Code & Dagger

volume ii
<scry>
<shardnet>
<entry>
<name>
Galgur
/ </name>
/ </shard></entry>
/ <source>
/ Rufdol
/ </source>
/ <siz e>
/ 0021
/ </siz e>
/ <incept >
/ 021564
/ </incept>
/ <echoes>
/ <echo>
<id> / 001 </i d>
<image>ZWNobzFSdWZkb2xzaGFyZHNjcnl2aWV3LnBuZw==</image></ e c h o><echo>
<id> \ 002 </i d>
\ <msg> #
\ duke at da wn
\ </msg >
\ </echo>
\ <count >
\ 00106 |
\ </count > #
\ </echoes>
\ <spike>
\ <detect ed>fa lse
\ </det ect ed>
\ </spike>
</dur>
5951
</dur>
</shardnet>
</scry>

a sourcebook for
1 cryptomancer
M
 credits
/root/credits

this volume was developed by contributors of the Mozilla

foundation's 2017 global sprint:

@anterobot @kademorton
@bakudreamer @ksedivyhaley
@brotherphil @masterwolf2050
@chadsansing @plotanical
@cryptomancer-actual @rogueautodidact
@ f ab io c o s ta 0 3 0 5 @ tr o m a n d

thank you all for the fiction, characters, puzzles, and

thoughtful questions that this sourcebook was built upon.

cover image concept:

nathan hunstad

cryptomancer created by:

chad walker
timid robot zehta

Cryptomancer is a trademark of Land of NOP LLC. all rights

reserved. The content of this sourcebook is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

land of
0x90

2
directory listing
/root/ls

drw-rw-r-- root root changelog/.........................4

drw-rw-r-- root root escape the networked dungeon/......6
drw-rw-r-- root root enterprise shardnet architecture/.28
drw-rw-r-- root root offline security/.................42
drw-rw-r-- root root new talents and spells/...........52
drw-rw-r-- root root the crypto masquerade/............58

3
/root/sudo apt-get install code_and_dagger_vol_ii
reading package list... done
building dependency tree
reading state information... done
the following new packages will be installed:
code_and_dagger_vol_ii
1 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
need to get 1,337 kb of archives.
after this operation, 2,017 kb of additional
additi onal disk space will be used.
do you want to continue [y/n]:y
installing code_and_dagger_vol_ii
trying url ‘https://mozilla.org/en-us/foundation/sprint.tar.gz’
content type ‘application/x-gzip’ length 1337000 bytes <1337 kb>
opened url
===========================================
downloaded 1337 kb

*installing *code_and_dagger_vol_ii*
**package ‘code_and_dagger_vol_ii’ unpacked and md5 sums checked
...done.

/root/cd changelog
/root/changelog/ls

-rw-rw-r-- root root #mozsprint............................5

#mozsprint

4
/root/changelog

mozsprint
On a healthy Internet, privacy doesn’t mean you
have something to hide. It means you have the ability to
choose how much you share online. At Mozilla, we work
to provide tools and fight for policies that respect people’s
identity and data across the Internet.

During the 2017 Global Sprint, as part of that

 work, we asked, "What might happen when the Internet
shows up in a fantasy world full of mythical creatures?"

Tat’s the question Cryptomancer tries to answer.

Cryptomancer is a role-playing game (RPG) about infor-
mation security (infosec) in a fantasy-setting that includes
open and closed networks made up of crystal shards that
connect people to each other. Tey let you find information
and communicate with others, but the shards can also be
used to track you and learn your
yo ur habits. ogether,
ogether, they form
a "Shardnet," like our Internet.

 We invited
 We invited the
the game's
game's author
author,, Chad Walker
alker,, educa-
educa-
tion professor Antero Garcia, and security expert Romand
iphane to co-lead a Global Sprint project inviting players
to invent and share their own Cryptomancer adventures to
help others:

- Create a safe and inviting space for players from diverse

backgrounds.
- Enact strong online safety habits.
- Enact core Internet health principles like Digital Inclusion.
Inclusio n.
- Problem-solve challenges related to privacy, security, and
inclusion.
- Make connections between the game and life online.

 We're excited to see this issue of Code & Dagger

 We're
shared online. Written by Global Sprint contributors and
edited by Chad Walker,
Walker, it's a fun, engaging, and educational
educatio nal
example of collaboration across the Mozilla Network and
the movement for Internet health.

Have fun storming the Shardnet!

5
/root/changelog/cd ..
/root/cd escape the networked dungeon
/root/escape the networked dungeon/ls

-rw-rw-r-- root root overview............................7

-rw-rw-r-- root root the cell block......................8
-rw-rw-r-- root root the cave...........................13
-rw-rw-r-- root root the fortress.......................20

escape the

networked

dungeon

6
/root/escape the networked dungeon/

Overview
Tis chapter contains a generic standalone adven-
ture for Cryptomancer  that
 that is stripped of plot elements so it
can be incorporated into any campaign. Te premise is sim-
ple: the party wakes up in a dungeon full of scrying shards
and crypto-gear security mechanisms and they must hack
their way out. Tis adventure was designed to introduce the
networking elements of Cryptomancer  to to new players, while
also giving advanced players a fun playground to test their
hacking chops.

 Why was the party brought here? Who owns and

operates this mysterious place? We purposely leave those de-
tails up to the GM. However, a useful way to incorporate
this adventure into existing campaigns is to play it after the
party gets captured by adversaries. Perhaps they are being
detained until the Risk Eaters arrive to interrogate them, or
they are awaiting their execution.

o make this adventure module as user-friendly as

possible, we have included some descriptive (and sometimes
didactic) text that can be read aloud to players throughout
the session of play. Tese sections will be in bold print
for your convenience. W
convenience. Wee suggest
suggest players
players who want to
to play
this adventure stop reading now, lest they ruin some of the
puzzles and suprises they'll face.

 We definitely recommend that GMs read this ad-

 We
venture module in its entirety before running it for players.
 While it was written to be walked through methodically
methodically,, at
a teaching pace, advanced players will potentially take ac-
tions that will break out of the narrative guardrails we've
provided. For example, a player that subverts the dungeon's
scrying shard surveillance system will be able to survey (and
potentially teleport to) areas of the dungeon that aren't in-
troduced until later in the module.

7
/root/escape the networked dungeon/

Part I: The Cell Block

 You wake up in a dank, dark stone cell. Your
 You
equipment is missing and you're wearing nothing but
a ratty sack cloth garment. Vermin scurries about on
the floor. Te party has been split up, put in separate
but adjacent cells, each one secured with a door made
of iron-wrought bars and locked from the outside. Only
the flicker of torch sconces lining the cell block corridor
provide any light. While there are many more cells in this
corridor, none of them seem to be populated.
populate d. Just as your
eyes begin to adjust to the low light, you hear the foot
steps of an approaching guard.

Here, the GM can either invent who the guard is

and what they look like, or choose one of these descriptions
that best suits the type of dungeon they want this to be:

Te guard is a human male wearing oiled chain-

mail and coif, topped with a green surcoat. He uses a
 wooden quarterstaff
quarterstaff as a walking stick, though its actual
purpose is to bang against the cell bars to wake prison-
ers, and thrust at the ones who get too close to the door
of their cell. A keyring dangles tauntingly from his belt,
and a shard amulet hangs from his neck.

...or...

Te guard is a shambling, undead creatur

creaturee that
 was once an elf, adorned
adorned in chipped and rotten
rotten carapace
plate, and dragging a flail along the floor behind him.
Chunks of rotten meat are stuck in the flail's spikes. It
 wears a key on
on a necklace made of braided roots, and
and has
a shard embedded in its ancient chest plate.

...or...

Te guard is a steam-powered bipedal autom-

aton of dwarven design, animated by magical means
thought forgotten with time. Its mythril chassis is built

--more--

8
around a small furnace burning where a heart would nor-
mally be. It has blades for hands, and a small third limb
protruding from its belly looks to have keys for fingers
and a shard for a palm.

Regardless of how this guard (and others like him/

it) look in the story
stor y space, guards are considered a challeng-
ing  threat,
 threat, though they are generally more than a fair match
for the party because
becaus e they have weapons, armor, and can call
for backup using their shards.

Te guard passes through the cell block corridor

slowly, making sure that the prisoners are orderly and
docile, and then wanders off. You know that he, or an-
other guard just like him, will be back soon, and when
that time comes, there might be an opportunity to pick-
pocket his keyring, pull him towards the cell bars and
overpower him, or socially engineer him into opening a
cell (perhaps to respond to a medical emergency or look
for a "missing" prisoner). Now would be a great time to
discuss a plan in secret.

However,, before your scheming begins, you look

However
up to see a large melon-sized shard resting in a fixture
hanging from the ceiling, just barely out of jumping
reach. You assume this is a scrying shard, which works
like a surveillance camera. Tere is a good chance that
 whateverr transpires, a dispatcher
 whateve dispatcher sitting in a cryptovault
somewhere might see what happens and respond accord-
ingly. A very agile prisoner (i.e. someone good at Escape
 Artistry) might even be able to climb
climb up on the horizon-
tal bar of their cell door, reach through the bars, and lay
a finger on it.

We have now provided our trapped heroes a num-

ber of interesting possibilities for getting our of their cur-
rent predicament. Also consider that the characters, even
 without their equipment, may have many skills, talents, and
spells at their disposal to solve this situation. If the charac-
ters are able to acquire the keyring in a rapid and orderly
 way (e.g. pickpocketi
pickpocketing
ng the guard or dispatching him and

--more--

9
pulling him into a cell in a few seconds), they will be able to
proceed stealthily. If the encounter is chaotic and the guard
is able to resist (e.g. call for backup with his shard),
shard) , the char-
acters assume that more guards will be coming soon.

