A discount dealer, Wheatstraw, took the old, weak, and sick.
Aleister Aldous, a shriveled old man, explains that he already sold most of “the shipment,” but he still has eight remaining from the lot. He’ll let characters talk to them for $2. The slaves recognize Douglass from a description and know that he was separated from the group as soon as they arrived in Galveston, but none of them know what became of him. Aldous himself knows that Douglass was sold to Patty Cannon because he was at the sale, but he won’t mention this knowledge until after the characters pay to question slaves. Then he “suddenly remembers something useful,” which he’ll share for another $3.
Wheatstraw is a cruel, brusque man who sells slaves that are likely to die soon from disease, injury, or old age, mainly for jobs with a high probability of killing them even quicker. Neither he nor any of his slaves from Storm Racer know anything about Douglass.
Other Leads: PCs asking around at random can attempt to question others using appropriate skills and/or abilities. Each attempt takes one hour. On a success, a PC learns from a random NPC that a slave matching Douglass’ description was bought by Patty Cannon, but she had him killed.
Scores of Soldiers: The Army of the Trans-Mississippi has planned for any trouble in Galveston and they are ready to put down any slave rising immediately. Characters that start trouble immediately face a tough patrol (see Law and Order, above). Additional patrols and riot squads arrive every round or two until the troublemakers are overwhelmed—there are literally hundreds of Trans-Mississippi soldiers in and around the market.
The Slave Mortuary
This low, grim building stands very near the swamp. Slaves die at an alarming rate and their bodies are brought to this mortuary to be carted far out into the swamp, where they’ll be devoured by alligators, giant leeches, ghuls, and worse things.
Most of the workers at the mortuary are slaves, but the person in charge is a tall, world-weary woman named Lucretia Mott. Lucretia Mott and certain of her attendants are secretly members of the Abandoned—they aid escaping slaves by guiding them through the swamp to the secret Grotto of the Abandoned.
Lucretia Mott knows nothing about Douglass. If characters come here looking for the body after asking around the Slave Market or speaking to Patty Cannon (Act II), Lucretia Mott confirms positively that she’s never seen a corpse fitting Douglass’ description, let alone one in the last two weeks. She also points out that mock executions of disobedient slaves aren’t unknown.
If told that Douglass is headed to the catacombs of Rebel Red, Lucretia Mott urges the characters to rescue him as quickly as possible.
“The Pearl Coffin” or “Indigo Rose”: If characters come to the mortuary and ask for the Pearl Coffin, Lucretia Mott assumes they’re informants to the Army of the Trans-Mississippi; that code word was compromised years ago. She remains polite but tells them nothing. She’s never heard of Newton Knight.
If they ask for Indigo Rose instead, she knows they’re friends of Milton Davis who can be trusted. If characters get into trouble—for example, if they rescue Douglass and have all the slave-hunters in the city on their trail—she can smuggle them out of Galveston by hiding them in a cartload of corpses, then guiding them safely through the swamp. Milton Davis’s Street Sparrows know concealed routes to the mortuary from everywhere in the city except the Bishop’s Palace.
Act II: On Douglass’ Trail
During their initial investigations, the characters learn from the pilot Gomer or the slave trader Aleister Aldous that Frederick Douglass was sold to a high-end dealer in “exotics” named Patty Cannon. The PCs may also believe that Douglass is dead—but, if they make an effort to verify the tale at the Slave Mortuary, Lucretia Mott informs them that she hasn’t seen his corpse, which ought to point the party back to Patty Cannon.
Finding Patty Cannon
Patty Cannon is a well-known figure in Galveston. She is a wealthy woman who runs her business from her home, a palatial courtyard-house a few blocks from the slave market. Her agents frequent the slave market, looking for quality wares. Anyone at the Slave Market can direct the PCs to Patty Cannon’s home (and so can Milton Davis or most residents of Galveston).
What’s Next?
