Read All About Death!
A one-shot adventure for Crystal Heart
Puftzburg, Bogovia’s non-official capital city,
is a place of contradictions. The residents
are known for being some of the toughest,
roughest people in the world, yet most of
them are afraid of black cats and broken
mirrors. The Tower of the Moon stands
proudly in the middle of town, a centre of
scientific study of the heavens, but most of
its findings are used by astrologists and in
heated sermons. And it has new, urban tech-
nologies, suspiciously eyed by a traditional,
stubborn society.
Customising the Adventure: This adven-
ture requires a big, medieval city and the
basic Savage Worlds rules; it doesn’t have to
be run in the Crystal Heart world. The rules
for Crystals are summarised in the free-to-
download Starter Set, but if your PCs aren’t
Agents, these rules are not needed, since this
adventure has no Crystals.
Written by Eran Aviram
Art by Aviv Or
Graphics based on design by Manuel Serra
Saez and Ruben Smith-Zempel
This game references the Savage Worlds game
system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment
Group at www.peginc.com. Savage Worlds
and all associated logos and trademarks are
copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group.
Used with permission. Pinnacle makes no
representation or warranty as to the quality, vi-
ability, or suitability for purpose of this product.
© 2019 Eran Aviram and Aviv Or, Up to Four
Players www.uptofourplayers.com
2
Adventure Synopsis
The Agents are sent to track leads around
Puftzburg, after two mailmen are found
dead, supposedly because the newspaper
they were meant to distribute contains some
news that someone wants to cover up. Af-
ter uncovering the stories behind the most
suspicious articles, the Agents realise none
of them are related to the case.
After someone breaks into the Mail Ser-
vice’s printing room, the Agents follow the
trail of ink to the Assembly Hall, where they
face off against the true culprit: the tradi-
tionalist alderman Nachs and his crazed rats,
which were drawn to the Crystal-touched
ink in the newspaper.
Shards
This adventure features a Crystal shard. A
shard is a broken piece of a larger Crystal,
that is only capable of creating a single, spe-
cific, supernatural effect. Unlike Crystals,
anyone who touches a shard can use its pow-
er safely, by making a Spirit roll.
Adventure
Background
Recently, the Puftzburg Mail Service start-
ed using their brand new printing press to
print a weekly pamphlet in which they de-
scribe various occurences from the city and
beyond. They call it “the News Letter”, and
it’s the latest innovation of Clara Blaum, the
head of the Mail Service. Having recently
come into office, inheriting the title after
her father died, Clara brought in the fancy
(and costly) printing press all the way from
Fjordstad, but had nothing to actually do
with it, until she came up with the idea for
the News Letter, just a few weeks ago. Then
her mailmen started dying.
The person responsible for all of Blaum’s
troubles is Nachs Fitzroy, an alderman, one
of thirty Representatives of the People that
gather in Puftzburg’s Assembly Hall to give
directives and dictate laws. He’s a strict be-
liever in a stronger, more cohesive Bogovia,
and has been trying to nationalise the Mail
Service for years. With Clara’s father out of
the way, he believed he could push Clara into
giving in—but she refuses, in typical Bogovi-
an stubbornness, claiming the Service is, and
shall remain, her family’s business. While
there are other delivery services around
Puftzburg, none of them are as praised as
the Mail Service—if Nachs wants to create a
national service, he’ll have to convince Clara
or take her property by force. He’s chosen
the latter.
After Clara bought the printing press and
began offering copying services, Nachs se-
cretly used his influence in the Scribers and
Bookbinders’ guilds to push against the use
of the machine, and with some help from
the Church managed to ban the machine for
“creating mere echos of the True Words of
Men, unfit to be read by any Moon-fearing
individual, for these “printed” words shall
erode the soul!”
The ban was what forced Clara to start
her own publication. She started gathering
news from around town, printing them in a
weekly bulletin, and have her mailmen of-
fer these News Letters to the recipients of
their packages and letters, for cheap. Despite
the Church’s objection for printed text, the
people loved it.
