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Learn more about Etherscope at www.EtherscopeRPG.comLearn more about Goodman Games at www.goodman-games.com

Learn more about Steampower Publishing at www.st eampowerpublishing.co.ukTh is printing of Etherscope: the Lemurian Candidate is published in accordance with the Open Game License.

See the Open Game License Appendix of this book for more information. All rights reserved.Th e mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned.

THE LEMURIAN CANDIDATE

CREDITSEtherscope created by Nigel McClelland and Ben Redmond

Written by: Andrew Kenrick

Editor: Jess Hartley

Rules Editor: Geoff Hall

Art Direct ion & Layout: Andrew Kenrick

Cover Art: Scott Purdy

Interior Art: James Cosp er & Eric Lofgren

Ambition rules by: Oliver Henshaw

Graphic Design based on Etherscope design created by Shane Hartley

PUBLISHED BY

STEAMPOWER PUBLISHING LTDwww.steampowerpublishing.co.uk

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THE LEMURIAN CANDIDATE

Etherscope: the Lemurian Candidate is published by SteamPower Publishing Ltd.5 Jupiter House, Calleva Park, Reading, Berkshire, RG7 8NN, England

Registered in England and Wales, company #04894085

Etherscope is a trademark of Goodman Games. All Etherscope-specific material is copyright ©2006 Goodman Games.

All non Etherscope-specific material is copyright ©2006 Steampower Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden.

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CONTENTSCredits 1

Contents 3

Introduction 5Adventure overview 5Background story 5The Mysterious Foreign Buyer 610 Lemurian Artefacts 610 Mundane Artefacts 7

Locations 8Birmingham 8Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 9The New London Museum Quarter 9De Gaulle’s Mansion 10The Furnival Collection 11Drake’s Hideout 11Drake’s Warehouse 11The Lemurian Temple 11

The Adventure 12Encounter Table 12Different Game Styles 12Running the Adventure 12

Part One - the Investigation Begins 13Involving the Characters 13Recruitment 13The Furnival Collection 13Investigating the Scene 14The Stolen Artefacts 15Jake Shields, Lowlife for Hire 16Calling in the Experts 16To the Museum! 16Peter de Gaulle 17The Auction House 18Word on the Street 18Police Records 19A Wider Pattern Emerges 19

Part Two - All Roads Lead to de Gaulle 20Reporting in 20Robin Llewellyn 20The Next Big Heist 21The Hand Off 22The Finger Points to de Gaulle 22A Fake Burglary 23A Depleted Collection 23Investigating the Scene 23

De Gaulle Detained 24Promises and Warnings 25The First Warning 25The Second Warning 26The Third Warning 26

Part Three - the Lemurian Candidate 27The Rise of Lemuria 27The End of a Beautiful Con 28The Truth Shall Set You Free 29The Fall of Lemuria 30De Gaulle Detained … Again 30Drake’s Hideout 31The Warehouse 31The Temple 33Aftermath and Continuing the Adventure 34A Handsome Reward 35Adding to the Adventure 35

Appendix One - GM Characters 36Peter de Gaulle 36Researching de Gaulle 36Lord William Furnival 37Researching Furnival 38Jefferson Drake 38Researching Drake 39Ornate Cane 39Robin Llewellyn 39Jake Shields 40Thugs 40Lemurian Agents 41The Lemurians 41The Baron’s Men 41

Appendix Two - Contacts 42Academic Contact 42Agricultural Contact 42Church Contact 42Civic Contact 42Constabulary Contact 42Crime Contact 43Finance Contact 43Guilds Contact 43High Society Contact 43Intelligence Contact 43Military Contact 43Occult Contact 43Parliamentary Contact 43

Street Contact 43

Appendix Three - Pre-Generated Characters 44Lady Melissandra Smythe-Harley 44Detective Inspector Frank Warren 44Constable Earl Bentley 45Agent Marcia Fitz 45Dr Henry Walthamstowe 45Tug 45

Appendix Four - Legal Information 47

Index 48

Maps 25Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery 21An alleyway suitable for a mugging 25The site of a kidnapping 30Drake’s hideout 31Drake’s Warehouse 32The Lemurian Temple 33

Sidebars The Fey Connection 6Investigation and Clues 6New feat: Lemurian Senses 7A Brummie Glossary 8Researching in the New London Museum Quarter 9Archaeological equipment 10Adapting the adventure to different levels 13Drake finds a buyer 22An alternative motive 35Handing out monetary rewards 35New value: ambition 37Psychic investigations 15

TableEncounter Table 12

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THE LEMURIAN CANDIDATE

THE LEMURIAN CANDIDATE

The Lemurian Candidate is an Etherscope adventure designed for a team of four to six low-level characters (4th through 6th level), although it can be easily adapted for characters of higher or lower level. The adventure is

part criminal investigation, part occult mystery and part race against time. Characters of any background or speciality should find their skills useful over the course of the adventure. Sidebars are presented throughout the adventure to

detail extra options, customisability or new rules for the GM.