Which scene you present next depends on whether the PCs interacted with Gomer. If the characters threatened Gomer or used force against him and did not prevent him from leaving the Whip & Noose afterward, Patty Cannon sends a contingent of guards guided by Gomer to intercept the party. Run Patty Cannon’s Bruisers next. Otherwise, go to Patty Cannon’s Courtyard next.
If the PCs defeat Patty Cannon’s Bruisers and continue on their way, they may actually run through both encounters.
Patty Cannon’s Bruisers
If Gomer alerts Patty Cannon that the characters are coming, she arranges a special ambush for them. She has no reason to expect they’ll be any politer to her than they were to Gomer, so she sends her guards to intercept the characters before they reach her home, with Gomer in tow to identify the targets.
Spotting Gomer
Make opposed Spot checks for each PC to determine whether they spot Gomer before he points them out to Patty Cannon’s minions. If they fail, they are surprised when the attack comes. Everyone else sees the “Bruisers” maneuvering into position to attack from all sides.
Gomer hides at the edge of the fight and takes one or two shots with his Henry rifle if he can do so safely, then disappears into the crowd.
PCs will face:
1 soldier
4 thugs
Gomer
If characters cause collateral damage, a standard patrol shows up moments after the fight to investigate the ruckus. If Gomer is still alive, he steps from the crowd and vouches that the PCs only defended themselves against a surprise attack, which satisfies the patrol. Gomer then tries to extort $10.00 from the characters in exchange for information about why they were attacked (“We must have been overheard at the Whip & Noose, and Patty Cannon sent these killers after you”).
Patty Cannon’s slaves are wearing or carrying nothing that connects them to her. If defeated and questioned, they admit that their mistress sent them to deal with the PCs after Gomer came and warned Patty Cannon that the PCs were on their way.
Patty Cannon’s Courtyard
The house of the slave-dealer Patty Cannon stands in one of Galveston’s better neighborhoods. High walls and a sturdy gate protect an inner courtyard with fine furnishings and colorful canopies. Several house-slaves cater to an elegant woman who reclines on a divan, dictating to a scribe. Several guards keep watch nearby.
Patty Cannon’s trade is built on slaves with rare skills or with special qualities that lift them above the run-of-the-mill. She seldom sells in the common market; her “goods” fetch higher prices when offered directly to buyers with specific needs. These special qualities can be anything: dimples, jet-black skin, region of origin, or rare talents such as an angelic singing voice, fluency in exotic languages, or knowledge of vodou. She is protected at all times by an automaton samurai bodyguard that looks quite human, but is powered by steam, with a top-hat that is actually a “chimney”) and 4 human guards, who will gladly die to ensure that her will is carried out.
Patty Cannon is forthcoming to questions about Douglass, or at least appears so. She opens the conversation with friendly conversation such as “What brings you to Galveston?” or “How was your journey?” and offers the party wine (but see Treachery, below).
“I was invited by the slavers to bid on this “prince” in a private auction, where I bought him for sixty-four hundred dollars. That’s eight times the price of a healthy laborer ten years younger, but I was sure I could double the investment by training that big, smart buck as a Chinese lady’s consort or as a German noble’s bodyguard. They don’t care about dealing with smokes in that way.
“Unfortunately, some of these niggras are intractable. Such was the case with this one; he strangled his trainer. I had to have his throat cut as a d
emonstration to my other property of the price of defiance. It was a dreadful loss of cash and a waste of valuable flesh, but it’s better this way in the long run.
“Simply put, you’re too late. His body was dumped in the swamp, and I doubt any trace of it remains. There’s nothing more I can tell you of the creature.”
Douglass did kill one of Patty Cannon’s trainers, but she’s lying about having his throat cut. The execution was staged for the other slaves; Douglass was drugged so he would pass out as a trick knife was dragged across his throat, spouting fake blood. After his “corpse” was carted away, he was sold for #3500.00 to a man named John Crenshaw, who manages Mandingo-Fighters.
If PCs ask whether they detect any signs that Patty Cannon is lying, let them make skill checks. Those who succeed are certain she’s a skillful liar but can’t pin down any specific lie in her story. Those who succeed with more than one 6 suspect that Douglass is still alive.