Nachs’s response came two weeks ago.
One night, he managed to sneak into the
Mail Service’s cellar, and placed a Crystal
shard he owns into the ink barrel. Nachs
wasn’t sure what the shard actually does, but
it seemed to poison drinks (just ask Clara’s
father…), so he hoped it will poison the ink
as well, perhaps ruining the machine. In-
stead, something else happened—mailmen
started dying.
The News Letter’s ink draws the atten-
tion of rats. For most readers of the Letter,
this just means that it tends to be stolen or
bitten by rats. The two dead mailmen, how-
ever, were carrying large bundles of Letters,
and thus were killed by hungry, half-crazed
swarms.
No one is aware of this fact; even Nachs
doesn’t know what his shard actually does
Beginning the
Adventure
The international agreements that allow Syn
Agents to scour the Lands in search of Crys-
tals without coming into conflicts with lo-
cal authorities, also allow said authorities to
ask—essentially, demand—that Agents help
with policing and maintaining the peace.
While the Agents travel through or around
Puftzburg, a local
police constable
asks them to visit
the Puftzburg’s
Mail S ervice
and help Clara
solve the mys-
tery of her dead
mailmen.

What's Going On
The shard’s only ability is to attract rats.
Nachs’s previous “poison” assassination
attempts didn’t actually poison his victims;
instead, when the bodies were found, every-
one just assumed the many rat bites came
after the death, when in fact they were the
cause of death.

3
 The police forces, being corrupt, lazy
and superstitious, will not come near this
case themselves. Everyone already “knows”
that the “blasphemous” printing press is to
blame somehow, but the police cannot just
force Clara to destroy it, nor are they willing
to come near the machine. They have better
things to do than to draw the attention of
the Church.
Clara Blaum’s
Introduction
Clara is very happy to see the Agents, and
will tell them everything she knows (In-
cluding most of paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 in
the Adventure Background. Clara is unaware
of Nachs’s involvement in her father’s death
or the ban). She explains all about the News
Letter, because she believes it’s important
to the case.
Fritz and Genna are dead. Fritz’s body was
found in an alley, a week ago. The cause of
death is unknown, but the body was bitten
by rabid rats, which is why it was exhumed
that evening. Genna’s body was found two
days ago in a different alley. (It too was bit-
ten by rats, but this doesn’t seem strange to
Clara, so she will not mention this unless
someone asks for more details about the
body). Genna’s body is now in the Medicari-
um, where the doctors have probably already
cut her to bits. Bogovian medical science is
in its infancy, and very messy.
Clara noticed a strange connection be-
tween the two deaths: Both Fritz and Genna
were carrying bundles of the News Letter,
and only bundles of the News Letter. This
was never done before—the News Letter
started as an added bonus to the regular
deliveries, but proved very successful, ne-
cessitating its own delivery man. The News
Letter themselves were found near the bod-
ies, spread out around the alleys, ripped to
shreds. Both Fritz and Genna carried the
same issue of the News Letter; the issue
Fritz was about to deliver never made it to
the public, and even though a whole week
passed, Clara saw no reason to print a new
one.
Both mailmen were walking outside
during the early hours of the morning, in
order to finish with the deliveries in time
4
for a second round (of regular mail) around
noon. No one saw or heard anything, the
bodies were found around late morning.
Clara believes the cause to the murders
is something printed in the News Letter
itself—one of the articles must contain
something so scandalous, so dangerous,
that someone is willing to kill in order to
prevent the word from spreading. Having
just created free press in Bogovia, she is so
excited by its amazing power, that she just
can’t fathom any other possible reason one
would want to kill her people. In this, she
is both right and wrong, but mostly wrong.!
