TEXT: 1
  Secrets of Fire 3
  The Tower of
  Babble
  Product Tie-In: Fireborn Gamemaster’s Guide
  Authors: Roberta Olson and Rob Vaughn
  A bright and shining tower has arisen in London, and
  the players are drawn to it like a moth to the fire. What
  secrets does this bastion of wealth and technology hold?
  They say that those who built it dabble in the occult . . .
  but do they use it, or does it use them?
  The Tower of Babble is an introductory scion adven-
  ture for the Fireborn roleplaying game. This adventure
  premiered at Gen Con Indy 2005.
  
  ADVENTURE
  BACKGROUND
  Jared Apollo and Xavier Lyon are publicly known as
  two of the United Kingdom’s most successful entrepre-
  neurs. Their company, Apollo & Lyon International,
  handle advertising, merchandising, and representation
  for several of Europe’s hottest commodities and celebri-
  ties. They are young, ambitious, and eminently mar-
  ketable, and  their meteoric rise to fame and wealth have
  placed them at the tops of who’s who lists on both sides
  of the Big Pond as well as in Southeast Asia.
  Five years ago, Apollo & Lyon International
  launched its most ambitious subsidiary:  Babble On
  Entertainment. Through Babble On, Jared and Xavier
  produce television shows and movies, coordinate adver-
  tising campaigns, and orchestrate transcontinental tours
  of the world’s most popular and successful entertainers.
  Everything is controlled from gleaming Apollo & Lyon
  International tower. It has been dubbed the “Tower of
  Babble” by the tabloid press.
  This adventure takes place in the Tower of Babble.
  Jared and Xavier have opened the tower to a VIP ball to
  showcase some of their new entertainment acts, as well
  as to create a media event to reveal what they call “the
  newest thing in entertainment.” The players may work
  for Babble On, may be one of their clients, or might be
  a member of the media doing a story on them. Each has
  some relation to the company that fits their character
  concepts, and a reason for them to be in the tower
  (whether legally or not). Each character arrives at the
  Tower alone—they have not yet met the other PCs, their
  long-awaited broodmates, in this lifetime.
  Preparation: Before the adventure, have each play-
  er write down a memory of some dramatic event that
  happened to their character. It should be something that
  no one else, or at least very few people, would know
  about.
  ADVENTURE
  SUMMARY
  Scene 1: Players enter the Tower of Babble On.
  Describe various strange aspects. Introduce Jared and
  Xavier (or reacquaint). Once all are inside, all will
  receive Memory Notes giving them a connection/mem-
  ory with at least one of the other PCs.
  Scene 2: Jared and Xavier give speech on the new
  media and the carrying of a dramatic message: everyone
  knows that magic exists. What they have discovered is
  how to use it in their communications equipment. It’s all
  in the technology, of course, something that is unprece-
  dented. In order to see how it works and how they do it,
  please come on this tour. You are separated into groups
  based on a number found on the individual invitations.
  Scene 3: The PCs are separated into groups with
  each other, (a few may have a choice whether or not to
  try and join a different group) and end up in an elevator
  taking them into the basement. They’re accompanied by
  a female guide, Carrie, who works in the Marketing
  department and has only a rudimentary knowledge of
  how everything really works (but, it is possible that she
  “has it in her notes somewhere”). She is a perfect GM
  tool for keeping the players moving. The elevator opens
  up to a strange artifact that immediately gives the play-
  ers a weird sort of vision. As they awake, the lights have
  gone out and everything is dark and creepy.
  Scene 4: The electricity is out, so the PCs must either
  break open the elevator and crawl up the shaft or manip-
  ulate the electric lock on the door at the other end of the
  lab to take the stairwell up. Whichever route they use to
  escape the lab, Carrie leads them toward the closest exit,
  the underground car park, as per the “emergency evacu-
  ation drill.” Going through the darkened corridors, the
  party is attacked by strange, zombie-like security guards
  with clubs. 
  Scene 5 (Quick End): If time is short, the PCs will
  be chased through the car park where they will see
  something large and scary at the exit that used to be the
  toll booth watchman . . . but is now big and scary and
  tentacled. They need to steal a car and bust out through
  the parking garage door.
