Episode 1: Frankenpunk

## Events

In the dramatic first episode of Frankenpunk a group of 5 friends investigate a creepy mansion. They race to find their mutual friend, Victor Frankenstein, before he can commit a terrible deed.

GM:

* Fae

Player Characters:

* Faelynn
* Bonnie
* Harvey
* Margo
* Robyn

NPCs:

* Victor Frankenstein
* Elizabeth Frankenstein

Runtime: 2:24:56

## Plot Synopsis:

One of the headmasters asks 5 students -Faelynn, Bonnie, Harvey, Margo, and Robin- to go check up on Victor Frankenstein. They have heard rumors that he’s done something that spits in the face of god. The headmaster does not believe them, stating that Victor is a tender soul if a little weird. Regardless, they point the party in the direction of Victor’s family home in Geneva.

The group arrives at the mansion. They knock on the door but no one answers. Finding candles burning inside, they decide to investigate further. They enter a combination ballroom / music room. Inside is a large mechanical statute of a man and woman dancing, a piano, and footprints of a mysterious liquid. Harvey suggests they leave to which Faelynn gives him a death glare. Despite hearing the noise of a door shutting, they see none. Further investigation reveals the liquid to be a mix of oil and blood. Harvey plays a few notes on the piano, causing the statues to start to move. Roll for initiative!

The statutes prove to be automatons. Neglected, they’re rusty, and many of their limbs are sharp. Robyn inspires Harvey. Bonnie buffs Faelynn’s guns. Faelynn shoots the female automaton. Harvey casts spiritual weapon in the form of a sword and cuts the female automaton down. Her ticking heart stops. Margo throws a dagger at the male automaton. She steps towards him. With his dance partner gone, he grabs the nearest person, which happens to be Margo. His claw-like hands deal damage as he forces her to dance. Bonnie notices the ticking of his heart is slowing down. She aims her eldritch canon at his heart and shoots him, killing the automaton.

Faelynn follows the footprints to a section of the wall. Robyn keeps trying to hide behind Harvey, so Faelynn chastises her into helping find a way to open the door. She notices the footprints do not lead directly to the where the door would be, but veer off to the side of the room. They find a wall of portraits. With help from Harvey, she discovers a switch underneath a portrait of Victor and his finance Elizabeth. Flipping it, they hear a clicking noise as the door opens behind them. Inside, they find a staircase that they climb to the next floor.

This floor is lit by electricity. They enter a study and find blueprints created by Victor for protechics, guns, and something he refers to as “the perfect mechanism”. From what they can deduce, it combines prosthetics and arcane magic for medical uses. Bonnie and Harvey are weirded out by the fact that this involves working with dead things. Margo takes offense to that as she works with dead things. Margo discovers more blueprints, these ones for mechanical lungs and a semi mechanical heart. Written in the margins are notes on combining these items with arcana. She knows that to be a dangerous power source. While this worries Bonnie, Faelynn insists they should try to help Victor, to which Bonnie begrudgingly agrees.

They notice two doors leading out from this room. Bonnie goes out one and into Victor’s bedroom. The only feature of note is a journal. Faelynn insists on reading it. The most recent entry was made a month ago. It’s very vague but ends with this; “Farewell sweet lady. Dearest Elizabeth, my beloved and only friend. May heaven and it’s bounty preserve you. May this be the last misfortune you will ever suffer.” 1

Bonnie and Margo remark how weird that is. In a sudden realization, Bonnie remarks that Elizabeth may have been the “dead thing” he was referencing in all his blueprints. Margo remarks that if Elizabeth is dead that’s good news for Faelynn as Victor is now available. Faelynn gets embarrassed that Bonnie revealed her crush.

