if anyone goes over the railing. You might add 
  some difficult terrain in the form of an abandoned cart that holds 
  flowers to be tossed and lyric sheets of the royal anthem. Innocent 
  bystanders hang back, but block off the edges of the area.
  A PC might be able to get some help from the crowd by making a 
  successful Difficult [13] CHA (intimidation or persuasion) check as 
  an action. If successful, three people in the crowd come to their aid. 
  They don’t fight, but they can use the flank action to grant the PC 
  an advantage and block the bandits’ routes.
  Taking Prisoners.
  As officers of the law, the PCs should generally take intelligent 
  humanoid enemies alive unless they suspect the enemy can easily 
  recuperate and escape or threaten others. Remind your players that, 
  in WOIN, a character that reduces a creature to 0 Health with a 
  melee attack can choose to knock the creature out instead of killing 
  it. That creature falls unconscious and is stable, waking after five 
  minutes.
  Additionally, PCs might try to make a CHA (intimidation) mental 
  attack to convince heavily wounded enemies to surrender. This will 
  only work on enemies who are at half Health or lower.
  
  12 | EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One
  Act One: The Coaltongue
  Aftermath.
  The police eventually arrive and arrest the dockers. If any dockers 
  manage to get away, it’s ultimately a matter for the cops to handle. 
  The crowd considers the fight a bonus bit of entertainment, and the 
  event can continue with minimal disruption. The PCs will want to 
  clean themselves up a little, then go report to their superior before 
  the nobles start showing up.
  Grimsley might ask (or demand) that the party pass a message 
  to the governor for him in exchange for his help. He says his people 
  are tired of the local police harassing them just because a few of the 
  city’s nobles don’t like being made fun of in tavern songs. Worse, 
  some dockers have been arrested in the past few weeks because they 
  refused to work sixteen-hour shifts loading and unloading indus-
  trial cargo.
  Grimsley warns that his people are restless. They’re raring for a 
  riot, and he’s trying to keep them calm. If Stanfield can’t take some 
  of the pressure off them, Grimsley fears there’ll be blood in the 
  streets. This isn’t a concern in the course of this adventure, but the 
  problem rears its head again in Adventure Two, The Dying Skyseer.
  If the PCs actually deliver the message to the governor, they’ll 
  earn the sailor’s respect, perhaps even get an invite to a street party 
  a few days hence in a dockside neighborhood. If the party wrongs 
  Grimsley, they win admiration from the police, but for the rest of 
  the campaign they’ll have a hard time getting anywhere in the city 
  in a hurry if they have to go by boat, as sailors carry their leader’s 
  grudge and do their best to obstruct the PCs.
  Long Night Ahead
  The PCs are invited to join this evening’s party aboard the warship.
  Read or paraphrase the following to your players.
  The first of the noble carriages have begun to approach the royal shipyard, 
  and already the crowd on the bridge is doing its job: cheering, throwing 
  flowers, and performing folk songs and dances to show their support.
  Before things get too busy, your direct superior — Assistant Chief 
  Inspector Stover Delft — asked you to come to a last-minute meeting to 
  give you your marching orders. You find him chewing a bit of tobacco and 
  eyeing a smallfolk chef who is carrying a tray of chocolate confections 
  toward the docked Coaltongue.
  His attention turns to you, and he smiles. “Only the finest for our king, 
  right? Now then,” he says, “We’re about to earn our pay. Lots of nobles 
  about, so first, don’t make a scene, and definitely don’t talk to any of the 
  nobility unless they address you first. 
  “Second, if something does go wrong, try to handle it yourselves, would 
  you? I’m going to be busy applying my not-inconsiderable charms to very 
  important people. The Constabulary doesn’t get by with just good will and 
  pretty faces, you know.
  “And third, you did good work, so I’ve got a surprise for you.”
  He grabs his cane and leads you to the gangplank of the Coaltongue. 
  But he’s not pursuing the smallfolk chef. Rather, ahead of you waits 
  Principal Minster Harkover Lee, the king’s chief advisor and personal 
  bodyguard.
  Minister Lee has just finished checking the warship for magical 
  threats. After introductions, in which Delft cheerily refers to Lee 
  as “the old man,” the principle secretary says that he’s confident 
  the security is in order. Still, he would like some representatives 
  of the RHC aboard this evening. After the fireworks and banquet, 
  the king is planning a major announcement. Lee wants some con-
  stables present to be extra eyes and ears, so Lee can get a gauge of 
  how various individuals in the crowd react.
  Plus, he adds, there are a few recalcitrant guests who might need 
  corralling. When he says this, he looks in the direction of one of the 
  checkpoints, where a guest and her handmaiden are disembarking 
  from a horse-drawn carriage.
  Though this is likely the first time most PCs have seen her, from 
  their briefings and preparation they easily recognize the person 
  who has elicited such distaste from Secretary Lee. This is the king’s 
  sister, Duchess Ethelyn of Shale, escorted by an elven handmaiden 
  named Sokana Rell.
  Minister Lee says he must prepare for the king’s arrival. He en-
  courages the PCs to direct any questions to their boss Delft. After 
  Lee departs, Delft tells them to remember what he said about both-
  ering him, and then he heads off to mingle.
