Treasure Hunt

The following advert features widely across Siruta, and is also transmitted system-wide:

Do ye have a hankerin’ for ADVENTURE?
Does the heart of an EXPLORER beat strongly in ye chest?
Then hoist those sails and set a course for PLUNDARR ISLAND, Siruta’s all-new THEME HOLIDAY RESORT for pirates of all ages!

THIS WEEKEND ONLY: come and take part in our island-wide TREASURE HUNT, featuring ACTUAL TREASURE that YOU CAN KEEP!

Shortly after the above first appears, the following message is transmitted discreetly to places where capable adventuring sorts might encounter it:

Discreet, task-oriented individuals urgently sought to rectify errors on private property. Meet at the gates of the estate of His Lordness Imminent Ascent, 1409, and ask for Waving Roll. Proportionate compensation available for swift resolution.

• Endless Flame - Rory
• Manifold Ghosts - Phil

• The party assembles at the gates of the estate shortly before the park opens. Waving Roll explains that as part of an ill-thought-through marketing gimmick for the theme park, she has buried valuable possessions of His Lordness Imminent Ascent 1409 around the island as part of a treasure hunt. Realising after the fact that this was a terrible idea, but unable to call of the hunt at short notice, Roll wants the party to dig up all the treasure first. Unlike the regular punters, the party will be armed with a detailed map indicating where all the treasure can be found.
• Fighting past crabs and seagulls, the party dig up the first treasure on the beach: an exquisite crystal.
• On the way to the second treasure, the party encounter some other treasure hunters who are trying to puzzle out their clue map. The party attempts to misdirect them to some caves, but ends up convincing their competitors that the party will go to the caves instead. As the competitors set off in the correct direction, the party improvises and beats them unconscious. They then dump the unconscious civilians in the nearby cave, stage the scene to look like the treasure hunters were ambushed by vicious seagulls while digging up treasure, set off a convenient CDF rescue flare, and flee the area.
• Back on the trail and on the cliffside, the party fights past cliff eels - including an especially rare two-headed electric eel - to recover the second treasure: a metal statue. Ghosts bends the arms of the statue to allow it to cling to them for easier carrying.
• Getting into the resort proper, the third treasure is a beautiful miniature golden bell hidden in the model village. Flame distracts the other treasure hunters searching the village, while Ghosts takes their time very carefully extracting the bell without making a single sound.
• En route to the next treasure, the party is set upon by a bandit armed with a treasure scanner, who detects that the party are loaded with treasure already. The party defeats the bandit and their robot enforcer. Ghosts attempts to tinker with the robot, but fails, causing the robot to go haywire until Flame is able to subdue it with his claws. Flame pockets the treasure scanner.
• The party reach the golf course, which is absolutely covered in holes. The Hole Gang are here, taking a holiday from their usual digging for ship hearts to dig for treasure instead. Ghosts realises from a premonition dream that the Hole Gang will find the treasure - if nothing else there isn't much golf course left to dig up - and the party tries to engage them in conversation. Sure enough, the Gang digs up a buried golf trophy, and begin to depart. The party tries to buy the trophy off the Hole Gang, but they are uninterested unless the party has anything Ship Heart related to trade. Ghosts reveals their Ring of the Dead that they uncovered during Pirates of the Azuraean, which they believe has some Ship Heart connection. The Hole Gang recognise the validity of this from their expertise, and gladly trade the trophy for the ring. The Gang then disappears before Flame has the chance to follow them and steal the ring for himself.
• The fifth treasure is buried in the water park. Waving Roll has sabotaged the water park in an attempt to keep people from the treasure (seemingly before she had the idea to hire the party) - the bridge is out, and the water is full of jellyfish and a shark. The party fight and swim to the central island, and excavate the treasure: what appears to be a taxidermied Kylalian Honey Beetle which someone has bedazzled in cheap but shiny craft supplies. How did this end up in His Lordness's collection?
• The sixth and final treasure is supposed to be buried in the plaza by the gift shops, but the party arrives to find it has already been excavated. Their attention is drawn to a loud argument nearby between His Lordness Imminent Ascent and an irate parent who has demanded to speak to the manager. Apparently the parent's children were taking part in the treasure hunt and dug up this treasure, which turned out to be some kind of weapon. The children have run off with the device, and the parent is angry that (a) such a dangerous item was available for children to find (b) 'some cat person' shot at her children as they fled.
• The party intervenes, and explains to Ascent what Waving Roll hired them to do. Ascent was unaware of Roll's actions and isn't best pleased with them; the parent is even more infuriated to discover that the treasure hunt appears to be a stitch up. Both Ascent and the parent ask the party to track down the children and retrieve the weapon.
• Shortly after, the party meets Waving Roll, who explains that she shot the children with a tracking dart, and hands over a tracking device for the party to follow.
• The trail leads through a storage warehouse, where Flame has a hard time with the entire-docile-and-definitely-not-malicious forklifts.
• Heading onto another beach, the party fight past some sandsharks and catch up with the children. A tense negotiation ensues, which ends with Ghosts prying the device off the children just as it fires; Flame brings Ghosts around while the children run.
• Further argument between the parent and Ascent ensues, which ends with the parent storming off to find their children. The party discuss the situation further with Ascent, who thanks the party for their help and lays the blame squarely on Waving Roll, who Ascent summarily fires.

• The party returns most of the treasure to Imminent Ascent, but claims that some of it was taken by wildlife. Ascent believes this. In fact the party have kept those items for themselves.
• To thank the party for their efforts, Ascent offers to leverage his connections among Altarians and Sirutans to put in a good word on the party members' behalf.
• Ghosts melts down the miniature golden bell, and takes the ingot to the Unquiet Journey to use it in Various electronics modding.
• Flame seeks out a buyer for the crystal among their pirate contacts.
• Ghosts returns to the Mytene Various Forge, to see what else can be done to get it closer to being operational. They are able to make some progress with the time available, but discover that at this point the main limiting factor is resources - or lack thereof. Getting the Forge fully operational requires a number of hard-to-come-by materials, which are especially hard to get with the Keter System being cut off from the rest of the galaxy and suffering resources shortages in general. The materials certainly exist somewhere in the system, but getting them for Forge use is going to require some creativity. The Forge staff suggest that Ghosts could look into this.
• Flame tracks down Waving Roll, who is sulking after losing her job. He asks whether she has ever considered a life of piracy, as she clearly has the aptitude for it. Roll isn't sure what to think at first, but Flame's exuberant descriptions do make it sound like an exciting and glamorous life. Perhaps this could be a chance to make her mark on the world, and prove that her cunning plans can work after all, now that she is free of the yoke of Imminent Ascent? Flame gives Roll some leads and contacts, and unleashes her upon an unsuspecting world.

• +3 Clout with any one Altarian or Sirutan faction of your choosing OR +1 Clout with any faction of your choosing.

• +1 Clout with Pirates.
• Gains a Treasure Scanner:
  • With 5 seconds of appropriate scanning roleplay (requires a free hand), you may call SCAN TREASURE.
  • (Per normal SCAN rules, it is up to the target whether they think they classify. Actual value of treasure not guaranteed; booty is in the eye of the beholder.)

• No longer in possession of the Ring of the Dead
• Your actions so far have progressed the Mytene Forge as far as it can get with the resources it has. However, you sense that further downtime actions will not make further progress until the resource situation is resolved. The resources can probably be found in the Keter System somewhere. If you can devise a plan to obtain them, and pull together a party to execute that plan, then an operational Forge will be much closer to reality.