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The Mystery of the Stolen Ore[]
One of the iron shipments en route from Foundry to Sixton never arrives. The steam train is found stopped before the bridge over the Silver River. Everyone on the steam train has been slaughtered (engineers and guards alike). The head of the Sixton Watch has heard of the PCs and has asked for help, offering (a) a modest reward, (b) forgiveness for some past crime, (c) a good word to the governor for aid in returning the shipment and bring the lead perpetrator in to Sixton for prosecution.
There are several options for what could have happened:
- Inside job: One of the guards was either one of the thieves, or offered a large sum of money to stop the train at the bridge. He can either be dead, or missing from the slaughter (clue for the PCs).
- Bridge down: The bridge could have been destroyed, forcing the train to stop.
- Compelled driver: The driver of the train was under a spell (Implant Suggestion, p127) or blackmailed (his family are being held hostage, another clue for the PCs, maybe a note is found on his corpse) and thus brought the train to a stop at the designated spot. Either way, he was slaughtered with the rest.
As for what happened to the ore, again there are several options:
- The ore was carried away by a flying ship which flew over the Mirror Lake (where it would have been seen by people working on the lake). Wagon tracks lead from the train a short ways to the west, where there is an abandoned wagon. The single horse is still tethered, grazing. Tracks do not show where the wagon came from originally (it was actually brought on the flying ship. The GM will need to decide on how a flying ship came to be in the Northern Reach, and who is behind it. As they are extremely expensive, it is suggested that the motive is not simply to steal the ore, but rather more sinister.
- A barge on the Silver River has taken the shipment upriver somewhere. The faerie have caused the train to stop and enacted the slaughter, and have enchanted some human boatmen to take the shipment upriver to one of the large lakes, and then sunk the boat, with the humans still on board. Workers on the lake will have seen the ship sink, with no explanation for what caused it.