The Truth
If characters are rude, arrogant, or accusatory toward Patty Cannon, she dismisses them without another thought. The slave who ushers them out of Patty Cannon’s presence whispers to one character, “seek John Crenshaw,” then slips away.
If characters are respectful toward Patty Cannon, then they’re greeted by one of her guards when they exit her house.
The guard spits tobacco at your feet then says, “Miss Patty told me to deliver this to y’all.” In his right hand, he extends a piece of parchment. Hastily written on it is this message:
“Although you are free niggras, the worst of your kind, you respect our ways, so we reciprocate. The man you seek may yet live (monetary losses must be minimized).
If so, John Crenshaw will know. You understand why I could not tell you this in the presence of my niggras.”
The note is unsigned.
Anyone in Galveston can give directions to the compound of John Crenshaw.
Treachery
If Patty Cannon was warned by Gomer, or if any characters appear valuable—display special abilities, have a unique look, etc.—Patty Cannon decides to add the PCs to her stock of slaves. During the conversation, she asks the characters if they would like wine. Two enslaved Black women step forward, one with a pitcher of wine and one with a tray of goblets. All the goblets are identical. Patty Cannon takes a goblet from the same tray (last if the characters don’t hesitate, or first if no one else is willing). The slave fills all the goblets from the same pitcher.
Neither the wine nor the goblet rims are poisoned, but the stems of all the goblets are lightly treated with a contact poison. Patty Cannon is wearing elegant, elbow-length gloves that match her gown, so she never touches the poison and is unaffected. Characters that pick up a goblet with bare hands must make successful Physique checks at -1d or fall unconscious; they wake up 1d hours later, or when they take damage (This is a good time for the GM to ask the players to each roll their dice pools, -1d, without telling them why, to keep players guessing about what’s happening). Any character that fails with any 1s in the result falls unconscious immediately after everyone has picked up the goblet and rolled their Physique checks. Everyone else who failed the check drops a round later.
When Patty Cannon is threatened or when the poison begins to take effect, Patty Cannon’s guards attack to subdue the PCs. If Patty Cannon is not attacked and nobody is affected by the poison, the guards do not attack (they are uncertain what to do, and let the moment pass).
1 automaton
4 guards
Patty Cannon, armed with two daggers
If characters lose this fight, they awaken stripped and chained together in a holding cell beneath Patty Cannon’s estate. How they get out is up to them and the GM. If characters win this fight, Patty Cannon gives them the information they seek and admits she staged Douglass’ “death.”
Patty Cannon keeps a locked wooden coffer nearby, since she conducts business from her courtyard. If the PCs get a chance to loot the place, they find $16000.00 in the coffer, along with 8 small diamonds worth $500.00 each.
There are no repercussions for killing Patty’s slaves or guards, but Patty Cannon is another matter. If she is killed, the characters become wanted criminals in Galveston. Anytime they move through Galveston openly—without one of Milton Davis’ Street Sparrows—they must all make a Stealth roll. If at least half the character succeed, they avoid contact with soldiers looking for them. If less than half succeeds, the PCs run into a patrol with orders to take them, alive or dead. Roll d6: on 1–4, it’s a standard patrol; on 5–6, it’s a tough patrol.
John Crenshaw
Mandingo Fighting is popular in Galveston. Fights to the death are NOT common; slaves cost too much money, and trained fighters, especially, are too valuable to throw away simply for entertainment. Most bouts are fought until one fighter can’t continue. Punches, kicks, elbows, knees, throws, chokes, joint-locks and headbutts are all allowed. Fighters win by knocking out their opponent or forcing their opponent to submit, which is indicated by the loser tapping the floor or the winner’s body three times.
A skilled fighting slave can survive many bouts and gain fame, if not fortune. Slaves who are deemed useless, not trainable, or rebellious can provide a few minutes of entertainment as they die or they learn the value of obedience while being beaten to pulp.