  Scene 5 (Longer End): If time allows, the PCs will
  run into Xavier who, surprise surprise, is himself a scion.
  Xavier will engage them in combat. Depending on time
  and player enthusiasm, the PCs can fight Xavier until: 1)
  he takes enough damage and flees/jumps away in a
  bound/teleports out of there or 2) if they are having suc-
  cess, PCs can take him down—but don’t allow him to be
  caught; he will reveal to them no useful information.
  SCENE 1
  Read the following aloud.
  As you approach the vaunted “Tower of Babble
  On,” as the media has named one of London’s more
  recent constructions, you can feel a sense of energy
  and purpose about the place. Its architecture borrows
  from many sources, both classic and modern, creating
  a synergy of old and new rarely seen in contemporary
  office buildings and skyscrapers. Several others
  appear to be heading toward the tower tonight; Jared
  and Xavier, the moguls of Babble On,  have invited a
  strange mix of folks to their debut, whatever it is. You
  have your suspicions as to the not-quite-natural nature
  of their latest project. Both men, in addition to being
  successful businessmen, are known dabblers in the
  new wave of occult fervor that’s sweeping London.
  Who could blame them? Only the most superstitious
  (an ironic situation, it’s true) refuse to be believe that
  something, whether it should be called magic or psy-
  chic energy or the coming of God, is going on.
  THE TOWER OF BABBLE
  2
  
  Whatever your reasons for accepting this invitation
  (or forging your own), it seems you are not alone in
  your interest.
  Players walk through the guarded gates, guarded
  doors, past dogs, etc. It’s a pretty well buttoned-up
  place. 
  NPC:Mr. Butterkiss
  The main guard is a very large, bald man with a most
  impressive handle-bar mustache. His jacket says, “Mr.
  Butterkiss” but he looks like someone who may have
  been teased about it once . . . and ONLY once. 
  Characters with forged invitations need to make an
  Air (Interaction) or Air (Trickery) check to get past him.
  Others may make Air (Knowledge: Street) checks to see
  if they know him from his bouncing days in South End.
  Ultimately, let the players enter. Once inside the
  grand foyer, they are amongst an impressive crowed of
  reporters, socialites, and celebrities. Champaign and fin-
  ger food are ushered in on trays by Adonis-like waiters,
  clad in waistcoats with tails. If the PCs have not yet
  been united as a brood, you may use the memories the
  players wrote earlier. Each time a PC is seen or met by
  any others, give those who meet him that PCs’ memory.
  Tell the PCs experiencing the memory that, when they
  meet the character’s eyes, the image flashes into their
  consciousness, leaving them slightly daze. The memo-
  ries connect each PC with at least one other in some
  enigmatic way. Give them a chance to react/interact if
  they wish. Everyone is asked to come into the press
  room. Jared and Xavier step up to podium.
  SCENE 2
  As everyone gathers, the members of the press
  muscling to the front of the crowd with well-honed
  practice, Jared and Xavier step up to the podium.
  Jared is a tall man with dirty blond hair, a hawkish
  nose, and chestnut brown eyes. He wears a plain black
  tie with a well-cut suit, and looks fairly serious and
  stern. Xavier, by contrast, seems delighted and full of
  energy. He is of average height, with brown hair with
  beard and moustache (streaks of gray), light blue eyes.
  He has a ready smile, as he says: 
  “My friends, associates, and ladies and gentlemen
  of the press. For the past decade or so, we’ve all seen
  London change around us. The streets have become
  less safe from thugs and strange animals, we’ve had to
  question our religious faith as we’ve seen things that,
  frankly, are beyond belief . . . of course, on the other
  hand, we’ve had just endless material for new sitcoms.
  Who’d have thought that having a “wacky warlock
  next door” would be such a good ratings convention?”
  There is polite laughter from the crowd, as they
  catch his reference to one of the currently running hit
  shows. 
  Jared then steps in front of the microphone, taking
  over the speech.
  “While the rest of the entertainment industry has
  been squirming about trying to use these strange
  events as fodder, we at Babble On have been looking to
  the heart of the matter. We have discovered how to use
  these new energies, which some insist on calling
  ‘magic,’ <gives a sneer> in our broadcasting tech-
  niques. This, my friends, is the cutting edge of enter-
  tainment technology.
