Reconnaissance of the Foundry

Summary

During Session 9 of the campaign, Cat conducted a reconnaissance mission from the roof of Yassandra's shed to gather intelligence on the Foundry before the party's planned infiltration. Using her discern realities move, Cat observed the facility's defenses and discovered three critical pieces of information: a smokeless chimney offering a potential entry point, a two-minute gap in guard coverage during shift changes around 2:00-2:30 AM, and a mysterious Storage Shed where Guards of New Smoke entered but did not exit. These findings provided the party with tactical advantages for planning their approach to the Foundry.

Details

Cat climbed onto the roof of Yassandra's shed to scout the Foundry, asking herself "What here is useful or valuable to me?" as part of her discern realities check. From her elevated vantage point, she observed the guard patrol patterns and timing. The GM described a shift change occurring at approximately 2:00 AM, noting "there is like as you're watching, there's like a good two minutes where there are no visible guards. New guards appear and start walking the same route."

Cat called down to the party, asking "hey, does anyone know what time it is?" The party confirmed it was around 2:00 AM, establishing the timing of the guard shift gap.

Continuing her observation, Cat asked "What here is not what it appears to be." This revealed the Storage Shed: "Near kind of set a little bit Further away from the foundry, you can see from up here there's like a blur out building that looks like maybe some sort of storage shed. But watch. While you've been watching, a number of guards have gone in and none have come back out."

Cat also identified that one of the Foundry's chimneys was smokeless, telling the party below: "Yeah, on the foundry, one of the chimneys isn't. There's no smoke coming out. So we can maybe sneak in that way."

After gathering this intelligence, Cat proposed tactical options to the party, calling down "How do you guys feel about murder or potential murder?" in reference to dealing with the guards in the mysterious Storage Shed. She suggested smoking out the guards in the shed as one potential approach.

Cat eventually climbed down from the roof but remained outside the shed due to the smell, sharing her complete findings with Sucks Benedict, Safia, Vasso, and the others as they planned their infiltration strategy.

Participants

Cat — Conducted the reconnaissance, using discern realities to gather intelligence from the rooftop vantage point
Yassandra — Provided the shed whose roof served as the observation point
Sucks Benedict — Present during the mission planning and received the intelligence
Safia — Present during the mission planning and received the intelligence
Vasso — Present during the mission planning and received the intelligence
Guards of New Smoke — Observed during their patrol patterns and shift changes

Consequences

The party learned the Guards of New Smoke change shifts at approximately 2:00-2:30 AM with a two-minute gap in coverage, establishing a window for infiltration
A smokeless chimney was identified as a potential covert entry point into the Foundry
The mysterious Storage Shed was discovered, where guards entered but did not exit, creating a tactical question for the party to address
The reconnaissance provided the party with actionable intelligence to plan their approach to the Foundry infiltration
Cat's findings shifted the party's tactical discussion from whether to infiltrate to how best to execute the operation