Regardless of the outcome, let's discuss the two

Regardless
shards that are in this scene: the guard's shard (assuming the
party commandeered
commandeere d it) and the scryi
scrying
ng shard hanging from
the ceiling.

Te guard's shard is small, about the size of a

chicken egg, while the scrying shard is about the size of a
melon. As with any shard, you know you have a number
of options regarding what you want to do with it. Te
first thing you want to do is hold it in your hand, close
 yourr ey
 you eyes,
es, and review the messages than have been sent
to it recently, to see what the guards have been talking
about and maybe learn secret information.

After that, some useful options might include

pretending
preten ding to be a guard and communicating with other
guards, or perhaps casting a spell such as racer or Shard
Scry. If someone has the racer spell, they could find out
how many other shards communicate with this shard
(which might tell the party how many guards are in the
dungeon), and where they are currently located. If some-
one has the Shard Scry spell, they could touch the shard
and see through all the shards connected to it, as if they
 were surveillance cameras. Tese
Tese are just a few examples.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a shard can

be destroyed (severing its connection to other shards), or
expertly split by a character with the Shardsplitter talent
(which also severs the shard's connections, but does cre-
ate a new private shardnet for the party, one small shard
for each of them). Te guard's shard is too small to be
split, but the big scrying shard is just the perfect size.

If the players listen in on the guard shardnet, they

 will notice right away that there
there is a lot of clear-text chatter
chatter,,
as well as a couple of encrypted messages they are unable to
read. It seems like the guards don't use encryption, reporting
--more--

10
their movements (and perhaps making small talk) in clear-
text. Tis will make it potentially easy to masquerade as a
guard, so long as the players talk just like the other guards
talk, whether they are mortals working for the weekend, un-
dead ghouls, or steam-powdered automatons (though doing
this right will likely require a Performance skill-check).

Tere is clear-text chatter you can read, but there

is also encrypted communications you cannot read. Of
the clear-text chatter, guards seem to be reporting their
location and status. For instance, the most recent (and
brightly lit) message says "Tis is Rover One, Cell Block
is Clear, Proceeding to the Cave," and it was likely sent
by the guard you just outsmarted. Another message says
"Tis is Sentry wo, requesting a break." Judging by the
clear-text chatter, there are more than a dozen guards.
Te ones called Rover appear to be patrolling, while the
ones called Sentry appear to be stationary.

It is hard to say what the encrypted message says

 without knowing
knowing the keyphrase
keyphrase that was used to encrypt
the message. It appears someone on this shardnet is prac-
ticing good security and privacy. Perhaps a guard can
be convinced to provide this keyphrase in exchange for
letting him escape, or it can be harvested from a guard
using the Mind Read spell, if that is available to one of
the players. Alternatively, a player could attempt to so-
cially engineer someone on the shardnet to tell them the
keyphrase, pretending
pretending to be a guard who forgot it (which
 would likely require
require a Deception skill-check).

On the topic of getting information from unwilling

participants: using violent coercion (e.g. torture) to get in-
formation from someone does not actually work in real life
and should not be rewarded in fantasy gaming. Someone
under duress will offer fake information just to make the
pain stop or offer false information that will lead interroga-
tors into a trap. Violent
Violent coercion is always  a
 a terrible strategy
s trategy,,
never mind that its also morally repugnant.

If an effective strategy is used to learn the keyphrase

(which is "doves daggers danger"), the players will be able
--more--

11
 to read the encrypted message, which says "onight's key-
phrase for the Cell Block door is "Wistful Wildlings
 Wander
 W ander."." Tis
 Tis is particularly useful information when fac-
ing the final obstacle keeping the party contained in the Cell
Block area of the networked dungeon: a crypto-locked door.

A fortified, dwarven-b
dwarven-built
uilt door stands before the
party and their freedom (at least, from this section of the
dungeon). It has no handle and no keyhole. Instead, it
has a single exposed shard embedded at the center of the
door. Te only way to open a crypto-locked door is to
touch its shard, encrypt with the designated keyphrase,
and then create a message containing the same key-
phrase. While this may seem redundant, encrypting first
prevents someone from simply touching the shard and
looking for the last message that was used to open the
door, and replaying that message. When you touch the
shard, you see that all guards who have used it tonight
have not forgotten to encrypt.

Once the party is able to open this door, they are

able to move on to the next part of the dungeon.

Summary of Part i

 With the
the characters about
about to escape the
the Cell Block,
Block, let's review
review
practical lessons we've learned so far:

• All information systems are vulnerable when an attacker is

able to gain physical access to them. Tey can be broken,
stolen, or used in ways the people who created them never
intended (e.g. against their creators).

• Attackers capture credential

credentialss (e.g. keyphrases, or combina-
tions of username and password) so they can use them to
capture even more credentials, all to attack more systems.
Tis is how real life hackers methodically bypass controls in
information systems and traverse victim networks.

• Encryption
Encryptio n makes an attacker'
attacker'ss job much harder.

12
/root/escape the networked dungeon/

Part II: The Cave

If it was not already clear that this dungeon is
partially underground, it is now. Te crypto-locked door
creeks open and reveals a massive, cavernous vault full of
stalagmites, stalactites, and glowing gems embedded in
the jagged ceiling creating artificial starlight. Tere seem
to be a number of paths branching off from this cave, but
of most interest here are the iron-wrought beams of what
appear to be a dwarven elevator that ascends upwards,
and the enormous ogre sitting down right next to it with
a dazed look on its face.

Were the ogre to be standing upright, it would

be several meters tall, with a hunched back, mangy blue
fur, and muscular limbs that have the girth of a horse's
torso. Tere's something unusual about this ogre, how-
ever. Under normal circumstances, an ogre would likely
be stomping towards those who trespass in its layer and
crushing them into a pulp. Seemingly grafted into the
back of its head is a dwarven mechanism very similar to
the crypto-lock mechanism of the t he door you just opened.
It appears possible that this ogre's behavior is remote-
ly controlled via shardnet. Tere is also another scrying
shard hanging high up near the vaulted lair's ceiling,
surveying the area. Tat must be how the troll's master
can observe
obser ve it. While the ogre appears docile
doci le for now,
now, it's
probably best to stay out of view of scrying
s crying shard (which
is a challenging Sneak skill-check).
skill-check).

Te dwarven elevator appears to go up to the

surface, but the platform seems to be stuck several doz-
en meters above. Tere does not seem to be any calling
mechanism or control shard immediately visible. Per-
haps it is somewhere in this cave, down one of the three
pathways that lead north, east, and west, respectively.

Te ogre's behavior is indeed remotely managed by

the dungeon's cryptoadmin. Te device in the ogre's head is
a crypto-gear switch that uses sequential logic to rotate be-

--more--

13
tween behaviors. Any time the cryptoadmin issues the com-
mand "operation ogre lord" (encrypted with the same) via
his control shard, the ogre's behavior cycles in the following
manner: sleepy > helpful > enraged > helpful > sleepy, etc.
Te ogre is currently set to sleepy, which means it will just
loaf around and scratch itself unless someone tries to harm
it. When the ogre is set to helpful, it will obey spoken or-
ders (in fact, the ogre helped build this facility under this
condition). When the ogre is enraged, it assumes its natural
state: smash and eat everything in sight. If the cryptoadmin
observes our heroes from the scrying shard, he will cycle the
ogre to enraged. Te ogre is a tough
tough threat,
 threat, has 30 HP, and
is more than a match for the party, especially without any
equipment.

Next, we're going to discuss the three paths leading

out of this room. It does not matter which order the party
proceeds to these places, though they will likely discover se-
crets and devices in each place that will help them through-
out their escape.

Te Eastern Path

 You slowly proceed down the eastern path, not-

 You
ing quickly that it seems to descend and spiral down to a
chamber that is directly below the elevator. It is possible
that some of the machinery that operates the elevator,
and maybe even a control shard, will be found down this
path. However, before you can get very far, it appears as
if the walls begin to spin and close in on you. A powerful
sense of nausea overcomes you as you stagger backwards.
It appears that someone has casted Maze in this tunnel,
encrypting it so that only those who know the correct
keyphrase can
ca n progress forward.
forwa rd. You'll
You'll need to figure
fig ure out
its keyphrase to go any further in this direction.

When and if the players do acquire the keyphrase

for the Maze ("trespassers tread treacherously"), or disable it
some other way (like forcing the person who cast this spell
to revoke it), they are permitted to proceed further.

 At the end of this path, there is a large dwarven

--more--

14
 engine that powers a winch used to pull and release the
heavy iron chains that raise and lower the elevator. Fixed
to the engine is a control shard. When you touch the
shard and observe historical messages, you see what must
have been a recent dialogue between the dungeon's cryp-
toadmin and his assistant. Te assistant says, in clear-
text, "I unjammed the chain. ry it now." Tere is then
an encrypted message, likely the cryptoadmin activating
the elevator remotely. Finally, there is another message,
again in clear-text, from the assistant. "It works! I will
now go perform maintenance on the lightning pylons, so
 we can make
make sure
sure no one
one comes or
or goes from
from this island,
at least by air."

You've heard of lightning pylons before. Tey

are small towers that work like magical bug zappers, de-
signed to shoot lightning bolts at incoming or outgoing
gigaphids, the giant flying insect mounts popular among
the elves. It also appears this mysterious dungeon is on
an island, which means a proper escape must be by either
air or sea, although air is out of the question unless the
lightning pylons are disabled.