  With that, he sweeps his hand to the large video
  screen behind him, which to this point has simply been
  playing an image of the two men giving the speech. As
  his hand moves in real life, however, the hand on the
  TV screen changes. It grows in length and bulk, claws
  extending where once a hand was. The rest of his body
  changes as well, hunching, crouching down to all
  fours. Large, bat-like wings erupt from the expensive
  Italian suit. The crowd reacts with what varies between
  the “oohs” and “ahhs” of being impressed and the
  staid silence of those who are over-exposed to CGI
  effects. Their confident calm decomposes rapidly into
  shock, however, when they see what you do: it’s not
  just the screen that has changed.
  Looming over the crowd, the serpentine form gives
  what passes for a smile, pulling back leathery lips to
  reveal razor-sharp teeth. 
  Allow the players to respond, but cut them off before
  they do anything violent. The various attendees begin to
  shuffle out of their seats in what looks like the prelude
  to a stampede, when the soothing voice of Xavier inter-
  rupts them. 
  “Please, my associates, my friends, do not be afraid.
  This is merely a demonstration. The television does not
  reflect reality, as is so often assumed. Rather, the tele-
  vision creates reality.”
  With a nonchalant flick of his hand, the executive
  points a remote control at the screen and turns it off.
  The screen goes dark, and it seems the entire room fol-
  lows suit for a moment before everyone takes a few
  moments to blink, and everything is as it was. 
  Jared is human once more . . . though there’s some-
  thing about his sneer that remains disconcertingly
  inhuman, and it seems to be reserved specifically for
  you.
  The now normal-looking Jared addresses the
  crowd:
  “As you can see, altering reality for our viewers is a
  dramatic step forward in our industry. All of the sci-fi
  claims of a virtual reality future have failed to arrive,
  but we have brought it from a new and unique direc-
  tion. The limitation, of course, is that the technology is
  still quite new. The cameras that created this effect are
  linked to quite powerful, yet quite sensitive, mystical
  objects in our secure vault below. Just as they manip-
  ulate reality via the screen that you saw, viewers of
  those objects can manipulate their reality. 
  THE TOWER OF BABBLE
  3
  
  At this time, we’d like to give you a chance to exam-
  ine this object. Their fragile natures, however, require
  that only a handful of you may view them at one time.
  On your invitation you will find reference to a Group
  Number. Please, find the appropriate Babble On
  employee guide for your group number. After you’ve
  viewed the objects, we’ll have a question-and-answer
  session back here.
  SCENE 3
  All the PCs’ invitations, including any forged or
  stolen ones, are for Group Number 6. Their guide steps
  forward, an attractive young woman in a trim business
  suit who announces herself as Carrie, Marketing
  Services for Babble On. She looks quite eager and
  enthusiastically blah-blahs about some technological
  advances she only has a basic understanding of, and
  how it applies to the future of the entertainment indus-
  try. She loves working with the “seeds,” as she call
  them. All she knows about the “seeds” are that they
  seem to have relations to ancient Sumerian culture, that
  they were found in the Middle East, and that they
  respond to thoughts in an interesting fashion, creating
  illusions of the viewers’ thoughts. They can even pro-
  duce those illusions through radio waves and television
  signals, if the proper equipment is attached to them.
  Carrie leads them into the elevator that takes them sev-
  eral floors underground. Read the following aloud.
  As the elevator opens, you are ushered through sev-
  eral rooms into a lab that has obviously been “sani-
  tized” for viewers. Empty desks and bays surround a
  curtained-off section of the room, wires and lighting
  leading into the area. Carrie leads you forward. The
  rest of the lab is ominously quiet, but you forget that as
  soon as you see the “seed.” It is a large, brownish gray
  ovoid, about the size of an adult bear, resting securely
  among many padded supports. Inscribed on the side of
  the object are many strange glyphs and symbols that at
  first seem to squirm and move about of their own voli-
  tion.
  Characters may make Air (Knowledge: Mythology;
  Occult; History; Ancient Cultures) TH 3 tests for info on
  the seed. Success gives them enigmatic answers:
  —You seem to recall a myth from the ancient Middle
  East about such things.
  —The idea of it resonates in you vaguely.