  The Crowd
  The king’s sister approaches the PCs with a request.
  Over the next half hour, more people arrive. All told, the hun-
  dred-person crowd consists of about one-quarter dignitaries (nobles, 
  wealthy merchants, and prestigious military folks), one-half reti-
  nues and personal servants, and one-quarter local staff, some of 
  whom are plains-clothes police. Try to work in the following inter-
  actions, but let the players take the lead.
  Tiefling Engineer. The person who stands out the most is Geoff 
  Massarde, the Danoran tiefling who helped Risur design the Coal-
  tongue. A few industrialists and military officers hang near him, 
  asking questions about how the ship will hold up under actual com-
  bat. Wine glass in hand, he’ll gladly talk shop with interested PCs, 
  but he’s used to people acting belligerently to him here in Risur, so 
  he has two burly bodyguards standing by him at all times.
  Assistant Chief Inspector Stover Delft. A local Flinter 
  in his early 40s, Delft is generally good-natured to his subordinates, but has 
  a penchant for grousing about people behind their backs. He gets squinty and 
  condescending when his authority is questioned, but he can recognize talent 
  and good work. A much better manager than investigator, Delft has advanced 
  this far in the Constabulary by finding good agents, supporting them on dif-
  ficult missions, and sharing the accolades from their successes. 
  Delft chews tobacco, and thinks he looks charming if he grins while sucking 
  on tobacco juices. He walks with a cane because a mimic tore a chunk out of 
  his leg fifteen years ago. He has a habit of poking inanimate objects with the 
  cane before he gets too close to them, and spitting on them when he wants to 
  be extra sure.
  
  EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One | 13
  Act One: The Coaltongue
  Captain Impossible. Also in attendance is Captain Rutger 
  Smith, commander of the distinguished R.N.S. Impossible, a swift 
  clipper ship which occasionally assists the RHC on missions. He’s 
  discussing philosophy and political theory with a black-bearded 
  dwarf. Smith endorses the post-Malice writings of the old monk 
  William Miller, who said all conflicts could be avoided by suffi-
  cient understanding between opposing groups. The dwarf counters 
  with standard Heid Eschatol theory that any ordered system will 
  inevitably be ruined by some random accident, so a single misunder-
  standing would doom Millerite theories of peace. Both men smoke 
  thick cigars.
  Charming Industrialist. Eccentric and genteel industrialist 
  Benedict Pemberton hobnobs and gazes admiringly at the Coalton-
  gue. While regaling some other guests with a joke about cooking 
  pigs on his mama’s farm when he was a kid, he waves one of the PCs 
  over and without explaining himself draws a short folding knife, 
  flicks it open, and snips a loose thread dangling from the charac-
  ter’s sleeve. Then he smiles and finishes his story.
  Pemberton is otherwise innocuous, though he occasionally glares 
  smugly at Harkover Lee. He remains primarily a background char-
  acter until Adventure Six.
  The Coaltongue. No one is allowed aboard the ship now. A gang-
  plank leads to main deck, guarded by sailors. Stairs lead up from a 
  pier to a scaffolding beside the ship’s bow; it is here that the king 
  will smash a bottle of champagne on the ship’s iron hull to officially 
  name it and enter it into the Risuri navy.
  The Duchess.
  After a few minutes or if the PCs seek her out, Duchess Ethelyn 
  asks the PCs for help. 
  Duchess Ethelyn introduces herself to you, then says, “It is my under-
  standing that you have some sway over the arrangements of this event. If 
  you could do an old lady a kindness, the air here leaves me winded, and the 
  company is beginning to give me a headache. I know my brother’s party is 
  going to run late, so I need a room I can nap in. I’d be very grateful if you’d 
  arrange this for me.”
  If the PCs strike up a conversation with the duchess, she might 
  admit that she’s unenthused about this metal monstrosity, and 
  suspects the only thing keeping it from sinking is infernal tiefling 
  magic. She’ll encourage the PCs to remember the old ways of the 
  skyseers and the fey, and not to be tricked into thinking Danor’s 
  industry is good for Risur just because her brother uses the word 
  “progress” a lot.
  Handmaiden. Something seems off about Sokana, and a success-
  ful Difficult [16] INT (insight) check reveals that Sokana is actually 
  an eladrin. This is not suspicious by itself, however. Many grand 
  elves — especially women — prefer to pose as sylvan elves to avoid 
  hassle.
  Moving On. Before the conversation goes on too long, horns 
  blare, announcing the approach of the king.
  Principal Minister Harkover Lee. Perhaps the most pow-
  erful mage in Risur, Lee acts as King Aodhan’s bodyguard and chief of staff. 
  Straight-backed and virile despite being in his 60s, Lee has a slight Ber-tinged 
  accent, and was said to be quite the ladykiller in his youth. He always dresses 
  in reds and golds and carries a solid gold orb tucked into his robes. He never 
  eats or drinks in public.