A dusty tome rests on a small table in the corner

of the room, next to a few tools. Opening it up, the first
line reads "Congratulations on your purchase of an ele-
 vating device from
from Grayrift
Grayrift Gears! In this user's manual,
 you will find instructions to operate and maintain this
machine, as well as the default keyphrase used to engage
its crypto-gear. BE SURE O CHANGE HIS IMME-
DIAELY!"

Of course  the
  the guards failed to change the elevator's
default keyphrase ("lifts levitate loads"). Te elevator plat-
form can be summoned to the floor of the cave via the con-
trol shard attached to the engine. Tere is another control
shard built into a kiosk on the elevator platform, which the
players can use to ascend out of the labyrinth once everyone
has stepped onto the platform. Note, the elevator platform
is a wide iron disc weighing several tons. It drops at a some-
 what rapid pace and smashes to the the floor,
floor, kicking up clouds
of dust and causing the room to shake. In the case that the
--more--

15
ogre has been enraged, players can possibly coordinate (per-
haps over their own shardnet) to drop the elevator platform
on the ogre's head, pinning it down until the platform is
raised again.

Te Northern Path

Tere appear to be mining cart rails leading

directly from the base of the dwarven elevator to and
through a path that leads to the north. Presumably, there
 was a mining operation
operation that cleared out
out the tunnels that
 weren't
 were n't already part of the labyrinth's natural forma-
tions, and stone from the excavatio
excavation
n was transported up
the elevator.

raveling up the tracks, a soft humming sound

slowly grows into a mechanical racket. An ancient dwar-
 ven engine is busy at work,
work, it's gears whirring
whirring at a steady
steady
clip. It appears to have one input gear and two output
gears. It seems the input gear is being spun by anoth-
er gear that is attached to a spinning shaft originating
from the ceiling. It is likely that this shaft is attached to
a simple machine above ground, such as a water wheel
or a windmill, and its turning of the input gear provides
power to the engine. Te two output gears are turning
two separate gears attached to shafts coming out of the
 walls. Tere
Tere is a third shaft
shaft coming out of the wall that is
not being turned.

Inspecting the machine further, it becomes

somewhat clear what it is doing. Te engine is receiving
enough input energy to power two machines connect-
ed to the output gears. It appears to be powering the
elevator and some other machine at this time, while a
third machine is powered down. It also appears to be
built around a crypto-gear that is inaccessible from the
outside but can be remotely controlled. When the cryp-
toadmin issues the right command, the output gears will
change configuration, disabling one machine to power
another. It is probably not a good idea to tamper with
this machine until you figure out what other two ma-
chines, besides the elevator, are powered by this engine.
--more--

16
 Tis engine is connected to a windmill above
ground and provides power to the elevator, the lightning
pylons, and an experimental suit of animated armor called a
"siegemech," which will be discussed later in this adventure
adventure..
Currently, the engine is powering the elevator and the light-
ning pylons, while the siegemech lies dormant.
dorma nt. If the players
gain access to the control shard for this shardnet (which is
in the dungeon's
dungeon's cryptovault),
cryptovault), and they know know the correct
keyphrase to switch the output configuration ("power pro-
duces promise"), they can access the crypto-gear's
cr ypto-gear's sequential
logic to cycle through these power configurations: elevator +
pylons > pylons + siegemech > siegemtech + elevator > ele-
vator + pylons, etc. Alternatively
Alter natively,, if they sabotage this engine
(a challenging Craft skill-check), they will kill power to all
three machines attached to it. However, given the elevator
 won't work if they do this, they better
better figure out how to get
out of the cave first before doing so.

Te Western Path

As you proceed through a corridor to the west,

the natural stone of the cave gives way to rigidly cut
blocks of stone forming the vaulted ceiling of a castle's
undercroft. Te lair you are in must be located beneath
a castle or keep of human design. Te gem constellation
does not light this area, but torch sconces on the walls
do. Shelves cut into the stone host the withered corpses
of ancient persons, each one wrapped in a dusty shroud.
Te corridor widens into a very large chamber the size of
a cathedral hall with a shorter ceiling. Te room is full of
pillars and sarcophagi, with a single
s ingle scrying shard hang-
ing from the ceiling just out of jumping reach. You hear
the slow shuffling of multiple guards ahead, but some-
thing is wrong. As you scan the area, looking for where
the sound is coming from, your vision blurs and feel a
sense of vertigo. Tis is the telltale sign that someone has
casted the Maze spell between some of the pillars holding
this room up. Someone has created a maze out of Maze
spells! Only someone who knows the keyphrase used to
encrypt these spaces can pass through them, let alone see
through them. Proceed with caution: it is possible that
the guards in here know the keyphrase and will see you
--more--

17
before you see them!

Tere are three guards patrolling this space and they

know the keyphrase ("trespassers tread treacherously") that
 will decrypt the Mazes casts in this room and the blocking
access to the eastern path. However, this area is dangerous!
Sneaking up on a guard will require a tough Stealth skill-
check. If a player rolls good enough, they can add those
Stealth successes to any attack roll made to dispatch the
guard, lethally or non-lethally. If a guard is defeated in one
blow, the other two guards won't hear anything, respond,
or call for backup. o acquire the keyphrase they need, the
players will have to interrogate a captive guard, or cast the
Mind Read spell to harvest the keyphrase. Alternatively, one
of these guard is the one who cast all the Maze spells in the
cave and can revoke those spells so the characters can pro-
ceed, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

Troughout this scene, if things go south (the play-

ers are heard by guards or spotted through a scrying shard),
the cryptoadmin will notify all guards in the dungeon that
the prisoners have escaped and set the ogre's behavior to
aggressive. Guards will muster at the top of the elevator,
 while the ogre will smash everything in sight (though he is
too large to enter the eastern, northern, or western paths).
Te cryptoadmin will not remove power from the elevator
because he believes their is no way the players could figure
out the keyphrase, and he doesn't want to strand any fleeing
guards in the cave once the ogre is enraged.

By the wayway,, why are guards patrolling this under-

croft? We'll
We'll let the GM decide
deci de by picking one or more of the
following:

 At the far end of the undercro

undercroft
ft is a sarcopha-
gus that seems to contain the body of an ancient war-
rior. Sliding it open, you see a withered skeleton wearing
a dusty suit of fine plate mail and clutching a claymore
against its chest. Tere is a dagger in one of its boots.
Tere is also a bow slung around its torso and quiver of

--more--

18
 arrows resting alongside it.

At the far end of the undercr

undercroft
oft is a tunnel that
has been caved in and barricaded. Tere is also the sign
of what must have been a battle. Broken swords, snapped
spears, and shattered shields litter the floor, as well as
pools of black blood and large insectoid limbs scattered
everywhere. Was this place invaded by deep-dwelling
creatures recently? Either way, there is a makeshift arse-
nal on the ground.

 At the far end of the undercr

undercroft
oft is a raised, circu-
circu-
lar platform with a stone kiosk at its center. Embedded
firmly in this kiosk is a single shard. Unlit red candles,
each of them melted down to nubs, surround this space,
and there is a gentle, otherworldly hum emitting from
the platform. Tis area appears to be a ritual chamber,
and the fixed shard can only have one purpose: to safely
Shard Warp to another location far away!

Summary of Part ii

 With the
the characters about to escape the
the cave, let's
let's review practi-
cal lessons we've learned so far:

• Tis section introduced some simple machines that can

be remotely operated, similar to Internet of Tings (Io)
devices that might be in your home. As convenient as these
devices are, they can introduce risk to your home if not
properly managed. Be sure to change default passwords on
these devices as soon as you get them, so bad guys don't use
your smart toaster to DDOS someone's golem!

• Some of the machines introduced in this section also resem-

ble Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) sys-
tems, which are used to control and monitor big systems like
electrical grids, railroad switches, and traffic lights. Abusing
these systems often involves getting physical access to them,
because they are separated from the Internet. Another
method of attacking these systems is to go after their power
source. As society continues to embrace industrial automa-
tion, systems must be secured with both physical security
and cybersecurity in mind.

19
/root/escape the networked dungeon/

Part III: The Fortress

Te heavy chains of the elevator begin to grind
around spinning gears, and the party is carried upward.
 As the elevator ascends, you can smell the ocean
ocean and hear
distant waves crashing against the shore, along with the
occasional crack of thunder. You ascend to the center of
a tall, cylindrical room that has iron-grated windows cut
into the sides. Daylight! Or at least, it might be. It is
hard to say what time it is exactly with all of the ominous
clouds outside and the heavy rainfall washing over the
island. With all the wind whipping through this room,
the torch sconces on the wall can barely stay lit and the
scrying shard hanging from the ceiling swings back and
forth.

Looking through the windows more, you appear

to be inside a tower at the center of a large
lar ge fortress. Tere
are tall walls and parapets blocking much of your view,
but you can at least see the beach, what appears to be a
gigaphid aviary across a long courtyard, and a number
of lightning pylons crackling with electrical arcs, eager
to scorch anything flying to or from the island. Tere is
a wooden door leading further into the fortress. Tere
are rails here, too, leading to a heavy iron-wrought cryp-
to-locked door that is currently closed tight. Ev Even
en if you
knew its keyphrase, it looks like you can't access its con-
trol shard, which is built inside its hinges. Looks like
 you'll
 you'll have to proceed through the wooden door door,, because
 you
 you can't get outside any other way.
way.

Before you go, however

however,, there is also a very large
crypto-locked chest in this room. If only you had the
keyphrase to open it!