Jefferson Drake, a con artist and small-time criminal, unwit-tingly came into the possession of a Lemurian artefact and dis-covered how valuable it was when sold at auction. He seized the opportunity and set himself up as a dealer in stolen antiquities.

Now, all Drake needed was a supply of Lemurian artefacts. To this end, he set about creating a trap, an elaborate ruse in the same vein as the confidence tricks he had been pulling for years. He created a domain in Etherspace that resembled the ancient Lemuria he had read about in books. He hid the domain so as to not seem too obvious, and sprinkled clues about Etherspace, hoping to catch a suitable victim.

Eventually Drake found his next mark—none other than Peter de Gaulle, who was pursuing a theory that the remains of Lemurian civilisation might be found in Etherspace itself. Drake revealed himself to de Gaulle, posing as a Lemurian refugee who had survived the fall by hiding in Etherspace for millennia. De Gaulle, desperately wanting to believe that Lemuria survived in some shape or form, was instantly taken in.

De Gaulle is thoroughly under Drake’s spell, believing Drake’s assertation that he can restore Lemurian civilisation if he can regain what has long been lost. De Gaulle has been assisting the false Lemurian refugee acquire artefacts to help him in his goal. At first these came from de Gaulle’s own substantial collec-tion. Later, de Gaulle reclaimed those objects he had loaned to museums around the country, and then began to aggressively buy items from other collectors.

Drake has stockpiled the artefacts in a hidden warehouse, knowing that the longer they are hidden, the more valuable they will become. He hopes, as they become more and more rare, that he will be able to engineer a single massive sale which will ensure his wealth for the rest of his life. But as the legal supply begins to dry up, Drake gets more and more demanding and de Gaulle—believing the fate of Lemuria rests in his hands—grows all the more desperate.

De Gaulle has now exhausted all legal avenues by which he can gain artefacts and has set off down a path quite out of character for him – he has hired a gang of criminals to steal artefacts from private collections and museums.

This recent spate of thefts of small and unremarkable artefacts would have gone unnoticed had one not been from the Furnival Collection, the private—and not entirely legitimate—collection of Lord Furnival, an alpha with many powerful friends. Lord Furnival has pulled a few strings, launching the police investiga-tion that leads to the party’s recruitment.

ADVENTURE OVERVIEW

West Midlands police recruit the party to investigate the theft of a Lemurian artefact, stolen from the collection of

Lord Furnival, an influential alpha. The investigation takes them to a number of experts, including the British Museum with its large and well guarded collection, and Peter de Gaulle, a leading scholar on Lemuria.

As the party continue their investigation, they discover that not only have several other items been stolen from local collectors, but someone has been aggressively buying up similar artefacts that appear on the market as well. All clues about the mysterious buyer point to Peter de Gaulle. But just as the party focuses their investigation on him, the thieves strike again, and this time the victim is the party’s prime suspect.

Something about the robbery at de Gaulle’s house catches the party’s attention. The thieves follow the pattern of the other robberies, but de Gaulle’s collection had already been vast-ly reduced in size before the theft. As the party continues investigating, they receive numerous warnings to halt their search: first from threatening thugs in person and eventually from archai-cally dressed figures in Etherspace.

The investigation takes an unusual turn as the party pursue the mysterious figures in the Scope, leading them to Lemurian ruins where they are met by a group of refugees who claim to have survived the fall of their civilisation by fleeing into Etherspace. The refugees attempt to recruit the party to their cause: gathering Lemurian artefacts to restore their civilisation and ensure their survival.

The party discovers that this is actually an elaborate hoax devised to con de Gaulle. They attempt to warn him, but in doing so de Gaulle is taken hostage. The party must rescue him while bringing the true culprit—con artist Jefferson Drake—to justice, and recover the stolen artefacts before they are whisked out of the country by the mysterious foreign buyer.

