ZEITGEIST Obscurati in the NEWS!

[Crispy120286]

Okay. So my players did something that completely surprised me.

They just got the Arc of Reida and have Kasvarina and are roaming around for memories. The first place the decided to go was Seobriga where they met with old NPC's including Melissa Amerie. This is where they did what I didnt expect. They told her everything. well, almost everything. They gave her the scoop of a lifetime and told her all about this secret organization called the Obscurati and how they were the ones behind the Colossus in Flint and their expiriments into planar magic.

Any suggestions on how i should proceed with this? I dont expect the news to travel too fast while wonky teleportation is slowing things down.

 

[arkwright]

Mmm, my party did this from quite early on. Straight-up made and published a matching game of shuffling planes in and out, to try and get some popular support for certain configurations, and pre-emptively deny the Ob any popularity.

Firstly, try and find out from your players what results they expect from this. Are they expecting Risur to publicly back them, or do they expect the story to be dismissed as a conspiracy theory, or do they just want to see the sparks fly?

The RHC might sanction them for sharing classified intelligence, but, by this point, the RHC almost certainly needs the PCs more than the reverse. People will instantly want to know who are these Obscurati, and if the answer is 'they're strongly related to Danor', that'll cause some international tension.

Do they know about the lighthouses? Have they told the world about them?

There's plenty of things that could happen as a result; public discontent against Aodhan's rule, legions of Ob collaborators (knowing or unknowing) being identified or coming forward willingly. But, do keep in mind that you're already in late-Book 8, so there isn't necessarily that much time for big changes to happen.

 

[Andrew Moreton]

The Ob in Risur except for Stansfield and his agents are broken, the publicity won't hurt Standfield and he can use the ineveitable witch hunts to arrest anyone who could be a problem for his coup. In Danor its just more Risuri propaganda and it likely that the Ob can control the media enough that whatever is published around the world it warped and innacurate and just random conspiracy theory as far as most people are concerned so the Ob can finish their plans.
Risur is already behind the pc's but can't do much else without starting a war, an mobilising to invade Axis Island and Danor will take time, and turn other nations against them. Also based on my estimate of the navies available to both sides Risur will lose unless the pc's can turn the tide and the pc's are not available for battlefield service , unless they drop their pursuit of the truth.
The Ob will have learned scholars on the Ancients and magic dismiss the pc's revelations as weird fey mystic stuff from Risur which will at least cause enough confusion to get their plans to frution. Maybe even have some of their leaders explain their is an Ob a group of people working together to bring about a better world without the fey lording over humanity but Warlike and fey enslaved Risur has opposed them and the giant weapon in FLint was as you would expect in Risur a secret Risuri weapon aimed at destroying Danor,
The Ob almost certainly has more and better media influencers outside of Risur than the pc's and their cause in Risur is pretty much lost already. Could lead to more anti ob factions in Ber after the ritual goes ahead which could help the players a bit

Edit, Maybe have some of the lighthouses wrecked by anti ob conspiracy mobs, won't actually stop the ritual but when it goes wrong maybe the players may think they are to blame, maybe they are. Have the Voice of Rots agents take advantage of the players actions to sabotage the ritual then its all their fault!!!!