Thunder-Struck!

Tomb
Excavation Site/Tomb

Today we preview another pulp adventure sidequest:

The PCs race against an expedition funded by the ailing Thomas Edison to find the 4th and final piece of the Parthian Battery, a source of almost limitless electricity.

Getting the PCs involved:

  • The PCs are hired by a local museum that wants to safeguard the battery.
  • The PCs uncover information about the battery, only to have Edison steal it!

Possible Events:

  • A corrupt bureaucrat accepts a payoff to deny the PCs travel visas to Persia, and must be outmaneuvered.
  • The PCs arrive at their destination, and are ambushed by a gang of local toughs sent to slow them down.
  • Competing Iraqi politicians offer to support the PCs in exchange for a claim to the battery; a 3rd politician is in Edison’s pocket and tries to stymie the other two.
  • The PCs must decipher their info to find the tomb of the battery’s true inventor, where the last piece is buried.
  • Edison’s men are already excavating the location; the PCs must avoid them and sneak into the tomb.
  • The PCs reach the battery, but this sets off a power surge that draws Edison’s goons for a fight!

Follow-up Adventure Ideas:

  • Having acquired the part, the PCs are asked to find scientists able to assemble and test it.
  • Edison, impressed by the PCs, wants to hire them, and won’t take no for an answer.