Tere is the possibility that the party has already

acquired the keyphrase to open this chest ("pilfered prisoner
provisions") if one of the player's used Shard Scry to see it
 written down on a piece of paper inside the cryptovault
cryptovault..
Otherwise, they will see this information if they gain ac-
--more--

20
 cess to cryptovault. Either way, this chest contains all of the
 weapons, outfits, and
and equipment
equipment that were confiscated from
the party when they were initially captured.

Tere is also the possibil

possibility
ity that the party is greeted
by several guards who have been alerted of the party's escape
and awesome fantasy violence will ensue. If that's the case,
let's hope they've scrounged enough weaponry and have
hoarded enough HP and MP to survive
sur vive this melee.

Now for a quick overview of what players will find

during this last leg of the adventure. o escape this island,
the party must leave the fortress and gain access to the giga-
phid aviary, where three of these giant flying aphids are rest-
ing. However,
However, blocking their path is one siegemech
siegemech,, a massive
suit of mechanical armor piloted by a guard and powered
by the dwarven engine below ground via a thick, chain-
mail-covered cord tethered to its body. It is currently pow-
ered down, but the pilot will likely use a shard to request
that the cryptoadmin power it up once the party is detected.
If this powerful warrior (a tough  threat with 30 HP) wasn't
tough threat
problematic enough, the lightning pylons will destroy any
gigaphid riders who attempt to flee (or fly in to liberate the
party) unless they are powered down (via a control shard in
the cryptovault) or sabotaged. Te players have their work
cut out for them!

Te Hallway 

Te wooden door leads down a dimly lit spiral-

ing stone staircase that opens into a hallway lit again by
torch sconces on the wall. A single scrying shard hangs
from the ceiling, just out of jumping range. As you creep
down the hallway, you pass by several of the rooms and
corridors it is connected to, though most of these spaces
seem to be functional. Tere is a stone latrine dropping
 waste to who knows where
where,, a Spartan mess hall with a
single wooden table surrounded by benches, a barracks
containing maybe 30 currently-empty bunks, and a
poorly-stocked larder that stinks of fish (probably the
only thing anyone eats out here). At the end of the hall is

--more--

21
a large set of double doors that look as if they lead to the
courtyard outside, if the daylight shining through the
seems is any indicator.

However,, there is also a short hallway leading

However
to a large set of fortified double-doors that clearly lead
to the cryptovault. Tese doors are fortified with steel
plates and operated by dwarven gear-works of some
kind. In fact, there are two lock mechanisms on either
side of the door, several meters apart from each other. It
looks as if this door was designed so that it could only be
opened from the outside by two people inserting keys as
the same time. Maybe one of the keyrings that the guards
carry holds the key or keys required
required to open this door?

If the party starts tossing the place to look for use-

ful items or information, they can find a number of Strong
Healing Potions and Strong Mana Potions equal to the num-
ber of players. Tey can also find pretty much any other use-
ful mundane item they can think of, like rope (to descend
and ascend the elevator shaft), fishing rods, backpacks, etc.
Leave it up to the players to say "I'm looking for [insert
item]" and succeed at a challenging Scrounge skill-check.

Te Cryptovault 

Te cryptovault is a small domed room that con-

tains a large wooden desk and a half-constructed skele-
ton of a golem, missing only the large black Shardscape
shard required to animate it. Cowering behind the wood-
en desk is the cryptoadmin, who reaches for a shard rest-
ing on the desk, casts a spell, and vanishes in an explo-
sion of magical light, his clothing and equipment falling
to the ground. It appears he has opted to Shard Warp
away from danger, but now the cryptovault is yours to
explore.

Te golem looks as if it is a cross between a

squid and a spinning orrery used for studying the stars.
Tere seems to be a large cord attached to it, sleeved in
chainmail, but ending in a coupling. Tis cord must be

--more--

22
used to provide power to the golem, but it's not current-
ly plugged into anything. Tere are no shards current-
ly held in the golem's many hands. Instead, there are a
number of shards, each of a different size and hue, rest-
ing on squat stands made of silver atop the wooden desk.
Tere is also a massive, dusty tome with its pages open,
laying on the desk, with the keyphrase "pilfered prisoner
provisions,"
provisio ns," being the last thing written in it.

One of the shards on the desk looks very fa-

miliar. It appears to be a scrying shard, and the one the
cryptoadmin was using to remotely view the other scry-
ing shards throughout the fortress. Another shard looks
identical to the small shards carried by the guards. He
must have used this one to communicate directly with
the many guards in this fortress. Another shard looks
 very similar to the shard embedded in the gearbox be-
low the elevator. Te cryptoadmin likely used this shard
to raise or lower the elevator when one of the guard's
requested it. Perhaps it controls the orge and the cryp-
to-locked doors too? Lastly, there is a shard you haven't
seen before, but a scroll next to it containing a diagram
hints at its purpose. Tis shard is used to switch the con-
figuration of the dwarven engine providing power to the
elevator, the lightning pylons, and something else... ei-
ther the golem, or something else that is plugged in right
now (but not here).

Lastly, there seem to be a pile of books and jour-

nals in one of the desk drawers. Perhaps they give insight
into the purpose of this strange, isolated fortress...

Once they have commandeered the cryptovault,

the party has acquired control of all of the fortress's shards
and know all of its keyphrases (which are written in the
dusty tome). Tey can switch the power configuration of
the dwarven engine to power down the siegemech, pylons,
or elevator. Tey can raise and lower the elevator, command
the ogre, or open and close the crypto-locked doors. Tey
can read all of the keyphrases the remaining guards might
be using to protect their communications in case of emer-

--more--

23
gency. Tey also have access to the fortress's secrets. Te pile
of books and journals will tell the story of this place and its
strategic purpose. We leave those details up the GM as an
opportunity to tie this adventure to an existing campaign, or
provide a teaser for the next adventure.

Te cryptoadmin who fled has warped to another

scrying shard somewhere in the fortress. Te best candidate
 would be thethe shard that's
that's in undercroft,
undercroft, where
where he would at-
tempt to escape by crawling through the barricaded exit, or
 warping to another mysterious
mysterious location
location via the
the ritual cham-
cham-
ber. It depends on what the GM has determined is best for
this story.

Te Courtyard 

Te courtya
courtyard
rd is barren, save for stacks of wood-
en crates and canvas satchels full of spare parts soaking
in the rain, and a single menacing siegemech, a mecha-
nized suit of armor standing several meters tall, tethered
to a chain-mail cord that runs to a small shed. It stands in
front of a barn door that leads the a gigaphid aviary, and
the closed portcullis that leads to the beach. Tis siege-
mech is not fitted for the purposes of siege, lacking any
type of battering ram to cave in doors or tower shield to
protect columns of infantry from arrows. Instead, this
siegemech looks to be designed to help build the fortress,
doing the heavy lifting and stone-setting that it would
take dozens of people to perform with simple machines
like lifts and pulleys. It is still a very formidable threat,
however, and the guard inside it sees you and readies his
giant suit of armor for combat.

Of course, depending on the actions the party has

already taken by this point, one of the following outcomes
happen.

Te gears in the siegemech begin to whir, and

this mechanical monstrosity charges towards you, dust
and dew shaking loose from the courtyard walls with ev-
ery thunderous step it takes. Prepare yourselves for bat-
tle!
--more--

24
  Or...

Te guard attempts to turn the siegemech to-

 wards you, only to realize that someone has killed its
power. Te guard pops open the suit's breastplate and
begins hastily unstrapping himself so he can climb out
to run away, or surrender.

 Assuming the party has to fight the siegemech or

try to get past it to get to the aviary or the lightning pylons,
the siegemech is a tough threat with 30 HP. It's immense
strength allows
allows it to add +3 to the damage of any successful
strike. However, a player that successfully grapples the siege-
mech (which is extraordinarily dangerous) can attempt to
make a tough Craft or Feat of Strength skill-check to unplug
it from its power source, ending the battle.

Te Aviary 

Te aviary is essentially a barn designed to house

gigaphids. Tere are currently three of these giant fly-
ing insects inside the aviary. Tey are all are wearing a
harness that is tied to a post, and all seem to be content
and munching away at bales of hay. Tere is a wooden
lever that, once pulled, causes the trap-door composing
the ceiling to open downward, exposing the aviary to
the open air, allowing untethered gigaphids to fly away.
However, unless the party is certain that the lightning
pylons have been powered down, they should not at-
tempt their escape. Tese giant, bug-zapping towers will
destroy any gigaphid passing overhead.

Te Lightning Pylons

Tere are a total of six lightning pylons fixed to

the top of the walls surrounding the fortress and court-
 yard, distributed
distributed to cover
cover every avenue
avenue of aerial entrance
entrance
or egress. Each of these slender stone towers is topped
 with a spinning orb that ripples with electrical arcs. In-
side each tower is a battery that resembles a massive black
cauldron full of acid, which collects and saves the elec-
tricity from when the orbs above
above get struck by lightning,
--more--

25
 which is very
very frequent
frequent in this stormy part of the sea. Te
batteries are so heavy that the only way to remove one,
effectively
effectiv ely disabling the pylon, is to use the siegemech, or
maybe even enlist the aid of the ogre.

Te Beach

Te beach contains a single long dock composed

of rickety wood covered in sea-grime. Several small fish-
ing boats that have been pulled up into the sand. Te
dock is likely used to port larger vessels that bring in
supplies, whether it is building materials, food and sup-
plies for the guards, or hay for the gigaphids. Te fishing
boats are too small to traverse the raging sea and could
only used be used near the island to catch fish or explore
underwater caverns buried below the island. Is there
more to see of this strange place?