  Geoff Massarde. A 40-something tiefling with an airy voice and a 
  fondness for wine that outmatches his ability to handle his alcohol, Massarde 
  is one of a handful of Danoran tieflings working for the Risuri military to 
  help construct warships and other weapons. He has few kind words for his 
  homeland. He is fascinated with ice, and carries a wand given him as a gift by 
  a Drakran train engineer, which can chill small objects with a touch. Mostly he 
  just uses it as a novelty to cool beverages.
  Captain Rutger Smith. The bold and idealistic captain of the 
  R.N.S. Impossible, Captain Smith earned his first command five years ago. 
  Now 37, he has never led his ship into battle. That, combined with his fondness 
  for the Malice-era philosophical writings of the monk William Miller, has made 
  him the target of mockery by more established naval officers. Smith seems 
  content to just drill his crew twice as hard, encouraging them with philosophi-
  cal aphorisms between puffs on a cigar.
  Duchess Ethelyn of Shale. This dark-skinned, distinguished 
  woman of her 60s speaks with a poet’s precision, always pausing to consider 
  her words before speaking, which helps those she’s speaking to feel like she’s 
  giving them her full attention. She dislikes industry and wears extravagant 
  diamond cluster earrings—representing the stars of the night sky—to show 
  her allegiance to the old ways. Accounts tell of her possessing many different 
  types of magic, though many of these could be exaggerated.
  Handmaiden Sokana Rell. Though in her 50s, this eladrin 
  woman looks to be in her 20s. In the Third Yerasol War, Sokana was rescued 
  by the duchess—then just a sorceress in the Risuri military—from the island 
  plantation of a rich Danoran, who had kept her as a trophy wife. Sokana 
  settled with an elven family in Risur, hiding her true identity to avoid retalia-
  tion by the Danorans. The duchess helped her rediscover her fey roots, though 
  Sokana only displayed a marginal talent with magic. Today she passes as a 
  wood elf, but when she uses magic her eyes flare an unearthly azure, revealing 
  her heritage.
  Early Discovery. 
  The duchess is an excellent diplomat and liar, so the PCs shouldn’t get 
  any sense that she’s up to something nefarious. 
  However, if she should become aware that the PCs have somehow 
  divined the plot, the duchess uses magic to turn invisible and teleport 
  a short distance away, then she changes her appearance and fades 
  into the crowd. Eventually she reaches her allies and uses ritual magic 
  to teleport to her stronghold in Shale. Sokana, on the other hand, will 
  be left in the lurch. The Coaltongue’s launch will certainly be post-
  poned as security forces move in and take charge.
  If the PCs manage to stop the duchess from escaping, the plot can 
  still continue as one of the duchess’s subordinates leads the attack 
  on Axis Island.
  
  14 | EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One
  Act One: The Coaltongue
  King’s Arrival
  King Aodhan arrives and after brief pleasantries launches the 
  Coaltongue.
  With great pomp and grandeur, trumpeters announce the ar-
  rival of the king’s carriage. Elite guards line the thoroughfare and 
  open the door, and first the city governor Roland Stanfield, then 
  King Aodhan himself emerge. 
  The king offers a one-sided smile to the crowd and is greeted by 
  his principle secretary and his sister. Children, gathered in advance 
  by royal aides, cheer and sing the traditional crown anthem as the 
  group makes its way to the docks. 
  Docker Violence. If the PCs failed to remove all the disgruntled 
  dockers, heckling begins from the crowd at this point. The royals and 
  their retinue maintain their composure, but the rest of the crowd 
  murmurs in displeasure, and the PCs spot both Principal Minister 
  Harkover Lee and their boss Delft glaring daggers at them. 
  Then the docker Dafton, if he’s present, yells, “Stanfield! Look at 
  me, Stanfield! You ain’t human! You forgot what it feels like. Here, 
  Stanfield. Let me remind you!” He breaks free from the crowd and 
  advances on the royal retinue, cracking his knuckles. Royal guards 
  intercede before he gets close, and though he tries to throw a few 
  punches, he gets smashed to the ground by the haft of a polearm, 
  then held down by three men until the king, governor, and the rest 
  are safely out of the way. 
  This can have grave consequences later, because people will be 
  less inclined to trust to the party after this screw-up. If the PCs 
  show up during the king’s big speech later that evening, yelling that 
  the duchess is trying to blow up the ship, it might take an extra 3 or 
  4 rounds for people to take the threat seriously.
  The Launch. The ceremony goes without a hitch. The king takes a 
  champagne bottle, announces that the ship shall be formally known 
  as the Royal Naval Ship Coaltongue, then smashes the bottle across 
  the bow. At that precise moment a steam whistle sounds, and black 
  smoke begins to billow forth from the ship’s stacks.
  The crowd begins to board the ship, and if the PCs dally, As-
  sistant Chief Inspector Delft reminds them they’ve got a party to 
  enjoy. Once everyone is aboard and enjoying light refreshments on 
  the main deck, it sweeps toward the center of the harbor, where 
  eight traditional four-masted ships enter formation with it. Against 
  their white sails, the black clouds from the Coaltongue’s smoke-
  stacks makes for a dramatic image, and though the PCs catch the 
  duchess glowering at the sight, they can also see crowds along the 
  shore cheering as the small fleet sets a course out of the harbor, 
  toward open sea.
