Chapter 1: Grave Escape

This intro is a great intro to the tone and dangers of the adventure. The individual scenarios here are evocative and build toward a fast paced first session. As discussed in the writeup on the Part One structure, there are a few clues that point to the weapons dealing we need to seed in this chapter. I’ll focus on how I’m doing that and also highlight some tweaks I’m making to enrich the tone of the adventure.

Chapter 1 in the Mortuary works fine enough out of the box, but from the very first scenes we should integrate the characters into this new plot and give them some motivation to press forward. We’ll do that by seeding some hooks or clues. 

The Clues

Much has been written at length about secrets and clues, seeding plot hooks, creating plants, etc. Basically, in a good sandbox with a funnel we need clues that point players to a scenario that furthers the plot. The important bit is clues give the players agency and a sense that their decisions matter. Because they do!

Here’s what will lead the characters to uncovering the weapons dealing plot. Decide ahead of time who should possess each clue.

Bar Tab

Players gravitate towards taverns. It’s a D&D trope and a social hub with adventure hooks galore. The smuggler character will discover a note for an unpaid tab at The Smoldering Corpse bar. If they don’t pay it off then the collateral will be forfeit, so it puts a clock on them as well. The Smoldering Corpse fits the mood of the investigation, but it could be the Gastrognome, Ubiquitous Wayfarer or any other place. The important part is that the bar tab points to an interaction from the characters’ unknown past, and someone at the bar may remember them. It is a lead to a social scenario that will open up more clues.

Broken Mimir

No player can resist the allure of shiny things. This is nowhere more relevant than the high magic world of Sigil, but what if the players have a plot-relevant reason to go to the market? That’s why I’m seeding the broken mimir right from the start. The idea that R04M left the mimir in the place where the adventurers are best poised to take advantage of it just screams “railroad”!

Instead the players begin with a completely busted–as in not working at all–mosaic mimir in the possession of the procurer character. Here’s the clue: it bears a maker’s mark composed of a strange symbol and the word “Trip”. The mimir is a fabrication of the Mind’s Eye that leads them to Tripicus, the artificer involved with their recent past. In order to track down the maker they will need to visit the Night Market or the Grand Bazaar.

Strange Note

If players love new shinies, then they really like gold. Especially when it comes from a powerful benefactor or ally. Some players may jump right onto the “we need a quest giver” train, but there’s a way we can set this up without going straight to Shemeska.

The fixer character discovers a magically inscribed illusory script on a piece of nice parchment that smells of flowers. It reads:

Three of Zadara’s deliveries are with the Consortium. The garnish is all accounted for.

It is signed with a spiral marking. A DC 15 Nature check identifies it as the scent of a camellia. This should lead them to Zadara’s doorstep.

Trinkets

The arcanist character also possesses a decorative pewter bell. This is a portal key to their hidden cache that will feed into the story. It’s not a major clue necessary to guide them further into the plot at this very moment, but it is a piece of the puzzle.

Each of these clues will point them to more clues and encounters in Sigil that will culminate with the characters earning that level up and arriving on Shemeska’s doorstep ready for more answers. Now let’s dig into the scenarios in this chapter.

Hey, Chief!

Here’s how I’m opening the adventure:

Darkness. Coldness surrounds you. Then a sound. A dull thudding that you feel in your bones. A heartbeat? Drums pounding? Boots marching? No. Pain. Piercing through your head.

Now there’s a smear of blurry pink light. Purple at the edges. The pain comes harder. It pulses in time with the pounding in your head. Is this the beginning? Is this life? Why does it feel like death warmed over?

Your eyes open slowly. The blurry pink void resolves, and you pull a shroud from your face. Dim light gleams on stone. You’re lying on a freezing cold metal table. The air is chill and stale, tinged with the acrid sting of formaldehyde.

“Hey, Chief!” a nasal voice greets you.

A human skull floats nearby. It bobs impatiently, watching you with slate-gray eyes in its lidless sockets.

Run this scenario as written except the characters have nothing but a tattered gown covering their bodies. No equipment. No familiars. Nothing.

Here’s a few details I’m adding to enhance the mood.

• Familiar Bedfellows. The characters don’t have firm memories of working together (unless they are tied together through character creation), but they feel an instinctual affinity for each other. It’s the comfort you feel from a long-lasting friendship. In fact, when they look at each other, their compatriots’ names immediately spring from their broken minds. 
• Marked Bodies. The characters have greasepaint letters on their foreheads for identification (“A”, “B”, “C”, etc.). If they don’t clean off the markings they will be immediately recognized by the Heralds of Dust.
• Chemical Flasks. If a character succeeds on an DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check they recognize that the chemical flasks are used to prepare bodies for undeath, not for interment.
• Cranium Rat. The character with the highest passive Perception sees a cranium rat looking at them, but it scurries away into a hole in the base of the wall just as they notice it.

M2: Autopsy Room

As they approach the characters can hear Jex muttering, “Dammit, hold still or I’ll never find that key!” This gives them some incentive to investigate if they survive the attack.

M3: Possessions Room

The characters’ gear is stored here on shelves labeled with letters that match the ones on their foreheads. No one among the Heralds of Dust has searched their gear just yet.

Seed the Clues

As they inspect their gear they find the three major clues mentioned above: the bar tab, the broken mimir, and the note. The pewter bell is also there.

The faction uniforms belong to the other corpses in M1: Morgue.

If the characters inspect the skeletons they notice that they are in exquisite shape. These are not rotting husks cobbled together by some two-bit necromancer.

M9: Records Room

Instead of Thaeziagnuz writing an epitaph of a Doomguard, it is writing the epitaph of the most bombastic character. This is a great place to have a little fun with the party.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this? Bah, [character name]! What kind of name is that?! And what did they ever accomplish in their miserable life? I have nothing to work with here. Nothing! I’m a poet, not a liar!”

Yet another floating skull looks up, suddenly noticing you.

“You there, what do you make of this wretched cutter? Anything noteworthy to add to their poor, sodding life?”

A mage hand lifts the death certificate and presents it to the character. It describes them as a prime known to frequent the Lower Ward. Bonus points if it’s a different incarnation. The cause of death is still unknown. This is a nudge to reinforce the other clues and adventure ties. If you want to push the characters toward a different ward or plot hook this is the place to do it.

If the character admits to being the subject of the death certificate Taeziagnuz will attack them unless they succeed on a DC15 Charisma (Persuasion) check.

M10: Hallway

As designed this escape route doesn’t make a ton of sense, and it’s easy for the characters to get caught up trying to go further into the Mortuary. I’m adding an engraved sign on the wall next to the stairwell that reads: “Deliveries Only. No undead allowed past this point.”

Surfacing in Sigil

What a reveal! I’m tacking on this bit of description to narrate the level up at the end of the chapter:

A city unfolds before you—its grimy, jagged tenements claw at the sky. Your gaze lifts higher, and the horizon curves upward. The city stretches far into the clouds, above you and OVER YOU until its twinkling lights vanish into a distant haze.

The band of chaotic, jumbled architecture continues in the opposite direction until it arches back around and joins with the street behind you. You’re in a sprawling metropolis encircling the sky itself!

Brief flashes of memory flicker in your mind—a marching army; arcane whispers; blades cutting demon flesh. You’ve unlocked something deep within yourself. You’re still confused as hell, but you know you’ve been here before.

The last bit is some narrative flourish to announce that the characters level up before the next piece of the adventure.