Conclusion

By the end of this adventure, the party is flying on

gigaphids towards their freedom on the mainland. Alterna-
tively, they have defeated all the guards or forced them to
flee or surrender.

If the party has fled, the island fortress itself might

be a fantastic place to return to once they have gathered
allies, resources, and a large enough ship to return to this
place and raid it. If the party has already effectively com-
mandeered the island, they can potentially begin the process
of taking it over immediately, offering safety (and eventual
escape) to the guards who help them maintain it until allied
vessels arrive. Tis place might serve as an exciting remote
safehouse for the players, especially if they can have someone
deliver a Shardscape stone for the golem, and then power it
 with the cable that normally powers the siegemech. And if
it was fun to take over, it might be even more fun to defend
in the case that its previous owner wants it back! After all,
someone spent a lot of time and resources constructing this
fortress. Surely they have a contingency plan should it fall
into enemy hands.

26
 Summary of Part iii

Now that the adventure has come to a conclusion, let's reflect on

all the applicable learning points:

• o gain their freedom, the players likely had to exploit a

number of system vulnerabilities, up to and including: key-
phrases appearing in clear-text, default keyphrases not being
changed on connected devices, and keyphrases left lying
around in the open (the dusty tome may has well have been
a sticky note with a password written on it and stuck to your
computer monitor).

• With its high walls, remote location, and bug-zapping tow-

ers, this fortress is easily defended against
against attacks by land,
sea, and air. However, it was clearly not designed against
threats already on the inside. It appears the only controls to
manage internal threats were the scrying shards and the two-
man key needed to open the cryptovault, and these proved
ineffectivee (assuming the party survived
ineffectiv sur vived the adventure).
 Almost any insider
insider,, whether it was an escaped prisoner or a
disgruntled guard, could do serious harm to this larger secu-
rity system by simply destroying the dwarven engine pow-
ering the lightning pylons or the siegemech. We call this a
"single point of failure," and something every type of system
should avoid, whether it is an information system, a supply
chain, or a human network of actors organizing in secret.

• Lastly, every good system should be designed to recover from

Lastly,
disaster, because the only sure thing in technology is that
systems will eventually break down when you need them the
most. What is the contingency plan for the mysterious orga-
nization who lost this tower? Do they even know it has been
lost to the enemy yet? Will they send an armada of ships and
gigaphid riders to take it back? Will they just cut their losses
and abandon the place entirely? Will they convince the Risk
Eaters to destroy the place with an orbital bombardment of
magical hellfire to protect its true secrets?

27
/root/the networked dungeon/cd ..
/root/cd enterprise shardnet architecture
/root/enterprise shardnet architecture/ls

-rw-rw-r-- root root overview.............................29

-rw-rw-r-- root root the enterprise shardnet...,..........30
-rw-rw-r-- root root user groups..........................31
-rw-rw-r-- root root compartmentalization.................33
-rw-rw-r-- root root leaf shardnets.......................35
-rw-rw-r-- root root branch shardnets.....................37
-rw-rw-r-- root root root shardnets.......................38

Enterprise

shardnet

architecture

28
 /root/enterprise shardnet architecture/

Overview

leaf
shardnet

shardscape

root
shardnet
golem

branch
shardnet

Figure I: Example of an Enterprise

Shardnet
Shard net Arch
Architect
itecture
ure

Big Organizations, Big Secrets

How do really, really big organizations, also known as enterprises ,

protect their secrets? Enterprises employ many people, organize
those people into functional groups, and distribute those groups
across several physical locations throughout the world. Te infor-
mation systems of an enterprise must be able to facilitate rapid
and organized communication between many individuals, many
groups, and many locations. Tis also introduces risk, however,
because a threat to one part of this system could become a threat
to the whole. o secure these very complex information systems,
enterprises can utilize security best practices like role-based access
control, network segmentation, and information compartmen-
talization.. Tis section will present an example of an enterprise
talization
security model for the denizens of Cryptomancer. In the image
above, think of each dot as an individual shard, and think of the
lines as representing a shard's affiliation in a shardnet. Lastly,
keep in mind that there are characters in the game world who are
holding and interacting with these shards. Some have a access to
a single shard, while some have access to several.

--more--

29
/root/enterprise shardnet architecture/

The Enterprise Shardnet

At its simplest, an enterprise shardnet is essentially
a system of private shardnets that directly or indirectly con-
nect back to a single cryptova
cr yptovault
ult for the purposes of 1) con-
necting to each other, and 2) connecting to the Shardscape.
Tink of an enterprise shardnet as a strategy  of   of utilizing a
cryptovault, a golem, and multiple private shardnets to meet
an enterprise's needs related to communication, privacy, and
security. Tere are many different ways to build an enterprise
enterpr ise
shardnet,, and designs are defined by the enterprise's business
shardnet
needs, its threat model (i.e. its understandin
understandingg of likely adver-
saries), and its available resources.

Te enterprise shardnet is built around a golem. Te

advantages of having a golem have been discussed at length
in Cryptomancer , but to quickly review, a golem permits us-
ers out in the field to use the Shardscape no matter where
they are, instead of having to wait in line for access to a
public Shardscape shard. A golem also permits instant com-
munication between shards that would not normally be able
to communicate with each other because they are not part
of the same shardnet. Tese capabilities permit an enterprise
to centrally manage many employees who are organized in
different groups and distributed across many locations, and
provide all of them real-time Shardscape connectivity.

Tis all makes for an enterprise whose employe

employees
es
can act autonomously,
auto nomously, rapidly,
rapidly, and in a coordinated
coo rdinated manner,
regardless of the geographic distance between its employees.
In the context of a trading company, an enterprise shard-
net allows the company to orchestrate and track its ship-
ments, leverage buyers in distant bazaars to compare prices,
and monitor for individuals skimming from the company's
coffers. In the context of a security agency, an enterprise
shardnet allows the agency to remotely manage covert as-
sets placed behind enemy lines, protect sensitive informa-
tion from threats inside the organization, coordinate actions
between assets where one might not even know the other
exists.
--more--

30
 However, a complex and highly connected shard-
However,
net architecture can introduce a lot of risk to the enterprise.
 What if a new employe
employeee who has access to the enterprise
shardnet is actually an enemy agent? What if an employee
has her shard stolen by an adversary who can now directly
access the golem? What if a disgruntled employee bridges
her personal shard to the Shardscape to flood the enterprise
shardnet and render it useless? What if several shards in the
larger enterprise shardnet have been compromised by the
enemy?

It takes more than a golem to build and protect and

enterprise shardnet. A sound enterprise shardnet architec-
ture accounts for these scenarios and more, adding layers
of security and resiliency while also ensuring that the busi-
ness uses of the shardnet continues to function as intended.
Tis will require skilled cryptoadmins, enforceable policies
on acceptable usage of enterprise assets, and smart shardnet
design decisions accounting for security, privacy, and avail-
ability. Tis chapter will be discussing all of these factors at
length.

/root/enterprise shardnet architecture/

User Groups
Fundamental to enterprise shardnet architecture is
the idea of user groups . A user group is essentially a group of
people who share the same set of permissions. If an individu-
al is added to the "archivist" group, she is permitted to enter
the city-state's archive, peruse its records, and update records
to account for legal changes (e.g. births, deaths, marriages,
inheritances, etc.). If she is removed from that group, she
is no longer permitted to do any of those tasks. As another
example, an individual added to the "constable" group is
permitted to arrest people, sleep at the local barracks, and
be allowed entry into any building so long as he announces
himself. If he is removed from that group, he loses those
privileges. Lastly, an individual can be part of multiple user
groups depending on their role. For example, an inquisitor
 who hunts
hunts down, interrogat
interrogates,
es, and meets justice
justice on enemies
of the state is added to both the "archivist" and "constable"

--more--

31
groups. If she falls out of favor with the local regent approv-
ing her authority, she is removed from the inquisitor role,
and subsequently removed from both the "archivist" and
"constable" groups.

An enterprise shardnet uses groups in much the

same way. Te proposed design in Figure I features three
generic user groups: root, branch, and leaf. Tese groups
are listed in descending order of  privilege . By privilege, we
mean the level of sensitive information an individual can
access and how much she is permitted to do. An individual
has shardnet access equal to the level of trust placed in her.
For example, a new employee, a temporary contractor, or a
disposable asset (e.g. a spy or assassin) would likely be part
of the leaf group. A cryptoadmin, a guild boss, or the head
of a noble house, meanwhile, would likely be part of the
root group.

Let's discuss what privilege looks like on an enter-

prise shardnet.

Participants in the leaf user group are non-priv-

ileged users who are part of a small private shardnet that
is not directly connected to the golem. Tey can can only
communicate to other parts of the enterprise, such as the
golem or other leaf user groups, when a member of the
branch user group determines it is necessary.

Participants who are part of the branch user group

are semi-privileged users who can directly access the Shard-
scape safely via the golem. A branch user is typically also
part of one or more leaf user groups, usually composed of
employees that report to her directly.

Participants who are part of the root user group are

privileged users who are able to access the shardnet’s most
sensitive data (e.g. the golem’s registry), make substantive
changes to the shardnet (i.e. reset or reconfigure the golem),
or issue orders to all other users on the enterprise shardnet.
Tey are also part of the branch user group, so they can
communicate directly with the bosses who manage the vari-
ous leaf user groups.

32
/root/enterprise shardnet architecture/

Compartmentalization
Compartmentalization is the process of keeping
Compartmentalization
some information subjects separate from others. In an es-
pionage context, it is done to minimize the damage that an
individual insider threat or captured/interrogated agent can
do to the larger organization. Consider the spying agency of
a human city-state, keeping an eye on neighboring factors.