  —The glyphs and symbols look familiar, like others
  you’ve seen, but you can’t quite read them.
  Let the players respond. Regardless of their actions,
  read the following:
  As you watch, a blinding light seers outward from
  the markings, filling your vision. For a moment, you
  are dazzled and confused. The dirt around you is
  brown and gray, streaked with lines of mud and small
  piles of animal corpses. A rank wind howls across a
  barren plain covered in rough grass. You can’t seem to
  remember what distracted you from your mission . . . a
  vague memory of a building, a woman in strange
  clothing . . .  she was pink, fleshy, and weak . . . but
  then, the distracting memory rabbits away. There are
  more important things at hand. The egg, covered in
  runes and sigils, rests on its pedestal before you. Its
  magic and bindings are so strong that you cannot
  remove it instantly . . . it will require a ritual lasting
  several hours to claim it and take it back to your mis-
  tress.  
  You look about at your brood, and in an instant are
  aware that they, too, were momentarily distracted. As
  one, your reptilian heads turn from the circle in which
  you stood, facing one another, to the low mound of dirt
  before you. This is the entrance to a hell, the depth of
  which there is no plumbing, and you know that its
  minions will come forth to protect the egg.
  You flap your huge wings in anticipation, tails lash-
  ing, breath smoldering . . . and then you hear the
  screams. Boiling forth from that pit before you, the
  screams of beasts that are less than men. You are ready
  to do battle. And then the egg seems to shatter before
  you, bathing you in searing light and burning into
  your mind and body.
  And then you are back in the basement lab, staring
  at the seed and at each other. Carrie looks pleased,
  “Such a wonderful illusion . . . I just love bunnies!” 
  Let the players react and discuss their vision. Carrie
  will let them know that a “shared vision” is unheard of,
  and that usually the most dominant mind controls what
  the seed does. Even stranger, not only did she experi-
  ence a serene moment in a TeleTubbie-like environ-
  ment, she shared in nothing of the players’ “illusion.”
  None of the players had even an inkling of dragons or
  strange beast-men when they looked at the seed, nor did
  any of them feel like they were “in control during the
  vision.” 
  Do not let the discussion go too far before telling
  them that the lights begin to flicker, then go out. Carrie
  is visibly disturbed and confused by the lights being out,
  and recommends that they get back to the press room.
  Unfortunately, the power is out. The emergency
  lights DO NOT come on. The “seed” gives off an eerie,
  green, foxfire-type light. There are only two ways to get
  out of the lab: the stairwell or the elevator.
  The emergency exit stairwell has an electronic lock.
  PCs can pick the electronic lock with an Air (Tech:
  Electronics or Tech: Mechanics) 4 test, and go through
  the door.
  The elevator door, meanwhile, is jammed. PCs can
  pry open the door with a successful Fire (Athletics) 4
  test, open and climb up the trap door at the top of the
  elevator with another successful Fire (Athletics) 2 test,
  THE TOWER OF BABBLE
  4
  
  and open the elevator door to the next floor up with a
  third successful Fire (Athletics) 4 test.
  Whichever avenue the players use, it will lead them
  to a network of corridors in the third-level sub-base-
  ment, where, Carrie tells them, there is an exit to the
  lowest car park level. When there’s a power outage,
  that’s the evacuation route they’ve been trained to take.
  They won’t get there easily however. . . 
  SCENE 4
  Read the following aloud.
  As you step cautiously through the darkened halls,
  you can’t help but feel like something is wrong. A
  building this size should have a backup generator, and
  someone should have come down to get you by now.
  Then your prayers are answered by the tapping of feet.
  You’ve come to a 4-way intersection, and from the
  hallway directly in front of you come two men, securi-
  ty guards by the looks of their uniforms. Carrie starts
  forward to talk to them and ask them what’s going on,
  when she suddenly stops. You see it too . . . their eyes.
  In the dark, it’s almost like their eyes are . . . glowing.
  As they come closer, their nightsticks in hand, you
  hear tapping from behind you as well. Four more
  guards, equally attired and armed, come out of adja-
  cent doorways. You’re surrounded . . . and as the
  guards silently raise their sticks, you realize that their
  intentions are definitely NOT friendly.