BACKGROUND STORY

Peter de Gaulle is a fey scholar and collector of Lemurian artefacts. An expert in his field, de Gaulle has led several

unsuccessful expeditions to South East Asia to find Lemurian ruins. However, there are rumours that he triumphed recently—not in the Prime, but in Etherspace.

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THE MYSTERIOUS FOREIGN BUYER

Drake has found a foreign buyer for his haul of stolen artefacts, a

mysterious foreign noble known only as the Baron. Word of the recent spate of thefts has reached his ears and during the player characters’ (PCs’) investigation he contacts Drake with an offer to buy all of his acquisitions. The sale is set to take place in the closing moments of the adventure, making it a race against time

to stop Drake and recover the artefacts.The Baron does not make a direct

appearance in this adventure, his avatar seen only fleetingly at the story’s climax. As a result you can easily substitute another buyer in his place, if it better suits your campaign.

The Baron can make an excellent recurring character in your campaign. Characters may never be entirely clear whether he is a friend or a foe, especially if Drake completes the sale and he makes off with a sizeable collection of priceless artefacts. You can find out more about the Baron in a future Etherscope supplement by Goodman Games.

10 LEMURIAN ARTEFACTS

Over the course of the adventure, the PCs come into contact with a

number of Lemurian artefacts— prob-ably far more than they have seen before. The objects vital to the adventure are described elsewhere, but detailed below are ten Lemurian artefacts that can be used when a player asks for more information.

Fey characters can use their ether-sense ability to detect the presence of a Lemurian artefact (Difficulty Class (DC) 15), and may be able to establish the purpose of the item, if it has one (DC 30).

Cerulean CrystalDescription: This item looks like a

piece of shattered glass and would be fairly unremarkable were it not for the myriad shades of blue swirling about the interior.

Purpose: The item acts as some sort of detector for the presence of etheric objects or residents.

Ornate CofferDescription: This ornate metal box is

small and fits into the palm of a hand. It is made from an unknown metal and decorated with many strange shapes.

Purpose: The item has a magnetic charge and can be used to transport items into Etherspace via a Scope vent.

Broken HiltDescription: Only the final inch of

the blade and the ornate handle remains of this knife. The knife is made from a metal that looks very much like modern-day etherium, but much much older.

Purpose: When intact, deals 1d6 extra damage to Scope creatures.

Fragmented BladeDescription: Three broken fragments

of metal look as though they once made an intact blade, although the handle has long since vanished. The metal looks very much like modern-day etherium, but much much older.

Purpose: When intact, deals 1d6 extra damage to Scope creatures.

Organic-appearing VasDescription: This tall, slender

vase has been crafted to resemble an unknown organic object, with texture resembling black leather or hide. On closer inspection it is clearly ceramic.

Purpose: None other than the obvious.

Carved MaskDescription: This smooth stone mask

is carved to resemble a hideously twisted face, seemingly writhing in agony. Two holes on either side were presumably where the straps were tied.

Purpose: Used to draw out a possessing demon.

The Fey Connection

The Lemurian Candidate is the first in a series of loosely connected adventures called The Fey Connection. The Fey Connection concerns the machinations of a militant fey organisation called the Sons of Lemuria seeking to overthrow the crown and bring about a New Lemuria under their rule.

Each of these adventures can be run independently of the other and without reference to The Fey Connection, but there are opportunities to connect them into a wider campaign arc if you so wish.

The Sons of Lemuria is very interested in uncovering any Lemurian lore it can, and to this end is eager to get hold of artefacts. It may have lost artefacts to de Gaulle and Drake, and may indirectly hire the party or contribute to the reward in an effort to recover the artefacts.

In the aftermath the Sons of Lem-uria may be very eager to seize any arte-facts left unclaimed or unsecured. The party may well play an important role in recovering stolen artefacts, only to have the Sons of Lemuria steal them anew. The Sons of Lemuria is certainly be interested in the party’s findings and may send heavies of its own to steal them if the party does not willingly volunteer the information.

Investigation and Clues

Although there is plenty of action in The Lemurian Candidate, the main section of the adventure is centred on the party’s investigation of the sto-len artefacts. To this end, the Inves-tigate and Search skills will be used frequently. Wherever appro-priate, a section is included to detail what a PC using the Investigate or Search skill can expect to uncover.

In addition any information that can be gathered via relevant Influences is also noted.

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