Tis organizatio
organizationn might have a spy placed at a near-
by dwarven clanhall and a spy placed at a nearby elven la-
cuna tree. Trough compartmentalization, these two spies
don't know anything about each other. If the dwarven spy
gets caught and is interrogated, there is no chance of him
giving up the identity of the elven spy, because he doesn't
even know she exists, and vice versa. Going up the chain,
there are likely two separate case managers back in the hu-
man city-state handling these spies. Tese case managers
know each other exists, and maybe even work in the same
building, but they don't know anything about the other's
 work. If
If the dwarf spy is compelled
compelled to
to turn on his case man-
man-
ager, and she is caught and interrogated as a result, the case
manager might know everything about spying operations
against the dwarves, but doesn't know anything about spy-
ing operations against the elves.

A sound enterprise shardnet architecture will be

built with these principles in mind. Te design must 1) keep
compartmentalized groups separate from each other and 2)
be resilient against a scenario where an individual shard is
compromised. Te proposed architecture from Figure I at-
tempts to achieve this, at least partially. Tere will always
be lingering security problems (in fact, Cryptomancer   was
designed to ensure this). Let's dig into it on the next page.

--more--

33
 leaf
shardnet

Consider the actor at the center of this image. She

holds a four shards. Te dark gray dot represents the shard
she holds from the branch shardnet, while the light gray
dots represent shards from three separate leaf shardnets. We
 will consider her a lieutenant
lieutenant or manager
manager in the larger
larger orga-
nization. With her branch shard, she is able to communica
communicate te
directly with other lieutenants as well as communicate di-
rectly with the enterprise golem. With her leaf shards, she is
able to communicate with the three field teams that report
to her. Tese discrete subgroups are composed of workers,
soldiers, or mooks who take their orders from the lieutenan
lieutenant.
t.
It is very possible (and likely) that these groups don’t even
know of each other's existence. She can communicate with
all of them, but they cannot communicate with each other,
at least over shardnet, unless she chooses to create a bridge.

Leaf shardnets are disposable. Te enterprise shard-

net threat model assumes that leaf shardnets are the most
likely to be stolen or compromised, because the people car-
rying them are agents out in the field, doing the dirty work
of the organization. Tey are also the lowest ranking, least
trusted, and most easily replaced members of the organi-
zation. If one of the leaf shards are compromised by an at-
tacker, there might be serious trouble for the rest of the leaf
shardnet, but there is no further harm done to the larger
organization. In fact, the lieutenant could sever all ties to
a compromised leaf network and even do so instantly by
disposing of or shattering her leaf shard associated with a
compromised shardnet.

--more--

34
 However, if the lieutenant loses her branch shard,
However,
 which she uses to communicate with other lieutenan
lieutenants
ts and
the golem, there is considerable risk to the larger organi-
zation. An adversary now has the ability to eavesdrop on
communications in the branch shardnet, masquerade as her,
or disrupt the network in other ways (e.g. cast Denier, drop
Shard Spikes, geolocate the other lieutenants, or bridge the
branch shardnet with the Shardscape in order to flood it
and bring normal communications to a halt). It is for this
reason that lieutenants are assigned personal security details,
are instructed to destroy their branch shards if capture is
imminent, and are often kept in the dark regarding what the
other lieutenants are up to.

Now that we've had a chance to talk about some

of the big principles behind an enterprise shardnet architec-
ture, we're going to be discussing the leaf, branch, and root
user groups at length, from the perspective of a character in
those groups.

/root/enterprise shardnet architecture/

Leaf Shardnets
leaf
shardnet

I am an individual worker in a large organization

organization..
Perhaps I am an accountant sitting inside the one of the
offices of a inter-realm bank that has locations in every ma-
 jor city-state, clanhall, and lacuna
lacuna tree. Perhaps
Perhaps I am a field
agent for a secret resistance organization spread across the
region or perhaps a mercenary in a guild that does the dirty
 work for different rulers throughout the lands. Either way way,,

--more--

35
I am part of something very big and very organized, but I
don't have access to all of it, because I am just a worker.

Te organizatio
organization n gave me a shard. Tey call it a
"leaf shard," because just like a leaf on tree, when a leaf is
cut or falls off of a tree, no harm is done to the tree. My leaf
shard is part of a small shardnet, composed of maybe four to
six other leaf shards. My immediate comrades and cowork-
ers are holding on to the other shards, as is my local boss,
the one who gives me assignments. We use our leaf shard-
net to talk to each other and coordinate our actions during
an assignment. We try to use cryptomancy to encrypt our
communication in case one of our leaf shards falls into the
 wrong hands, but sometimes we forget. Te boss yells at us
for this and we try
tr y harder next time.

When I am out in the field doing my duties, and

I need to access the Shardscape, I don't actually have to go
find a public Shardscape shard in the city. I can simply use
our leaf shardnet to tell my boss what information I need to
find or what message I want to send someone on the Shard-
scape. Tis means I have to tell her everything, including the
keyphrases I use if I want her to send an encrypted
encr ypted message.
Tat's OK, though, I mostly trust her. And if I was keeping
a secret from my organization, I certainly wouldn't use their
shards to talk about it.

Most of the time, the boss tells me what to do. But

sometimes, she gets orders from her boss. Us workers never
get to see those conversations though, because they happen
on the "branch" shardnet.

36
/root/enterprise shardnet architecture/

The Branch Shardnet

golem

branch
shardnet

I am a local boss or lieutenant in a large organi-

zation. Perhaps I am the regional manager of a soma dis-
tribution company in elven controlled lands. Perhaps I am
the spymaster handling and secretly communicating with
agents I have placed behind enemy lines. Either way, I man-
age and orchestrate the activities of many workers. I have
one shard from multiple separate shardnets. I use this one
to communicate with the team I have in the forest, this one
for the team in the dwarven depths, and this one for the
team squatting in the city. I can communicate with any of
these teams, but none of teams know the others exist. Our
organization does that so if one team gets captured or com-
promised, they can't betray the other teams.

I check these leaf shards constantly to stay up to

date on what my teams are doing. However, I spend a lot of
time using my branch shard. Other managers like me, man-
aging their own teams, have a branch shard, too. We talk
to one another frequently on this shardnet and sometimes
collaborate. If a manager needs help, for example, I might
instruct one of my teams to travel to that manager's region
and provide assistance. None of our workers have access to
this shardnet, so we can discuss our plans freely. However,
 we still use cryptomancy to protect our messages, because
 what we talk
talk about is very
very,, very sensitive.
sensitive.

--more--

37
 Aside from the other managers, there are two very
important beings who also possess a branch shard: our cryp-
cr yp-
toadmin and our golem. Tey are both in our organization's
secret and heavily fortified cryptovault. I sometimes talk
 with the cryptoadmin about security matters, but most of
the time, I am talking to the golem. Sort of. When I want
to access the Shardscape, I encrypt my request using the
golem's true name. Only the cryptoadmin and the other
managers know the golem's true name, for security purpos-
es. Sometimes I tell it to perform queries to find informa-
tion that one of my workers asked for. Sometimes I tell it
to send an encrypted message and then start listening for
a certain keyphrase that my recipient will use to reply back
to me. Because I am encrypting my requests to the golem
 with its true
true name,
name, none
none of the other managers can see
see these
these
communications.
communicat ions. However,
However, the golem logs everything in the
registry, so I know the cryptoadmin can review what I'm up
to. Sometimes, I have to have a chat with someone on the
root shardnet because of what I have been querying.

/root/enterprise shardnet architecture/

The Root Shardnet

shardscape

root
shardnet
golem

I am our organization
organization's
's cryptoadmin. My job is
mission critical. I keep the golem in working order and
manage our overall shardnet infrastructure. You could say
our entire mission rests in my hands. I have been extensively
vetted, but the big bosses have taken measures to ensure I
don't get any ideas about betraying the organization. Every
once in a while, they send an inquisitor to have a chat with
me. Sometimes, he'll cast the "Mind Read" spell on me to
--more--

38
 make sure I tell them the truth. It's all part of being trusted
 with this responsibilit
responsibilityy, I guess. Tey also have leverage on
me. Tey know my true name, and the true names of my
family members. Tey can and will find me if something
goes wrong. However, it won't come to that, because they
take good care of me. And the last thing I want to wake up
to is a Risk Eater crawling through my window.

I spend almost every waking hour in our cryp-

tovault. Tis place is a veritable fortress. Tere is a whole
garrison of guards outside the vault doors to protect me and
also protect the windmills that are providing power to the
golem. Inside the vault, there are shards everywhere. Most
of them are in the golem's hands, though, literally. I use
my branch shard to communicate to the other members of
branch; the managers and lieutenants running the teams out
in the field. I use my cryptomantic and magical know-how
to support them when they need it. For example, if a man-
ager wants to know exactly where one of her agents are, I'll
ask her to temporarily bridge her branch shard with the leaf
shardnet that has the missing agent. I'll then cast "racer,"
a spell that builds a mental map of the physical location of
every shard I'm connected to. So yes, I'll be able to tell you
 where every branch shard is, but now I can also you where all
four or five leaf shards are in that shardnet the manager has
bridged. Don't get me wrong, I don't like to do this. When
that bridge is made, it creates an opportunity for someone
on that leaf shardnet to eavesdrop on the branch network
or even access the golem. Tat's why I usually tell branch
to maintain silence while I do this, and tell the manager to
sever the bridge the moment I am done casting the spell.