  All Aboard
  Over the next hour, people wine, dine, and take tours of the fantastic 
  warship.
  The party has an hour before the Coaltongue reaches its destina-
  tion, just beyond the Ayres Islands north of Flint. Now’s a good 
  time to go over the layout of the ship with the players; this can rep-
  resent a mix of the PCs having researched the location in advance 
  and their taking a guided tour of the vessel.
  If the players want to get into details, you can have them meet a 
  few notable crewmembers, but these NPCs are just for flavor, and 
  to tug the players’ heartstrings if they turn up dead during the as-
  sassination plot.
  •	 Divianne Athel. A guard at the ship’s magazine, she explains 
  that fire wards hung in the two rooms of the magazine keep 
  the ammunition from accidentally exploding in battle. She 
  says she’s stationed here through most of the party, and that 
  she hopes some food will be left when her shift is done.
  •	 Fitzcairn Luckshore. A young technician in the engine room, 
  he gets as excited if a woman shows up as he does if anyone 
  asks him about the engine. He gets bubbly describing the in-
  tricate interactions of various valves and pipes. The other two 
  men in the engine room give him a hard time, because with 
  his scrawny arms he never shovels an equal load of firegems.
  •	 Elian Aughtbrook. A petty officer, Elian has been assigned 
  to keep the visitors happy. He’ll interact with the PCs if they 
  actually try to arrange a room for the duchess to rest in. 
  Otherwise, Elian does it on his own. He has a small notebook 
  where he wrote down notes he made in advance about the 
  visitors, and he enthusiastically tries to make small talk 
  based on badly-formed ideas of what nobles and industrialists 
  care about.
  Benedict Pemberton. Owner of experimental arms manufacturer 
  Pemberton Industries, this man looks only about fifty, and has the verve of a 
  young man, but he jokingly exaggerates his infirmities. Though on the cutting 
  edge of mechanical warfare, Pemberton plays up his homely country roots, 
  speaking slowly in a deep voice and often leaning back and tucking his thumbs 
  in his belt loops.
  Flint City Governor Roland Stanfield. Stanfield 
  witnessed the fall of the eladrin goddess Srasama five hundred years ago 
  and died soon thereafter in the chaos of Elfaivar’s fall. But he reincarnated, 
  restored to life by a sliver of the divine power he absorbed when Srasama was 
  slain. His memories vague and jumbled, he found his way back to his homeland 
  of Risur and eventually settled in Flint, then just a modest coastal port.
  In the centuries since he has died with irregular intervals, and with each 
  rebirth he returned to the city he calls home. For most of that time he has 
  served as Flint’s governor, having constantly striven to improve himself with 
  each life, from a simple warrior, to a humble leader, to an educated renaissance 
  man nimbly handling the complex challenges of the fastest-growing city in the 
  world. Stanfield wears a near-constant expression of contented optimism, but 
  still occasionally complains of a war wound he took to his back in his first life.
  King Aodhan. Now in his 70s, the current king of Risur looks rather 
  unassuming. He prefers to resolve disputes by being cool-headed and 
  rationally persuading those who will listen to his side. For those who won’t, 
  he’s shrewd enough to give them a sliver of what they want and then distract 
  them with harmless endeavors while those worth dealing with get the job done. 
  Despite all this, though, he trains regularly to keep his stamina and swordplay 
  robust, and the rites of rulership grant him daunting magical powers.
  
  EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One | 15
  Act One: The Coaltongue
  A Simple Favor
  The PCs stumble upon the saboteurs in the middle of their plot.
  Near nine o’clock, the Coaltongue sits anchored just within sight 
  of shore, surrounded by its eight-ship escort. The starry blanket of 
  night hovers overheard, and a quarter moon peeks above the east-
  ern horizon. The crew have set up an outdoor kitchen on the aft 
  main deck, and are using the interior of the capacitor as a banquet 
  room. The ceiling occasionally flickers with silver arcs of magical 
  energy, which the crowd delights in.
  The Band. A whistle from the bridge sets off motion as nearly the 
  entire crew starts to line up around the outer deck, carrying horns, 
  drums, and woodwinds. 
  Indigestion. The king and Minister Lee move for the front end 
  of the capacitor/banquet hall, and a nearby PC overhears the king 
  complaining about indigestion.
  “One of the local archfey is upset I parked my ship here,” he guesses, 
  laughing it off. “One of the burdens of kingship; the fey can really let me 
  know when they’ve got an opinion. I always get burps that taste like fish 
  when I sail these days.”
  From now until they get back to land, the king cannot be teleported. 
  Errand. Stover Delft detaches himself from a trio of military 
  veterans arguing about small-unit tactics and comes to the PCs. He 
  points out that the duchess hasn’t gotten back yet from the nap she 
  went to an hour ago. He suggests the PCs go to the ship’s wizards 
  quarters at the aft of the berth deck where the duchess is napping, 
  to check on her and make sure she’s not trying to embarrass the 
  king by hiding during his big speech.
  What happens next depends on where the PCs go. If they wait 
  more than a few minutes to head belowdecks, their only warning 
  of the imminent explosion is when steam stops coming out of the 
  stacks, so you can skip to the combat section of the next encounter. 