  The security guards are possessed by an unnatural
  force, and attack mindlessly. They only get one action
  and one stance change each round (which will always be
  to attack, and will always be a stance change to Fire
  using the Melee skill), so you don’t need to keep track
  of their dice pools.
  Possessed Guards (1 for each player)
  Race natural being; AP 0. Aspects Fire 5, Water 3,
  Air 1, Earth 3. Init 4; Health 3m; <3 / 3+ / 6+ / 9+ /
  12+ / 15+ / 18+ / 21+. Size/Reach 0 / 2 ft.; Armor 0;
  Karma 3; Stride 20 ft.
  Weapons: Fist (2) ~ 3/L; Kick (2) ~ 4/M; Club 5/M;
  Sequences: Flying Fists.
  Skills: Athletics 3, Melee 4, Quickness 3, Stamina 2.
  Knowledge: Street 4, Senses 2, Stealth 4, Trickery 3,
  Will 2. Edges: Brawler, Strong, Survivor.
  Traits: Mindless, tainted.
  SCENE 5
  After the players defeat the guards (whom, it
  becomes obvious during the fight, are mindless, zom-
  bie-like creatures), Carrie leads them in a panic to the
  car park. Depending on the time left, one of two endings
  may happen:
  Quick End: The players hear pounding on the door
  behind them, and see large, ominous shadows approach-
  ing. The only way out is past a toll booth . . . but now
  there’s a large, scary, tentacled creature in the way! It
  undulates and writhes and looks far too terrifying for the
  players to even think about actually hurting. The pound-
  ing gets louder, the bad guys are closing in . . . and the
  players see an unlocked car but no keys. Someone needs
  to make an Air (Tech: Mechanics) 6 check to hotwire
  that car. The PCs can barrel through that scary creature,
  or a locked and closed exit, and escape into the night.  
  Longer End: Intercepting them in the car park is a
  very angry looking Xavier. Read the following aloud.
  Xavier stands in your way, seemingly taller then he
  was before, his once blue eyes now full of golden fury.
  He has sword in his right hand and a grim on his face.
  “Well done. You passed the test. No mere wormy
  humans, you . . . from the way you responded to the
  seed, I know . . . you are scions. You bear the fire with-
  in you, as do I.” For a moment, his grim look relaxes,
  and he appears almost paternal. “That is why it grieves
  me, my misguided scions, to have to kill you.” With
  that, he raises his sword and charges.
  He will begin his attack against the biggest, most
  dangerous-looking PC. Xavier is motivated by an old
  hatred, and attacks to kill. Use the attached character
  sheet for Xavier, using 2 stance changes, appropriate
  fighting style sequences, and karma spending as normal.
  Ultimately, Xavier will use his Teleport legacy to get
  away. He will likely take some damage and disappear
  before actually dying; just don’t allow him to be cap-
  tured and questioned. It should be a clean break with his
  death or disappearance, leaving the PCs with only more
  questions.
  XAVIER, TAINTED SCION
  Race Supernatural being; Sire Jormungand; APL 3;
  Init 8; Aspects Fire 4(1), Water 3, Air 5(1), Earth 4(1);
  Health 6m; <3 / 3+ / 6+ / 9+ / 12+ / 15+ / 18+ / 21+;
  Size/Reach 0 / 2 ft.; Armor 3; Taint 25; Stride 20 ft.
  (Moderate)
  Weapons: Claw (2) ~ 5/L, Kick (2) 5/M, bastard
  sword ~ 17/H; Sequences Eastern Small Style, Luring
  Blade, Kingsguard.
  Skills: Athletics 5,  Interaction 5, Melee 5,
  Quickness 5, Senses 5, Stamina 5, Stealth 5, Trickery 5,
  Will 5; Edges: Dervish 5, Forceful Will 4, Weapon
  Specialist 3 (+3 damage); Powers: Child of Fire 4,
  Crushing Will 5, Instinct 3; Legacy: Fire Wyrm
  Possessions: Bastard sword, leather trenchcoat, and
  torc of the coward (enchanted item: when wearer suffers
  6 wound dice or more, he is teleported to a predeter-
  mined place of santuary).
  THE TOWER OF BABBLE
  5
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Fireborn/Fireborn Secrets of Fire 3 The Tower of Babble.pdf