Tere was one time we were getting shard stormed

from the inside. One of the lieutenant's had his shard sto-
len, and the thief was crushing us by bridging that branch
shard with the public Shardscape. We have a plan for this.
 All branch users check in, using a special keyphrase just for
this occasion. Te shardnet traffic is a mess, but I can at
least focus on that keyphrase. Te one who doesn't check in?
Tat's our troublemaker. I then cast racer to locate them
and then pick up a shard (not connected to the golem ) that

--more--

39
I use to contact a stormer crew we contract in emergencies.
I create a bridge for them to join our (noisy) shardnet, and
they Shard Warp over to the troublemaker and solve the
problem. Violently
Violently..

I have access to a special shardnet that not even

the managers have access to, and we call it the "root shard-
net." Te root shardnet is used by me and the organization's
big bosses. Te golem has one, too. Tey really don't use
it much, but when they want to talk to me directly, they'll
encrypt their messages with my true name so only I can
see it. Te message will contain a keyphrase I should use to
respond back. Tey usually ask for a status report on what's
going on in the organization, or ask me to look up some-
thing in the registry. Tese folks are paranoid, and often
 want to see what kind of queries the managers are making
in the Shardscape. Sometimes they want to talk directly to a
manager, and they'll ask me to create a bridge between root
and branch. Tey'll usually encrypt with that manager's true
name, so I can't really see what is being talked about. Nei-
ther can the golem, which means I couldn't see what they
are talking about even if I wanted to take a look in the reg-
istry. Tat's probably for the best.

Tere was one time when the big bosses asked me

to reset the golem's true name, and then only share the go-
lem's true name with four of the six managers. I told them
that those two managers and their teams won't be able to
access the Shardscape if I do that, and they told me not
to worry about it. Ten they asked me to bridge root with
branch and started contacting the four managers they trust-
ed, presumably using their true names for encryption. Te
remaining two managers kept asking what was going on,
but I didn't reply, because I didn't know and figured the
brass were up to something. Ten a few hours later, those
managers went silent, completely
co mpletely.. No more echoes, nothing.
I figured out what happened a few days later, when an agent
dropped of two branch shards in a blood-soaked bag and
tore a few pages out of the registry.

40
 My Secrets, Their Assets

Tis section discussed some elements of enterprise I that may

be relevant to real life, even if our reader is not directly part of an
I or security department. Consider the voice of the worker bee
on the leaf shardnet,
shardnet, saying "[If ] I was keeping a secret from my
organization,, I certainly wouldn't use their shards to talk about
organization
it."

 While privacy
privacy laws vary wildly
wildly from country to country
country,, it is
typically a safe bet to assume that an individual worker has no
expectation of online privacy when leveragin
leveragingg company assets.
Many organizations log all of their employee's online activi-
ty, and not just because they are nosy or worried about your
productivity! Tey are often compelled to log all online activity
in order to comply with regulations or compliance obligations,
or to detect malicious traffic from company devices that have
been compromised by malware. Unfortunately, using anonymiz-
ing services such as OR or a private VPN at work are rarely
viable alternatives and are frequently prohibited. Again, this
isn't because companies are nosy. It is because they are trying to
protect their organization from data loss. An encrypted, anony-
mous, outbound connection is exactly the type of thing that an
adversary would use to exfiltrate sensitive
sensitive data from your organi-
zation. When security analysts see this type of activity, it is often
their duty to investigate it and treat it as malicious until they can
verify otherwise.

 All this is to
to say that if
if a secret is worth
worth keeping from
from someone,
don't use their devices to keep it from them. It is often their
right and their obligation to know what's happening on their
property. It's nothing personal. For secrets worth keeping, stick
to your own devices, like your phone.

41
/root/enterprise shardnet architecture/cd ..
/root/cd offline security
/root/offline security/ls

-rw-rw-r-- root root overview...............................43

-rw-rw-r-- root root psychometric crypto....................44
-rw-rw-r-- root root gigaphid drone surveillance............45
-rw-rw-r-- root root astral crypto..........................47
-rw-rw-r-- root root counter-location techniques............48
-rw-rw-r-- root root key generation under deep surveillance.50

offline security

42
 /root/offline security/

Overview
Tis chapter explores fantasy methods of evading
physical surveillance, disrupting techniques to geolocate
shards, and securely generating/exchanging shared secrets
(e.g. keyphrases) when traditional methods are either im-
practicle or presumed compromised.

Privacy and Security in the

Meatspace

Tis chapter was written to get our readers thinking about

how we can maintain information security and privacy in the
meatspace  (i.e.
 (i.e. the actual physical world) also known as IRL
(in real life). Te applicability of these topics, in real life, really
depends on your individual threat model (i.e. the universe of
possible threats to your physical safety and privacy) and your
individual risk tolerance (i.e. your willingness to forego taking
countermeasures against realistic threats because you think the
likelihood of these threats materializing
materializing is so low). Tis is not,
and should not, be confused with "how paranoid you are."
 Your
 Y our threat model
model may be very different from someone else'selse's
threat model based on experiences and affiliations. If you have
ever participated in a protest, it is possible that you have been
photographed, identified through facial recognition technolo-
gy, and added to a law enforcement database. If you live in the
Middle East, military drones surveying and sometimes striking
the population is a very real possibility. For those who have dealt
 with stalkers,
stalkers, device geolocation
geolocation can absolutely
absolutely impact
impact one's
safety and privacy. Even if you don't count yourself among these
groups, the laws and technology of surveillance continue to
change, compelling us all to review our personal threat models.
If there is one takeaway here, it is to not dismiss legitimate con-
cerns over physical surveillance as "being paranoid."

43
/root/offline security/

Psychometric Crypto
Te PsyPsychometry
chometry spell in Cryptomancer permits a
spell caster to receive psychic impressions from an inanimate
object. Tis spell has clear investigative purposes. For ex-
ample, an investigator can cast Psychometry on a discarded
murder weapon to get impressions of the last person who
touched it. However, the spell also has immense potential
to facilitate secret communication outside the context of the
Shardscape.
Shard scape. Consider the following scenario of a case man-
ager communicating secretly with one of her clandestine as-
sets in broad daylight.

Te case manager is undercov

undercover
er as a simple mer-
chant running a fruit stand in the city-state's bazaar. Every
afternoon, she shows up to her vendor stall to sell the fruit
she has picked from an orchard the night before. Her fa-
vorite customer stops by every morning and asks her for
the best apple she's picked. She reaches for an apple that
she's withheld from the apple bin and hands it to him. He
takes it, flips her a coin, and walks away munching on an
apple. Tis entire exchange happens in front of constables
patrolling the bazaar, not to mention other customers.

Her favorite customer then walks to the privacy of

a nearby alley.
alley. Tere, he casts Psychometry on the half-eaten
half- eaten
apple. If his player roles 1 success, he merely gets impressions
impressions
of the exchange that happened at the bazaar.
baz aar. However,
However, if his
player roles 2 or more successes, he gets a stark vision of his
case manager holding the apple in her hand and speaking
directly at it, as if it was alive. "Your mission tonight," she
says, "is to tail the captain of the guard and determine which
haunts he goes to after his shift. I expect a full report in the
morning. Imbue it in the coin you use to pay for your next
apple, using this same technique."

Ten, he eats the evidence.

44
/root/offline security/

Gigaphid Drone Surveillance

Tere is no Sylvettic canopy or Subterran mountain
obscuring the sky above the human-ruled city-state. Tere
is only open air and a handful of riderless gigaphids slowly
and silently circling overland. Each of these gigaphids is fit
 with a leather harness. Embedded in the harness padding
that covers the gigaphid's lower abdomen is a shard, aimed
downward at the land below. Inside a cryptovault
cry ptovault deep with-
in the regent's keep is a cryptoadmin using the Shard Scry
spell to monitor the rooftops and open streets of the city-
state, keeping a watchful eye on the populace. Whether it is
a fire or a riot or an orcish invasion, the cryptoadmin, with
eyes in the sky, can see these events break out and immedi-
ately dispatch personnel to deal with the crisis.

At least, that was the vision sold to the people. A

few years ago, the regent and his court heard a proposal by
a local elven tribe looking to sell off a handful of gigaphids
that refused to take on riders, rendering them useless to the
elven armada. Te open sky above the city-state created an
opportunity to use them for something ineffective in Sylvet-
tica: aerial surveillance. While a few of the regent's political
rivals raised concerns over the idea of giving the regent such
power, these rabblerousers were shouted down. Te city-
state faced many crises, including terrorists blowing them-
selves up with alchemical bombs in crowded bazaars. Any
advantage that could be given to the constabulary to fight
this new menace was in the public interest. Besides, the re-
gent was a good and just man, they said.

Tey were right. Te regent was a good and just

man. Under his guidance, the gigaphid drones were only
used to detect and help manage major crises that arose in
or near the city-state. However, the regent would soon pass
away and his eldest son, heir to the throne, was neither good
nor just.

oday
oday,, the gigaphid drones have a very different
mission from the one that was proposed years earlier. Tey

--more--

45
 are used to spy on enemies of the state (real or imagined,
but mostly imagined) as well as keep tabs on the paranoid
regent's political rivals. Te cryptoadmins monitoring the
streets and public squares that the drones survey
sur vey are not sim-
ply watching passively, looking for problems. Instead, they
are scribbling down the times and locations of meetings
occurring between the subjects under scrutiny in massive
tomes, and correlating events to establish possible relation-
ships between actors who never actually met under the gaze
of the gigaphid drone. Trace was seen in the marketplace
 with Moriarta, and Moriarta was seen in the gardens with
Herkin, so Trace must know Herkin. Guilt by association
is the new regent's favorite tool for culling his rivals.
r ivals.