  If they wait a short while then head down, they might cross paths 
  with Sokana and the smallfolk assassin. If they head straight for 
  the engine room or magazine, they may attempt a Challenging [13] 
  INT (perception) check. On a success, they notice the guards are 
  missing, and may make a further Difficult [16] INT (perception) 
  check to find their bodies hidden behind casks of firedust. If they 
  interrogate the engineer saboteurs, they claim everything’s fine.
  But most likely is that the PCs go to the quarters where the duch-
  ess is supposed to be napping. The door is locked, and Sokana stalls 
  by saying that the duchess is sleeping, while she tries to hide the 
  evidence of her ritual. If the duchess hasn’t left already, she opens 
  the aft window and dives out at this moment. Meanwhile the small-
  folk assassin hides by the entrance, ready to attack if the PCs force 
  their way in. If cornered, Sokana might climb out the aft window, 
  clamber along the outside hull, and try to sneak back into the ship 
  through one of the open gunports.
  If combat breaks out, the instant the two sides roll initiative is 
  when the military band on the main deck starts to play the national 
  anthem. For the next three minutes, no one up there is going to 
  hear anything belowdecks.
  The Sabotage
  Stop the duchess’s agents before they finish their assassination plot.
  Sokana (an eladrin firemage), Ilton (a smallfolk spy), and two 
  engineer saboteurs named Jenner and Ostman (human bandits) 
  travel together. 
  Sokana possesses a magic item: an elemental gem containing a 
  fire spirit, which she intends to throw into the boiler furnace. 
  Tactics.
  For the saboteurs, making sure the boiler explodes takes prece-
  dence over their safety. Only after the saboteurs manage to set the 
  engine to detonate do they turn their attentions to escape.
  Sokana’s primary goal is to reach the engine room and throw her 
  elemental gem into the boiler furnace. If the combat begins in the 
  ship’s wizards’ quarters, she uses misty step to evade the PCs and 
  get to the engine room as fast as possible. Sokana orders her fellow 
  saboteurs to try to keep PCs from pursuing her as she flees alone.
  Ilton the assassin tries to hobble and pounce on any PCs who are 
  harassing Sokana; once she’s safely away, he’ll try to keep attention 
  focused on him as long as possible. He uses his 7d6 AGI (stealth) to 
  disappear if things look bad, only to reappear and sneak attack a 
  PC when their guard is down.
  In the engine room, Jenner and Ostman first spend actions to 
  disable the relief valves (see “Engine Boiler Relief Valves”). Then 
  they try to force the PCs close to the dangerous heat of the furnace. 
  If successful, they hurry to the magazine, where they remove fire 
  wards, drop them, and then start grabbing casks of firedust and 
  throwing them at the PCs so they can slip past and escape.
  The Duchess and Beshela.
  Right as the band starts to play, the duchess dives into the ocean, 
  where she is caught by the archfey Beshela, who appears as a sea 
  nymph riding atop some massive submerged sea creature. The PCs 
  might get a glimpse out the window of the duchess willingly heading 
  underwater with the archfey.
  If a PC tries something wild like leaping out after the duchess or 
  attacking Beshela, be merciful. The duchess’s stats are presented in 
  Act Three. Beshela is a high level creature, and could easily knock out 
  a PC with a glance, but neither of them wants to waste time fighting. 
  They flee, and the sheer scale of the giant squid Beshala uses as a 
  mount should hopefully clue the PCs in that this foe is beyond them.
  Chases and Slow PCs.
  What if you have a party full of smallfolk in plate armor? Chasing 
  down Sokana before she gets to the engine room is meant to be tough, 
  but there’s a risk it might frustrate players with slow characters. If 
  you want to give the PCs a chance to catch up, perhaps the security 
  guards haven’t been taken out yet, and they attack Sokana when she 
  reaches the magazine, forcing her to spend a round or two to kill them.
  
  16 | EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One
  Act One: The Coaltongue
  Terrain.
  •	 Deck Access. Ladders lead between the levels of the ship. 
  •	 Grating. Parts of each deck’s floor are grating, which grants 
  line of sight between decks, but not line of effect. Teleporta-
  tion can pass through these sections of floor.
  •	 Magazine Firedust. At the front of the berth deck above the 
  engine room, a three-chambered magazine stores casks of 
  firedust and cannonballs. A small wreath-like charm hangs 
  in each of the three rooms, marked with “W” on the map. 
  Creatures and objects within 15 feet of it gain Soak 10 (fire); 
  except if it is removed from its mount, the charm grants 
  Soak only to the creature carrying it. Their power fades after 
  a day if not renewed by a special ritual.
  The ship’s wards are designed to prevent firedust from 
  detonating in the magazine. With the wards removed, 
  however, a cask of firedust that takes any fire damage 
  explodes, dealing 1d6 fire damage to all creatures within 
  5 feet. If multiple adjacent casks explode, the size of the 
  explosion increases to as much as a 10-foot burst, and the 
  concussive force of the explosion pushes any creatures in the 
  area to a square outside and adjacent to the edge of the burst.