Chasing Headlines
Clara will give the Agents a copy of the
News Letter. It’s a single sheet, with sever-
al articles printed on one side and a simple
message at the bottom, “5 Penny—2 penny
discount if you bring news we can print—
not including Magra, stop bothering us
with your stories about inflated frogs, no
one cares”
The following are the headlines from the
News Letter, most of them look suspicious
and worthy of investigation.
“Y Requires M to the G Alley Half
Moon”
The article itself is just a simple, somewhat
boring poem about love.
Clara says this article was paid for by an
anonymous contributor. She can give the
Agents a description of the person: young,
athletic man, tried to cover his well-made
clothes with a large cloak, was wearing a
Forkhead hat. Forkhead is the name of a
nearby village (less than an hour’s walk),
famous for their distinctive style of hats
and for the noble Forkhead family who’s in
charge of the place.
Yovesh Forkhead is in love with the beau-
tiful, naive Moichta, a resident of Puftzburg’s
Shelter for the Orphaned and Diseased (She’s
an orphan, not diseased). Moichta recently
joined the beggars’ choir in one of the city’s
squares, and Yovesh heard her enchanting
singing voice and fell in love. The two can’t
be seen together in public, so they meet in
various secret hideouts—Yovesh uses the
News Letter to inform Moichta of their next
meeting, using a simple code. He enjoys the
thrill of being secretive a little too much, and
doesn’t have any plans for when his forbid-
den relationship will eventually be discov-
ered. The young noble will probably blame
Moichta for seducing him, in order to avoid
punishment by his parents, for consorting
with the poor.
The Circus is in Town!
The Amazing Mudbath and his Amazing
Squeaking Cow are back in town, after
doing a tour of the countryside during the
summer. The cow, unfortunately, was eaten
by wolves. So was Mudbath. The circus is
in shambles, and most details in the article
are false, an effort by Mudbath’s employees
to draw a crowd. Some of these false details,
such as “A dancing man-eating crocodile!”
and “the secret, deformed bastard son of a
famous lord!” might draw some suspicion
from the Agents.
The employees, trying to keep people from
learning about Mudbath’s absence, will be
mean and uncooperative (Persuasion -2).
They’ll refuse to show any of the attractions
until the big show, in a few days time. The
desperate employees are hoping to scam as
many people as they can into the great tent,
then run away with the ticket money while
the audience waits for the non-existent at-
tractions.
Alderman Shmorp Caught
Smoking
The Bogovian religion is against smoking,
claiming the vapours obscure the eyes,
which should always remain clear to allow
the light of the Sun and the Moon to en-
ter the body. While many commoners still
smoke, people in important positions are
expected to refrain from indulging in the
pleasure (in other words, they need to do
so in secrecy).
Shmorp, a thin fellow with a scruffy beard,
is a relatively new alderman. The Bishop
has already censored him for being caught
smoking, but the common people in the
street aren’t aware of this fact; The article in
the News Letter will make his indiscretion
known to the public, and for a new alder-
man, that’s really bad news. The PCs can
realise all of this with a Commom Knowl-
edge check, or by asking Clara.
Shmorp will clear time in his schedule to
meet the Agents in the aldermen’s Assembly
Hall. He employs a bodyguard, Bella the Big.
Should the Agents imply or accuse Shmorp
for being behind the murders, Bella will be
insulted, turning to her boss in anger, ask-
ing why he didn’t just use her to shake the
man (she has d10 in Intimidation, and loves
to use it).
Shmorp, of course, has no idea what
they’re talking about, and searching his of-
fice doesn’t reveal anything, except for some
hidden caches of cigarettes, all empty now
because Shmorp really is trying to change
his ways and atone.
Shmorp is an avid reader of the News
Letter, he has been collecting all of them
in a drawer in his desk. If the Agents open
the drawer and take out the pile of Letters,
the action incites the local rats to become
a swarm, which attacks at once.
During their visit to the Assembly Hall,
Nachs notices the Agents in action; this
might be the trigger that makes him go af-
ter the printing press.
