Mole Money, Mole Problems

an adventure starring Wing, Simmond and Jade. 
Tweet: Simmond, Wing, and Jade are presented with two opposing tasks: defend the disgruntled employee, or uphold a greedy corporation who cannot produce a contract. As they gain more information, they must decide what it means to be right, moral, and just. 
Non Player Characters: 
* Voleur Funkenstain -  A flesh golem with complete sentience, Funkenstain is essentially a cyborg engineer version of both Frankenstein and the monster - as played by Lumier.
* Underboatman – A deep dwarf man of perhaps 4 and a half feet in height.  It appears that if he weren't careful, he could easily tread on the tip of his gray-white beard.  Gruff, uncaring.  Does what he initially agreed to do, and was paid for, and nothing else.  Prefers to be called by his job, rather than folks knowing his name.
* Lenora Grenn – Captain of the Susurration, a sloop rigged for smuggling.  The captain is a halfling woman who smokes from a pipe near as long as she is tall.
* Edwina Pefferidge – Dutchess of Sponsonby upon Tarridge.  Works for Pappy Watson & Sons' as a plant from the parent companies to keep things moving smoothly.  She's a human woman, smart, and ruthless if the situation necessitates.
* Rising Profits - A commercial vessel owned and operated by SGCH (South Guasso Commercial Holdings).  The SGCH fleet use a corporate structure different from how most other ships in operation delineate a ship's roles. 
**Chief Operations Sailor: Bezra Wenkle - Bezra Wenkle is a fastidious gnomish man with a penchant for properly filed paperwork and punctuality.  He is the most profitable COS SGCH has profiled in a dozen annual analyses.
** Cargo Management Coordinators - BiBi von Kraften - dragonkin grayish scaled edged in pink around the top of the head and at the elbows. 
** Rigging Managers - Gretta Mussmon - Human 
** Executive Communications Officer / temporary marketing coordinator - Thranzikaz Twice-Darned - This try-hard devil-kin man has had his name changed after numerous HR complaints, but is an excellent worker. A bit gruff in demeanor, though he is never intentionally unkind.
Plot Summary: 
As we start our adventure in the Firebreathing Kittens guild hall, we find our intrepid heroes Simmond The Kind, Jade and Wing sitting together and enjoying a very varied breakfast. They have a bit of lighthearted conversation about the souls when, as if by magic, 2 quests appear on the job board. Both of these quests are about a stolen invention. One offers a reward for brave heroes to help defend this invention, the other offers a much larger reward to get the invention back. Our heroes decide to check out the quest that offers the larger reward first, since bad intentioned capitalists always offer more money, question mark? 
This brings our group to Pappy Watson & Son, some kind of business selling crafting and metalworking tools in all shapes and sizes. There they meet a busy business woman who was apparently late for a meeting. They have a back and forth, asking for more details about the missing/stolen invention. The woman tells the group that the invention was stolen by an employee (now ex-employee) who was also the one that made the invention. Seeing an opportunity, Simmond The Kind uses Shape Water to create a frozen object that looks like some kind of strange invention. Jade helps him by writing instructions about the invention on her Paper Promises. They hand both of these over to the woman who goes inside Pappy Watson & Son, returning some time later with a part of the promised reward since they aren’t sure if this is the proper invention. 
The group takes the money and their new information and heads out to find the location mentioned in both quest notes. This leads them to an old, abandoned mine shaft with some utilitarian buildings around it. As soon as Jade and Simmond step through the double gates that stand in front of the mining site, a railroad spike is shot at them, impacting inches from their feet. A man calls out in a strange accent, asking who they are and if they are part of a guild. When the man sees their guild crests, he tells them to come on in. Now knowing that no more railroad spikes are gonna be shit, Wing and Nugget also make their way inside the gates and into the largest of the buildings. 
Inside they properly meet the man who shot at them, who is a strange amalgamation of people parts and machinery. He introduces himself as Voluer Funkenstain and says that he’s the one who asked for heroes to help defend his invention. He explains that this marvelous device can power almost anything, by using a mole that can seemingly create an incredible amount of heat from his mouth. The invention would use this heat to melt iron which in turn would be used to power all manner of devices. When he made this device, the company he was working for apparently wanted to bury the idea, since they are in league with the coal mining industry, who would not appreciate a competitor. So he ran, taking the invention and notes with him. As the party starts to discuss what the ethical and legal right thing to do is, several groups of assailants arrive at the gates around the mining complex. These are the Megahertz and the Spirit Raisers who are also here to get the invention back. 
Voluer Funkenstain and Wing use their respective cannons to try and hold them off to buy time, but Jade would have none of that. She started bashing Voluer over the head to convince him to get into a Bag of Holding so the party can take him with them. He is seemingly not convinced, so Simmond pulls the Bag of Holding over his head and carries him off. With some Fog Clouds to cover their retreat into the mine tunnel that Voluer had previously mentioned, the party make their way to metal tracks and a winch operated mine cart. Hitched onto that is a small cart that had the prototype invention. Jade and Simmond jump onto the mine cart to operate it, while Wing rides along on Nugget’s back. 
Their pursuers are hot on their tail, getting into minecarts of their own, which results in a speeding race and pursuit down into the mines. On the way more Fog Clouds are used to obscure the party's tracks, the minecart almost goes out of control several times and some Rust Monsters are spotted out in their natural habitat. As the pursuing minecarts come into view, Wing shoots a bolt filled with lightning into a manganese deposit, instantly super heating it to gas form, which creates a dust explosion that sends the minecart carrying the Megahertz flying. Now the party only has to deal with the Spirit Raisers, who start slinging necromancy spells and summoning skeletons on the party’s minecart. With some well aimed attacks, the wheel of the Spirit Raisers cart is damaged, causing it to slow down and lose the pursuit of the heroes' minecart. 
The trouble isn’t yet over though, as subterranean aquatic creatures start shooting freezing cold rays at the party! Dodging these, the end of the minetrack comes into sight. A combination of heavy break use and thunderous smite energy manages to safely stop the cart. There, a fisherman and his boat are waiting on the underground river. The group gets the prototype invention onto the boat, and they set off on the water rapids. Luckily the fisherman is good at his job and safely gets the boat out of the underground river and out into daylight on the open waters. 
The group has a discussion about what to do with the prototype and the notes about the invention, and they decide that the legal ownership of the invention lies with Pappy Watson & Son. So they hail a cargo ship that works for them, get the prototype on board and start discussing terms with the captain of the ship. After the captain offers a lesser reward than what was initially promised in the quest note, the party is grumpy about it. But Jade manages to secure a nice captain’s hat and Wing gets to pull on the big fog horn of the ship, so it all shakes out alright. 
Now the invention is back with its legal owners, and Voluer is free to make a new version of his invention that is legally distinct. And the group has to go find these firebreathing moles at some point to rescue/eat them possibly. 
Memorable Quotes:
May I see a copy of your employment contract? - Legal expert Jade
Swindle! -Wing
Category:Episodes