Robyn and Harvey go out the other door and flirt as they poke around. They find a woman’s bedroom. But it’s strange. There is dust everywhere and there are dried, dead flowers on the shelf. The room smells of herbs as though to cover up the smell of sickness. The vanity and dresser are notably missing. They find a letter. Harvey reads it. (After a moment of respectful GMing where Fae did not make a dsylexic player read out loud, we learn the letters contents). It is addressed to Victor from Elizabeth. She releases him from their engagement as she is dying. She wishes nothing but happiness and love for him. In the letter she specifies he does not do anything rash “as you are prone to do when losing love.”  They go back to the others to show them the letter.

The party reconvenes. With this information, things start to fall into place. Victor left school a month ago. In the two weeks before that he was not himself, as he was very irritable and cried in public. Which makes sense if he was mourning Elizabeth. Fearful he has done something drastic in his grief, Faelynn insists they find Victor ASAP. Bonnie recalls that to power something with arcane magic one would need a natural magic resource. They begin to search and Margo notices the trail of footprints continues up here. It leads to a newly installed metal door. There is a keypad lock. Faelynn deduces the passcode to be “Elizabeth”. The door swings open to reveal another staircase. It feels lifeless and affects the party members causing them all to roll a wisdom saving throw. Bonnie is the only one who fails, and is frightened.  Robyn attempts to help but it does not work. Faelynn takes her hand and manages to coax her up the stairs. Robyn and Harvey flirt unabashedly and hold each other, much to Faelynn’s disgust.

At the top of the stairs, they find a stone tower repaired with metal sheets. Part of the roof is opened to allow the elements in. There is mechanical equipment and an empty, bloody, surgery table. With her back to the party, a young woman sits on a nearby bed. She is perfectly still. There is a faint ticking in the room with an unclear source. In front of the party, the tower opens onto a small balcony. None other than Victor Frankenstein himself is upon it. The trail of footprints leads directly to him.

The group takes a quick break.

Victor is immediately on the offensive. Roll for Initiative! His left arm has been replaced with a metal one. It is what has been leaking blood and oil. He grabs a sabre and yells at the party “Get OUT!”. Robyn attempts to cast mage hand on his arm but Victor dodges. Harvey tries to talk him down. Victor moves to place himself between the party and Elizabeth. To the shock of the party, Elizabeth stands up. She walks towards the vanity. Margo holds her action. Faelynn steps in front of Harvey. She raises her hands and emphasizes that they are all friends here and just want to talk. Victor has an outburst insisting Elizabeth knew he could fix her and she wouldn’t let him. “But I did, I did fix her!”. Faelynn appeals to his heart, to what he truly thinks Elizabeth would have wanted. Elizabeth, meanwhile, has made it to the vanity. She looks at herself in the mirror and lets out a heart shattering scream.

Her eyes cry pink tears of blood and water. Victor runs to her and desperately comforts her. Everyone has a collective flashback to Elizabeth in her prime. To the love the two shared. A love of pure affection, balance, and peace. In the present, they have a moment of that peace. But that peace is immediately shattered by their horrific present circumstances. Victor comes to terms with how horrible this thing is that he’s done. He cries, and asks for help lifting her onto the bed. Faelynn helps him. He holds Elizabeth's real hand with his. Elizabeth is able to speak in a slightly mechanical voice. She says she wanted him to live so he could tell her all about it. Harvey kneels next to Victor and puts a hand on his shoulder. Elizabeth’s clockwork heart slows to a stop.  She passes away once again. Faelynn and Harvey comfort Victor. Everyone becomes aware that there is another ticking in the room. Victor also has a mechanical heart. Faelynn desperately tries to get Bonnie and Harvey to fix it, to fix him. Victor apologies to her and he passes away.

Margo and Robyn clean up the house. While there, Robyn steals a bunch of blueprints to sell on the black market. Margo takes a few that she can hide. Faelynn takes Victor’s ring to remember him by. She and Harvey talk. He is sorry he could not do anything to help. Bonnie curses out Victor as she exits. The group leaves the corpse of the house and returns to their lives.