Rats Eat Old Man Humfrey’s
Mango
Most of the article is dedicated to a futile
effort to explain what’s a mango and what
does it looks like; it assumes everyone al-
ready know who Old Man Humfrey is.
(Common Knowledge check for Bogovian
Agents—he’s a famous alderman who retired
years ago, and is still held in much respect).
This headline seems unrelated to the mur-
ders, but it’s actually relevant—Humfrey
never used to have rat problems, until he
started getting the News Letter.
Other Leads
The Agents might decide to chase other
leads, and might uncover what’s going on.
Rats
If visiting the homes of people who buy the
News Letter on a regular basis, the Agents
can hear them mentioning offhandedly that
the Letters is always stolen or bitten by rats,
or they can witness signs of the presence
of rats. If the Agents carry a large stack of
5
 News Letter for some reason, they might
get attacked by a swarm of rats. This might
bring them to investigate the printing room,
where the News Letter is made; see the next
act.
Medicarium
Genna’s body, dissected beyond recognition,
is no longer available for examination. The
doctors might be willing to discuss the cause
of death with the Agents—they don’t have
an autopsy (who cares about a commoner?)
but the doctor who received the body did
notice that the only cause of death seemed
to be vicious rat bites, which seemed bizarre.
The doctors, all female (Bogovians believe
all things biological are best understood by
women), are condescending, disgusted by
Syn’s unholy ways, and generally obnoxious,
requiring a Persuasion roll with -2 to agree
to any request.
Printing Room
Break-in
Technically, the printing room holds a ma-
jor clue—the shard. However, because it’s
buried in an ink barrel, it’s unlikely it’ll be
found even with a meticulous search of the
room. Nachs Fitzroy left very little clues to
his first break-in.
The Printing Room
Clara uses the large cellar under the Mail
Service’s building as the printing room. It
has a very high ceiling (about 15 feet). During
the day, it’s lit thanks to wide, dirty windows
along the upper northern wall (at street lev-
el), and an oil lamp. During the night, the
door is locked and no one is supposed to
be here.
The room hosts the large, hand-operated
printing press, build up of various pieces
into a contraption about the size of a cart.
Next to the press is a stack of large rolls of
paper, on top of a heightened wooden plat-
form for when the cellar is flooded by rain,
and a barrel of ink (with the shard inside),
tightly closed. There’s a replacement barrel
of ink in the corner, next to a pile of dis-
carded crates.
6
Several rat traps are placed around the
room, which is quite normal in Puftzburg.
After using the machine (about once a week,
for the Letter), she needs to come down
several times a day to get rid of the dead
rats, because so many of them seem to run
around; this is somewhat unusual.
The Break-in
Nachs has been following the events from
afar, beginning to suspect that the shard
he left in the ink barrel had something to
do with the deaths. While he didn’t intend
for anyone to get killed, he’s not apologetic
about “having done what needs to be done”.
He is, however, not interested in seeing any-
one else die, and so he decided to retrieve
the shard. In his mind, the fact that this will
also make it harder for investigators to re-
alise his involvement, is just “a fortunate
coincidence.”
At the end of the first day of investigation,
Nachs and his men sneak into the printing
room under the Mail Service, in order to
steal back the shard he left in the ink bar-
rel. The brutes will open the windows, and
Nachs will rappel down on a rope. He’ll
break open the ink barrel and kick it, spill-
ing the ink over the floor. He’ll then pick
up the shard and escape with his men back
toward his chamber in the Assembly Hall.
He already plans to blame the breaking-in on
a gang of local teens, “proving this infernal
machine is inciting our youth to violence!”
Clara will be alerted by the echoing sound
of the fallen ink barrel, but will be too late to
catch the culprits in action. Nachs, however,
was stained by the ink.
