spoilers Children of Fear - Major Spoiler - Question that has been bugging me.

[TerryTroll]

Please don't read on if you don't intend to run Children of Fear and Horror on the Orient Express. Seriously major spoilers follow.

 

 

 

 

I've not finished reading it yet, but one question has been bugging me since the plot synopsis in the Introduction, that I've not found an answer to yet.

Why? Why does the cult get the players involved? Why not do it themselves? Why get the lama involved and then wait a 1000 odd years?

For the author or the people that have actually got to the end, are these questions answered later on?

I remember my disappointment as a player in Horror on the Orient Express, when we discovered that the world would have been safer if we had just stayed at home and not found all the pieces for the bad guys, Children of Fear seems like it will produce the same reaction from the players.

Edited November 19, 2020 by TerryTroll

[Lynne H]

Page 14: Knowing they did not have the strength or resources to openly take on Shambhala or reopen the way to Agartha at that point in time, the three generals instead decided to play the long game. And so, they set about stacking the odds in Agartha’s favor for the day when the Gates would swing open once again. Although their lives extended far beyond those of mortal men, the King of Fear’s generals knew they would not live long enough to see the way to Agartha reopened. Determined to ensure that their plan to defeat their hated rivals would bear fruit, they founded a cult of followers devoted to their cause: the Tokabhaya (the Children of Fear).

Using the skills and understanding gleaned from the minds of their victims, and through casting auguries, horoscopes, and divinations based on their stolen expertise, the Triumvirate determined the most auspicious moment to launch their daring plan... 

Page 15: The ritual created by the Tokabhaya (the Children of Fear) to break the Gates’ seal is based on a twisted version of ...... and requires the willing sacrifice of a pure spirit, one of serene power and influence. 

Page 17: The Tokabhaya: the cult of the Children of Fear, whose members are <cut to avoid overt spoilers> orchestrating them through means fair and foul to <cut to avoid overt spoilers>. They derive a grim satisfaction from perverting the <cut to avoid overt spoilers> in their vile plans.

Page 22: The visions are sent by the Tokabhaya to ... <cut to avoid overt spoilers>.

page 82: Tenzin Kalsang explains that, when he was a very young monk, he realized it would fall to him to shepherd those who would preserve the world from chaos and destruction toward their destiny.

Page 84: Tenzin Kalsang has been thoroughly ... <cut to avoid overt spoilers>.

Page 141: Naturally, the Tokabhaya would prefer <cut to avoid overt spoilers>, particularly as there’s a chance they will sully themselves spiritually in the process.

Part of the horror of the game is that the investigators are pawns in a scheme. The investigators don't have to be the ones to do it - the Triumvirate will find others if they don't - but it may be a less interesting game if they weren't the ones chosen (although there are ways to bring them in to fix the mess created by others if that works for a particular group). 

Edited November 20, 2020 by Mike M

[TerryTroll]

Thanks for your detailed response... (also for writing such a detailed and richly researched campaign)

So the three generals have done a lot of stuff ahead of the campaign that we don't necessarily see to get all their ducks in a row, which is why it's taken 1000+ years and only now are the conditions right. I see the lama is needed because it's someone not only willing but pure of spirit (I think that's the bit I missed on the first reading, reading PDFs just isn't the same can't wait for a print version), so the cultist can't act directly themselves, as they aren't pure. 

Still not sure why they can't get just the lama to where he needs to be, just because of "grim satisfaction" seems a little bit risky to involve others if you don't need to.

Unless the Tokabhaya are now acting prophecies of their cult, to get the Investigators involved as because it is predicted by the diviniations of the original Triumvirate. Perhaps they predicted the lama would see through any cultists, and so they need the investigators as a buffer. 

Would the restrictions of a baeyul also mean the Tokabhaya might need to work through the investigators rather than act themselves? 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2020 by TerryTroll

[Mike M]

Hi,

I think you already answered your own questions. 

Hope you have a good time playing the campaign.