  Even if all the wards are removed, the design of the 
  magazine prevents an explosion in one room from setting off 
  a chain reaction in other rooms. The only way to detonate all 
  the casks and cause a catastrophic explosion to destroy the 
  ship is to damage them all simultaneously — for example, by 
  setting the steam boiler in the engine room to explode. That 
  much heat is far more intense than low-level fire attacks can 
  cause, so it’s not possible to accidentally blow up the ship.
  •	 Furnace and Boiler. Any creature that starts its turn or 
  moves in front of the door of the furnace takes 1d6 points of 
  fire damage from roaring heat. Any creature who ends up 
  adjacent to the boiler or furnace takes 1 point of fire damage 
  from making contact with the searing metal.
  Steps of Sabotage.
  Unless the party finds a way to interrupt them very early, the sabo-
  teurs will have already overloaded the furnace and disabled the 
  alarm sirens when this encounter begins. To make sure the engine 
  explodes as intended, however, they must achieve several additional 
  goals. 
  Countdown. At the start of the encounter, form a slow 10d6 
  countdown before the boiler explodes. The PCs can take actions to 
  gain more time, to get assistance, or to mitigate the effects of the 
  boiler explosion.
  Overloaded Furnace. The furnace is crammed full of firegems, 
  hot enough to melt metal. If the door to the furnace isn’t rusted 
  shut, a PC can use a shovel to remove some firegems as a standard 
  action, taking 1d6 points of fire damage per round, as detailed 
  above. After a given shovel is used ten times, it slags and is no lon-
  ger useful. There are two shovels near the furnace, and ten more 
  elsewhere in the engine room.
  However, these firegems must be placed somewhere. Every five 
  actions worth of shoveling fills one 5-foot square with firegems, 
  making it difficult terrain and dealing 1d6 points of fire damage to 
  anyone in that square.
  If ten actions are devoted to shoveling out firegems, double the 
  rounds left on the countdown. If twenty standard actions are de-
  voted, the countdown stops. The mitigating factor here is damage 
  from heat, and sufficient shovels.
  Engine Alarm Sirens. In the room aft of the furnace, the pressure 
  gauge on the boiler that would trigger a siren has been sabotaged. 
  Repairing the siren requires you to have both hands free and suc-
  ceed on two Challenging [13] LOG checks, each of which takes one 
  action. This repair doesn’t help prevent an explosion directly, but 
  five rounds after the alarm is fixed, Geoff Massarde and three of the 
  Coaltongue’s engineers will arrive to help.
  Engine Boiler Relief Valves. Each of the two boiler stacks in the 
  room aft of the furnace has a sturdy valve. As soon as the engineers 
  realize they’ve been found out, they start trying to disable them. 
  Disabling a valve requires two actions to close it and a use of a 
  rusting antenna to break the valve and seal it. Each closed valve 
  removes a countdown die from the countdown toward explosion.
  An unbroken valve can be reopened with just two actions, which 
  adds back a removed die to the countdown. Fixing a broken valve 
  is impossible in this scene’s time frame, but the relief pipes can 
  be cracked slightly by dealing 20 damage to the pipe or by mak-
  ing a successful Difficult [16] STR check. This also adds a die to 
  the countdown, but fills the aft engine room with scalding steam, 
  which grants everyone in the room concealment and deals 1 point of 
  fire damage each round. Breaking a second valve adds another die 
  but doesn’t make the steam any worse.
  Fuel Bin Firegems. Forward of the furnace is a large bin of 
  firegems, fuel which is normally shoveled in by engineers. Already 
  Jenner and Ostman have filled the furnace to the brim, so the rest 
  are of relatively little consequence.
  Magazine Fire Wards. Each ward can be destroyed by dealing 5 
  points of damage to it. A character can remove or remount a ward 
  with a bonus action. If a PC thinks to toss a fire ward in the furnace, 
  this adds a die to the countdown, but the ward is destroyed, burned 
  away to nothing.
  Elemental Gem. In the berth deck’s aft quarters, Sokana will 
  likely have just retrieved her gem from the duchess when the PCs 
  come investigating. If she can toss the gem into the furnace, it 
  flares with light and the furnace begins to shudder with barely-
  contained arcane energy as a fire spirit attempts to manifest within 
  the furnace. Due to the space of the furnace, the spirit has difficul-
  ties manifesting and is still linked to the gem. The spirit does not 
  attack, but halves the rounds left in the countdown. Then she or one 
  of the engineers will rust and seal the furnace door.
  Opening a rusted furnace door requires a successful Difficult 
  [13] STR check. A character who reaches in to pull out the elemen-
  tal gem takes 3d6 points of fire damage, though they can manage 
  to get the gem out first even if the damage knocks him out or kills 
  him. If the character attempting to pull the gem out of the furnace 
  makes an INT (perception) check of 16 or higher, let them know 
  there are a pair of metal tongs within arms’ reach. Removing the 
  gem doubles the number of dice left in the countdown and the fire 
  spirit dissipates back to its home plane.
  
  EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One | 17
  Act One: The Coaltongue
  Boiling Point.