The Agents can use Notice to follow
the ink stains throughout the streets (-2,
the black ink blends with darkness in the
streets), or Persuasion to ask around for a
group of “four man-sized shadowy figures”,
which is all Clara managed to see before they
disappeared. The ink stains keep drawing
hungry rats throughout the night, and by
morning, a trail of dead rats, poisoned by
the ink, connects the Mail Service house and
the Assembly Hall. Most people see this as
a sign (of what, that’s up to them).
Confronting the
Alderman
Should the Agents arrive at his office during
the day, Nachs will do everything in his
power to avoid them, and then use some of
his influence to have them detained by the
police or the Church—just long enough to
enact his plans for the evening.
The final confrontation can take place af-
ter the Agents track Nachs back to his cham-
ber in the Assembly Hall. It might also begin
in the printing room, if the Agents are there
when Nachs breaks in.
Nachs is conniving and brutal, but par-
adoxically, believes that “a true Bogovian
never allows a lie to roll off his tongue”. He
will avoid direct answers if possible, talking
about the importance of Bogovian values,
and the danger of having the printing press
in private hands—the masses should only
know what the Church deems worthy of
knowing!
An Intimidation or Persuasion check can
make Nachs get to the matter at hand. He’ll
confess to all of his deeds, explain that it was
necessary, and at most say that he was “sad-
dened to hear of the brutal deaths”, although
he has no intention of paying compensations
to the families of Fritz and Genna, nor is he
going to allow any of this become public
knowledge.
In any case, Nachs will demand the Agents
leave the city by tomorrow morning and not
return. Should they refuse, he will not hes-
itate to attack.
Rat fight!
By the time the Agents face Nachs, he has
already realised the shard can control rats
in some way. Should it be in his possession,
he’ll activate it, summoning two swarms of
rabid rats right before initiating combat.
7
 Major Players and
Important Items
Nachs Fitzroy, Alderman Brown Shard of Rat Allure
“Alderman Fitzroy to you”, is a stern men A person holding the shard firmly with one
in his mid-20’s, who will go to any length to hand can use the Summon Ally power with
push his beloved Bogovia out of the swamps. no Power Points cost, but only to summon a
He believes the best way to do so is to “do swarm of rats ("Swarm", Savage Worlds), with
what we always did, but harder”; should he an additional swarm for every raise beyond
ever find himself in quicksand, he’ll dis- the first (the first raise gives the Resilient
appear beneath the surface in seconds as ability).
he thrashes about, while being completely The user rolls a Spirit check instead of Ar-
sure that he’s trying his best to free himself. cane Background, with a -1 for every swarm
Nachs is stubborn, and absolutely sure his already present. In case of a Critical Failure,
way is the right way. the rats appear, but attack the user.
Nachs is always accompanied by 3 Bogo-
vian brutes (Bogovian Town Watch, Crystal
Heart, p.160) who do his bidding. He never
sends them to do the dirty work for him (as
a true idealist, he believes that “A Bogovi-
an should deal with his problems with his
own two hands”), but they accompany him
as bodyguards.
Nachs is a Bogovian Town Watch Captain
(Crystal Heart, p.160) Wild Card, with d10 in
Smarts and Spirit, and the Strong Willed
Edge. He also has a d10 in Taunt, and pre-
fers to engage in a Test from afar while his
brutes and rat swarms close on the Agents.
Clara Blaum
Young and enthusiastic, Clara is showing
the first signs of a true entrepreneur. She’s
living in a city where “doing it yourself” is
a virtue, so there’s a surprising number of
people who support her and believe in her.
On the other hand, there’s nothing more
Bogovian than sticking to the old ways and
knowing your place, so there’s an unsur-
prising number of people who believe she
should stop stirring the pot and just deliver
the damn mail.
Clara doesn’t care much about what other
people think. She is stubborn and absolutely
sure her way is the right way. As a believer
in Progress, Clara trusts Syn a lot more than
most people (+1 in social interactions). She
is a Bogovian Tonwnsperson (Crystal Heart,
p.159).

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