Chapter 5: Automata Recalibration

It's not necessary the characters go to Automata first, but we've seeded strong clues that point to this location. Here's a quick summary of the many clues that the characters may follow:

• Beltha's name appeared in the notes in the Frostfell Cache.
• The fiends that assaulted the walking castle were on their way from Automata bearing the celestial weapons.
• There are forged manifests for the Concordant Express in the Cuckoo's Corner and on the shipments in the basement.
• The characters are after R04M and Mechanus is where modrons originate from.

The Goal

The characters need to establish the "truth" and record it in the mimir to restore it completely and unlock it's memories. This is not exactly the same goal as written in the adventure.

The key difference is simply visiting a gate is no longer critical to restoring the mimir. That detail is a big reason why the gate town exploration feels like a fetch quest. Instead the characters will satisfy the mimir's requirement once they figure out the truth of the situation.

The mimir should still rattle and glow when the characters enter the gate town, but we should also have it prompt the characters in the same way they heard before:

Suddenly the mimir speaks, “Automata is the gate town to Mechanus, the domain of order and rule. Your last recording pertains to the distribution– [glitch noises] Infinite unlikelihood error: data collision in multiple space-time scenarios. Please identify the correct reality before proceeding.”

If the characters have somehow not picked up on any of the leads (it happens more than we'd like!), use the mimir to remind them by having it speak Beltha's name or even mention a delivery on the Concordant Express before it glitches out.

Navigating Automata

The description of Automata provides some great flavor for the town, particularly the inscrutable layout with only decimal markings to guide the characters. Mechanically I'm running it so that finding any location in Automata without a guide is a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. A failure means the characters spend 1d4 hours lost before locating it.

Pursuing the Leads

If the characters publicly mention Beltha, R04M, smuggled deliveries, or anything related to their leads, the mere hints of chaos will send quiet alarms up Automata's hierarchy. Within an hour Aristimus will approach them and trigger the Agents of Order scenario.

Aristimus will clue into their interest in Beltha or the Concordant Express deliveries and quickly see that their interests align enough for him to hire them. If the conversation doesn't dovetail that way or focuses entirely on R04M he will offer what information he has in exchange for taking the job.

At the end of the day Aristimus knows that Beltha and the chaos of the Inverse is a tough nut for his lawfully minded crew to crack. He sees an opportunity in the characters to turn a blind eye to their methods and get the party to do some dirty work in the Inverse.

The Inverse

The Inverse is a little sparse as described. I'm adding a few details to pack in some flavor.

Familiar Territory

The procurer character initially made contact with Beltha, and innately has a sense of where her hideout is.

Gravity asserts itself in the opposite direction, and you climb down the ladder onto dirty stone. You quickly reorient yourself and an intense feeling of deja vu washes over you. Pipe-lined tunnels stretch out in a dozen directions, but you know precisely which one leads to Beltha's hideout.

Once the party gets moving, a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check reveals that the Inverse is a chaotic mirror of Automata.

The Glitch Is Nine

I'm running the duodrone Inverse Incident as a way to reflect the characters' glitch state spilling out into the multiverse. The duodrone's sign will initially read "Glitch is Nigh!", but after they speak about the multiversal realignment something strange will happen.

The modron's wide eyes shudder and their limbs twitch. For a second their angular body appears as a three-sided, upside-down pyramid, then it shifts to a perfect cube.

Flashes of pink and purple flood your vision. You feel another mind slipping into your consciousness. Fragmented, altered memories flicker through your head. You open your eyes and the modron you initially saw is staring up at you, but the sign now reads, "Grease 4 Nine".

They look at you strangely, and ask, "So, do you want to buy the grease or not?"

The duodrone is now a peddler of stolen grease. He sells flasks of oil for the five finger discount of 9cp. They do not remember anything about their prior ranting.

Flipping the Script

Once the characters track down Beltha's hideout, they will find a locked metal door with a covered slot. If they make any noise or knock on it Kythkyr will uncover the slot and gaze at them with one large crimson eye. They will use telepathy to ask why are they here and what do they want.

If Kythkyr spots the procurer character they will recognize them, and Beltha will allow them in. If they mention the shipments of weapons or any details of the trade they will also be let in. In either case they will be treated cautiously and with suspicion.

Death from Above

I'm changing Beltha's hideout in one key way: the balcony above the machinery is 30 feet away on the other side of the Inverse. It's upside-down, and 15 feet above the point where gravity flips. This means taking the provided battle map of the balcony and using the alignment guides to show where a character would be when "falling" upwards.

Beltha will address the characters from there until she's satisfied they aren't dangerous. This visit is unusual and Beltha will still attack after one round, believing she has the strategic advantage.

Kit and Kot are hidden among a pile of crates on the balcony, their cube bodies blending in seamlessly until their limbs and wings unfold. Note that Beltha has the jump spell and can use that to tactical advantage. Kythkyr is also in an excellent position to push characters into the grinding gears.

Treasure. Instead of the lenses the characters can find bars of gold stamped with the Planar Trade Consortium worth 750gp.

Concluding the Scenario

Beltha has the stolen logbook and is using the information to smuggle the shipments of celestial weapons and escaped fiends across the Outlands. She says that the procurer character was the one who stole it and set her up with the operation. She doesn't know the dark of the scheme or care much for that matter, satisfied that it is helping to spread chaos.

While Beltha doesn't have information about the scheme itself, she or the plentiful evidence in the logbook itself can identify shipments going to people in the other gate towns:

• Sincerity in Excelsior
• Mick in Faunel
• Tyrza in Glorium
• Zot and Sotu in Acheron
• a drop-off in Sylvania
• many pick-ups outside of Curst

She can also speak to the group of fiends that assaulted the walking castle. They recently came to the Inverse for armaments by order of the Planar Trade Consortium.

Beltha also has a golden abacus bead–the gate key for a portal that leads to the basement of the Cuckoo's Corner. The portal is in an alleyway in Automata. It's accessible from a nearby sewer.

Armed with this knowledge, the characters can dismantle this part of the scheme or allow it to continue with concrete leads to the next gate towns.

As they are leaving, if the characters haven't already, the mosaic mimir will prompt them to "please identify the correct reality" and log the truth about what happened in Automata.