  Once the PCs realize that the boiler is working its way toward a 
  deadly explosion, they have to decide whether to try to undo the 
  damage themselves, seek help, or evacuate the ship. To keep the 
  pressure up, you might want to have a 30-second timer to represent 
  each round; don’t be too strict, especially if the players need you to 
  clarify something their characters should know.
  Getting Help.
  The drunk tiefling Geoff Massarde is not eager to risk his life, 
  but the pressure of everyone looking to him convinces him to go. 
  Massarde can automatically succeed checks needed to destroy the 
  furnace (see “Fix It!” below), and he’s quite handy with a shovel, 
  since he’s resistant to damage from the heat.
  If the PCs propose the capacitor plan to Harkover Lee, he says 
  his duty to the king takes precedence, and he makes the prepara-
  tions detailed in the “Evacuating the Ship” section below.
  Evacuating the Ship.
  If the PCs warn the dignitaries fast enough, there’s a chance they 
  might be able to escape before the explosion. 
  King Aodhan gravely orders everyone to remain calm, and then 
  nods to his principle minister. Harkover Lee uses a telekinetic flick 
  of his hand to tear free the nearest piece of gold ward around the 
  ship’s edge. After 5 rounds, the ship’s crew manages to prep the two 
  life boats, and key political figures pile into them. Then 5 rounds 
  later the lifeboats are in the water, and 5 rounds after that the sail-
  ors rowing them get far enough away to avoid the explosion.
  Once the lifeboats hit the water in round 10, Harkover Lee urges 
  the king that they have to leave. The king nods, orders everyone 
  else to swim, and then removes a gold ring from one finger. Lee 
  grabs the king and concentrates, planning to teleport a hundred 
  feet to the nearest escort ship. Fey magic from Beshala disrupts his 
  spell, and though Lee teleports away without trouble, the king is 
  left behind. Lee is only capable of such a jaunt once a day, so he is 
  powerless to help his king.
  In round 10, those who aren’t in the lifeboats heed their king’s 
  orders and start diving into the water to swim to safety. A quarter 
  of the crowd manages to get to safety by round 15, and another half 
  by round 30, but the last quarter are too feeble to swim even that 
  far. They will be caught in the blast. The king, a 70 year-old man, 
  swims with them, and gets to safety 15 rounds after he’s alerted to 
  the danger.
  The ocean waters are gentle (Routine [10] STR to swim).
  Fix It!
  All the easy options the PCs have available only serve to delay the 
  inevitable. Reasonably creative ideas might add a round or two to 
  the countdown clock, at your judgment. A PC who can deal cold 
  damage each round, for instance, might be able to add 1 die to the 
  countdown for every 5 rounds they devote to chilling the boiler.
  They can mitigate the damage slightly if they replace the fire 
  wards in the magazine. When the boiler explodes, the firedust 
  casks don’t explode. The ship’s lower hull ruptures, and the whole 
  thing sinks within ten minutes — enough time to evacuate everyone.
  Likewise, the PCs might stop the explosion altogether with the 
  unorthodox tactic of detonating five or more casks of firedust in the 
  forward compartment of the engine room. This cracks the hull, and 
  5 rounds later seawater floods the furnace and kills the reaction.
  The most efficient way to stop the explosion is to destroy the fur-
  nace, which is too sturdy to be affected by most weapons. A cask of 
  firedust pushed into the furnace immediately detonates, shattering 
  the furnace and dealing 2d6 fire damage to creatures and objects 
  within 5 feet. Alternately, a PC use an action to deduce the best way 
  to place a cask of firedust (Challenging [13] LOG). A cask of fire-
  dust placed in the proper way will only fracture the furnace when it 
  explodes (and not deal damage); if two casks are detonated this way, 
  the furnace is destroyed.
  At the GM’s discretion, this either obliterates the relief valves — 
  which fills all the lower decks with scalding steam for 5 minutes 
  (see “Engine Boiler Relief Valves,” above) — or breaks open the 
  bottom of the furnace — which spills out firegems onto the floor, 
  warping metal and forcing an evacuation of the engine room 
  (see “Overloaded Furnace,” above). Once the furnace is destroyed, 
  though, the ship is safe.
  Alternately, the PCs might go for a Star Trek-style technobabble 
  solution: channel excess fire mana from the engine into the capaci-
  tor, then release it through the Brand. Unfortunately, since this 
  was just supposed to be a casual cruise, the Brand isn’t calibrated 
  yet. The Brand uses a complicated mix of magical energies, but 
  it can be calibrated if PCs in the engine room succeed on three 
  Fire spirit, freed from Sokana’s elemental gem.
  
  18 | EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One
  Act One: The Coaltongue
  Difficult [16] LOG checks, one of each using the skills spellcraft, 
  nature, and religion. 
  The ship shudders, the engine room glows with red-orange light 
  from all directions, and on deck, the capacitor crackles with red 
  energy. The dignitaries scream and cower in fear, and then a gout 
  of flame shoots forth from the figurehead with a roar, vaporizing a 
  spot on the ocean a hundred feet away. The ship shudders one last 
  time, and then the furnace dims to a safe level.
  If the PCs come up with other suitably dramatic, risky, or clever 
  plans, those can work at the GM’s discretion. If the PCs’ efforts are 
  not bearing fruit, and the countdown drops to 3 dice, you might 
  suggest they simply evacuate with all the haste they can muster.