John Crenshaw specializes in keeping the fighting pits filled with fighters and victims. He runs a training facility on the east side of the city that houses eight slave gladiators and twenty more fighters-in-training.
Two overseers stand watch at his compound gate, and turn away strangers. To get an audience with Crenshaw, either one character must make an appropriate successful skill or ability check (one attempt only), or the guard at the gate must be paid 2d dollars (roll 2 dice and the total is the amount of the bribe). Once inside, characters are escorted to a spacious, comfortable room where Crenshaw is watching young warriors go through their training routine.
Crenshaw is a man of contrasts. He buys and sells humans who he regularly consigns to painful, bloody battles for his own profit, and he harbors no illusions or self-deception about the evil that he perpetuates. But he’s also an educated, philosophical man with some empathy for the PCs’ mission. He admits readily to buying Douglass from Patty Cannon.
“A slave who overpowers and kills a trainer with his bare hands has the makings of a great Mandingo pit fighter. This Douglass of yours was difficult and contentious, but I was certain I’d made a smart purchase.
“But five days ago, I described my new trainee to another owner, who suddenly became very interested. He dropped by to watch the man training, and afterward offered me an astounding sum for the slave. I might have earned more from wagers over the lifetime of this Douglass, but you never know. Even the best of us have off nights, and all it takes is one unlucky punch to end a fighter’s career. Yesterday, I took the money and they took the man.
“I know your next question: who was the buyer? Normally, I wouldn’t reveal that, but this man is a nasty competitor and, frankly, he… said things, as your man was being taken away. They seemed trivial in the moment, but they weigh on me. I suspect your Douglass is headed for the Rebel Red catacombs. If my gut is correct, his only hope is for you to get him out of Galveston immediately.
“The buyer was Kevin Kennedy. Whatever you might think of men like me, he’s worse. If you have any friends in this city, or favors to call in, now is the time. Once your friend descends into that pit, it would be better for everyone if he never emerges again. It will be too late for him in every imaginable sense of those words.”
If characters ask Crenshaw about the Rebel Red catacombs, he relates the following:
“Them Rebel Red boys specialize in providing slaves with unique qualifications. Sometimes, that means attributes not condoned by nature—attributes that can be achieved only through the cruelest types of psychic conditioning, or by cutting and rearranging the flesh, or by abhorrent dark magic—attributes that make a human into the perf
ect offering to some inhuman entity. Whatever darkness the mind can imagine, the Rebel Reds can tailor from once-human flesh.”
Crenshaw will continue talking to the characters, answer their questions about his business and about Galveston, and even give them a tour of his gladiator training facility if they’d like one, but he reminds them that time is running out for their friend. He can’t offer them any more aid; Kevin Kennedy is too powerful for a man like Crenshaw to cross openly.
ACT III: THE DREAD OF REBEL RED
From the time characters learn that Douglass is on his way to the Rebel Red catacombs, they have 24 hours to rescue him. After 24 hours, Douglass disappears into the catacombs and becomes so severely damaged mentally that nothing will return him to normalcy and sanity.
Rebel Red Catacombs
No one will talk to the PCs about the Rebel Red Catacombs. As soon as the subject is raised, people shake their heads, say, “I don’t know anything about that,” or “that’s none of my business,” and then either hurry away or slam the door in the characters’ faces. Only Milton Davis will discuss the place. He explains that many people in Galveston don’t even believe it exists; “you’ll wind up in Rebel Red” is something to threaten naughty children with. Most of those who do believe don’t know where it is. Davis suspects the rough location but has no idea how to get inside, and he’s happy not knowing. He urges the characters to forget about rescuing Douglass from the catacombs and concentrate on preventing him from getting that far.
Kevin Kennedy
Characters can get information about Kevin Kennedy in the slave market with a successful Contacts or Rapport check; anywhere else in town, the check is done at -1d. They can get the information automatically from Milton Davis or Lucretia Mott. No matter who they talk to, they get the clear impression that people don’t like talking about Kennedy. Even in complete privacy, people lower their voices and glance over their shoulders while speaking Kennedy’s name.
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