  Aftermath
  The PCs learn the full story of what happened.
  What happens next depends on how the PCs handled the boiler 
  sabotage.
  Critical Failure.
  If the PCs don’t stop the boiler in time, it explodes. Every creature 
  in the engine room is slain by the combination of pressure and heat. 
  If the firedust casks are warded, the ship merely has its hull cracked. 
  It sinks 5 feet every round, and 7 rounds later the main deck is 
  underwater. The escort ships rescue everyone, but the Coaltongue 
  sits in a watery grave.
  If the casks were not warded, though, they explode in a chain 
  reaction that tears apart the bow of the ship. Every creature on 
  board or within several yards of the ship is killed. If this happens 
  and the PCs failed to warn the king, well, they’re probably already 
  dead, but the king is too. Continue the campaign with a new set of 
  PCs, perhaps recruited by Lya Jierre to prove that the duchess was 
  behind the whole plot.
  Failure.
  If the ship explodes or sinks, but the PCs warned the king in time 
  for him and others to get to safety, they are publicly commended 
  for saving the king, but privately reprimanded for losing the ship. 
  When they are recruited to go to Axis Island, it’s Stover Delft’s 
  attempt to get them a chance to make up for their initial failure.
  Success.
  If the PCs keep the ship from sinking, they are highly commended, 
  and are given the mission to Axis Island precisely because they have 
  proven themselves.
  Critical Success.
  The PCs might manage to stop the ship from sinking without even 
  interrupting the king’s party. If they end up firing the Brand, it 
  coincides with the crescendo of the national anthem, setting off a 
  round of applause from the crowd. They can come up on deck, dis-
  creetly notify Harkover Lee to deal with prisoners, and let the king 
  give his prepared remarks without disruption.
  Debriefing.
  In the immediate aftermath, the PCs are treated for their injuries 
  and questioned thoroughly by Principal Minister Lee. The king 
  himself asks to speak to them before the night is out, and he thanks 
  them personally. He spares a few minutes at a very critical time to 
  ask their names and inquire about their families. He’s especially 
  interested in anyone who has siblings — the king is troubled that his 
  own sister could betray him, and he prays that the PCs never have 
  to find an enemy among their own flesh and blood.
  The King’s Speech.
  Either to a small crowd on the ship, or the next day before a crowd 
  of thousands, the king gives a five-minute speech. He begins by 
  
  EONS Presents: The Island at the Axis of the World, Part One | 19
  Act One: The Coaltongue
  recounting the trials Risur has faced defending itself from Danor — 
  four wars that ultimately earned either side little but hardship. For 
  centuries, the king says, his people have viewed Danorans as cursed 
  and unnatural, while Danorans, in turn, claim Risuri are supersti-
  tious and primitive. But ironically their latest efforts to arm for war 
  have actually brought the two nations closer together: Danor has 
  significantly helped Risur with its industrial revolution.
  The king goes on to say that he hopes his successor, whoever that 
  may be, will not have to commit to another pointless war and the 
  loss of many young men and women. And so, even though he first 
  started this arms race, King Aodhan now intends to seek peace 
  with his old, respected enemy, the sovereign of Danor. In one year’s 
  time he will convene a peace summit here in Flint, and to seal the 
  proposed treaty he intends to marry a Danoran.
  Making peace with a distrusted enemy is normally a tough sell, 
  but the assassination attempt persuades most Risuri to support 
  their king. (The truth is revealed even if the PCs killed all the assas-
  sins: within a few days, mages extract from their corpses and souls 
  enough evidence to brand the duchess a traitor.) A vocal minority 
  try to defend the duchess’s actions, claiming that Risur is going in 
  the wrong direction and that Danor is not to be trusted, but they 
  are denounced. Some high-ranking supporters of the duchess are 
  driven from their homes and sent fleeing westward to Shale.
  What’s Next?
  By the time anyone knows what’s going on, the duchess is long gone, 
  having fled by magic to her stronghold in Shale, where she prepares 
  to launch a naval assault on Axis Island.
  Even though the PCs are the heroes of the hour, they’re not high-
  ranked enough to be given any critical assignments. Others in the 
  constabulary are given the task of figuring out who was involved 
  in the plot, and most of the PCs’ tasks involve following up on the 
  work of other investigators. Assistant Chief Inspector Delft keeps 
  the PCs busy for the next few days conducting low-level interviews, 
  filling out paperwork for search warrants, and the like.
  Journalists press for interviews, but this is an age before 24-hour 
  news and online updates, so even while “famous” the PCs don’t hear 
  much about what’s going on hundreds of miles away in Shale. And 
  in any case, the PCs’ fame fades quickly.
  Then, about a week after the Coaltongue’s launch, the PCs are 
  in the main RHC office late one afternoon filing their paperwork, 
  when one of their coworkers tells them that Delft wants them in his 
  office. What the PCs will learn in that office — detailed in Act Two 
  of this adventure — sets them on the course of war.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/WOIN/EONS Magazine/Eons 67 - Zeitgeist 1 - Island at the Axis of the World (act 1).pdf