Political agents and concerned citizens alike avoid

the drone's gaze by traveling at night, traveling amongst
large groups, or taking tunnels and interior paths from one
point to another. Most of the city-state's folk take no such
precautions. Tey shrug, saying "I've nothing to hide from
my king," though he has shown his willingness, if not ea-
gerness, to use his analysts' crude relationship-mapping to
prove something  where
 where nothing  actually
 actually exists.

Tose paranoid few who decried the initial plan

under the old king fled the city-state long before things de-
generated in such a manner. Tey now form an echo-col-
lective on the Shardscape cautioning people throughout all
of Sphere about ceding too much liberty to those in power,
regardless of the threats facing the people. "Never cede lib-
erty to the regent you love and trust," they say, "unless you
are willing to cede the same liberty to the regent you most
fear." Teir message resonates with people. Tat is, until the
state whips the people
peop le into a panicked frenzy, propping up a
single act of violence to declare the humans, or the elves, or
the dwarves, or some other group, as eternal enemies hiding
in plain sight amongst the people.

And somewhere, an elven accountant laughs and

counts his coin.

46
/root/offline security/

Astral Crypto
Te Astral Eye cantrip in Cryptomancer  permits
  permits a
spell caster to perceive traces of magical or physical evidence
that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye, such as
fingerprints or cleaned blood splatters. Much like the Psy-
chometry spell, this cantrip has clear investigative purposes
but can also be used to facilitate secret communication out-
side the context of the Shardscape. Consider another scenar-
io of a case manager communicating secretly
secretly with one of her
clandestine assets in front of witnesses.

After a long shift of picking fruit for her front oper-

ation, the case manager goes to the local temple to observe
prayers to her god. She sits down in the back bench, picks
up the hymnal book, and rubs her finger against the pages,
as if she was silently reading along. She then closes the book,
book ,
leaves the temple, and retires for the evening. Shortly there-
after, a cloaked temple patron sits down where she sat, picks
up the hymnal book, flips through a few pages, and then
leaves. All of this occurs before the clergy and other faithful
temple goers.

What the witnesses to this event did not see, how-

ever, was that the case manager was using her fingerprints
to imprint a message onto the pages of the hymnal, and
the cloaked patron (hiding his glowing Astral Eyes from on-
lookers) was flipping through the pages to read this invisible
message. It read "We cannot wait any longer. Strike the tar-
get tonight."

Several blocks away

away,, in an exclusive and secure gat-
ed community, a handmaid stands on the third-story balco-
ny of the baron's estate, taking in some night air. When she
hears the town's clock-tower strike midnight, she gestures in
the air and her Astral Eyes glow blue. She surveys the roof-
tops outside of the gated community, squinting, and sees a
glowing Scout Sprite, which would normally be invisible.
Te sprite moves in a fashion as to scrawl a message of light
in the night sky: "Strike tonight." Te handmaid procures a
blade from her boot and walks back into the estate.

47
/root/offline security/

Counter-Location Techniques
You've acquired a shard that doesn't belong to you.
Perhaps you've pick-pocketed it from a constable, or looted
it from the corpse of an enemy you just bested in combat,
or maybe you just found it somewhere and you don't really
know who it belongs to. Either way, you've stumbled into
someone else's shardnet and now have access to their secrets.
 At the same time, you've inherited some potentiall
potentiallyy seri-
ous security and privacy problems. Let's count the ways this
could come back to haunt you:

• Someone casts racer to ascert

ascertain
ain where their missing
shard went.

• Someone casts Shard Scry to visually spy on you.

• Someone casts a weakly-encr

weakly-encrypted
ypted Shard Spike to phys-
ically locate you the moment you access the shard.

• Someone casts Shard Warp to teleport to your location,

and they are very unhappy with you.

Given these risks, it is tempting to stomp on a sto-

len shard, breaking it into a million pieces and destroying
des troying its
connectivity to whatever shardnet it came from. As much as
you'd like to use it to eavesdrop on and monitor your ene-
mies, you couldn't possibly risk carrying it around with you,
let alone bring it back to your safehouse. Tankfully, there
are a few methods to manage this magical liability sitting in
your inventory.

Shadow Cache

One method of securely managing a stolen shard

is to bury it in the shadow realm, using the Shadow Cache
spell from Cryptomancer . When a shard is buried in a shad-
ow cache, it no longer exists in the physical plane, making
it impossible to geolocate via racer or Shard Spike, impos-
sible to spy on via Shard Scry, and impossible to teleport to

--more--

48
via Shard Warp.
Warp. Te shard still receives
receive s echoes in the shadow
shad ow
realm, however, meaning that it can be extracted later and
reviewed for previous communications. Of course, the sto-
len shard maintains all of the previously mentioned security
problems once it is pulled back into the corporeal realm.

Faraday Bond 

Another method is to stow the stolen shard in an

aerated jar inhabited by two Echoeater familiars who have
developed a Faraday Bond . When two or more Echoeaters
are trapped in close proximity and resist the urge to destroy
each other (due to their mortal master's skillful rearing), a
Faraday Bond is formed. A Faraday Bond causes Echoeaters
to emit a chemical that literally  eats
 eats echoes that are inbound
to a shard, effectively severing that shard's connectivity to
its shardnet until it is removed from the jar. Te conditions
for a Faraday Bond are readily available for characters who
have acquired two Echoeater familiars (by purchasing the
 Whisperer talent
talent twice).

Moving arg
arget 
et 

For those who are neither magically-inc

magically-inclined
lined nor
 willing to foster a pair of bloated, fist-sized beetles, there
are a few mundane options, though none of them are near-
ly as convenient. A straightforward method is to stow the
shard in a location that is easily surveilled and/or heavily
trapped. Given that shards are an expensive commodity, it
is likely that members of the compromised shardnet would
do everything in their power to recover or destroy a stolen
shard. If the shard is secured in a very public place, such as
a town square, it might provide an excellent excuse for the
two parties involved to parlay peacefully. A less straightfor-
 ward method designed
designed to misdirect and torment the
the owner
of a stolen shard would be to wrap it in a wad of meat and
feed it to a roaming animal, such as a street dog. Tis will
lead the owner on a wild-goose chase, likely through some
unsavory places, until the animal passes the shard... a truly
sordid prize.

49
/root/offline security/

Key Generation
Under Deep Surveillance
Under ideal circumstances, it is simple for two ac-
Under
tors to communicate securely on the Shardscape, so long
as at least one of the actors know the other's true name.
However, let's consider the worst possible circumstances:
neither actor knows the other's true name, and all in-person
communication between the two actors is being monitored
closely by enemy agents, or neither actor knows where the
other is but still needs to reach them. In order to generate
and then use new keyphrases that they both know, but oth-
ers won't know, they need to leverage some piece of infor-
mation that is provided by the physical world that is both
somewhat random and somewhat reliable. Tey also need to
agree on this source of information before they find them-
selves separated or under deep surveillance,
sur veillance, as an emergency
measure.

Let's first consider a technique for two actors who

are separated for a long period of time but must down recon-
nect on the Shardscape. One technique would be to lever-
age a regularly occurring and publicly available string on the
Shardscape as keyphrase material. For example, both actors
could agree in advance to query the Shardscape
Shardscape for "the cost
of barrel of soma in Prantis" and then encrypt using a key-
phrase based on what's being reported, coupled with some
 word or string they agreed on earlier (e.g. "rabbits). For
example, if a barrel of soma costs 1,187 coins today, their
keyphrase today  might
 might be "one thousand one hundred and
eighty seven rabbits." Both actors know to perform the ini-
tial query on a daily basis, and then query for messages en-
crypted with the newly formed keyphrase. No matter where
they are, what has transpired, or what previous keyphrases
have been compromised, they know they will be able to stay
in touch and reconnect securely.

Next, let's consider two actors who are able to in-

teract in person, but are under deep surveillance, and find it

--more--

50
 impossible to exchange notes or even whisper to each other
 without being compromised. A possible technique to use
here is to play a game with each other that produces random
or semi-random results, and then use those results as key-
phrase material. For example, two actors under surveillance
can go to a tavern nightly, and play a few turns of chess
against each other while drinking a mug of ale and making
perfectly innocent
inno cent small talk. Perhaps they play three turns a
night, and ask the barkeep to not disrupt their board. What
they are doing is generating keyphrases. After three turns,
the keyphrase for the evening might be "pawn moves, bish-
op moves, rook takes bishop." omorrow, after three more
moves, the keyphrase will be different. Te agents monitor-
ing these two actors might be watching the game and even
tracking the movements, but it would take a pretty savvy
analyst to determine what's actually going on here.

Both of these technique do have a number of se-

curity problems. First and foremost, if the thing generating
the keying material is broken (e.g. soma is banned in Pran-
tis, someone steals the chess board, etc.), communication
is broken until a new keyphrase generator is found. Tere
isn't much to address this, other than having a fall back
keyphrase. Secondly, if an adversary learns the methodolo-
gy behind the keyphrase generation (either through analytic
genius or interrogation), they can use the methodology to
eavesdrop on future communications (and potentially past
communications).

However, both of these techniques are somewhat

However,
resilient even against eavesdroppers who have compromised
the methodology. In the case of a the soma price cypher, the
adversary would have to get historical records of soma price
fluctuations and generate keyphrases for every day going
backwards, potentially
potentially for months or years. Tis is an enor-
mous amount of labor and much harder than simply using
one keyphrase to harvest months or years worth of conver-
sation. In the case of the chess cypher, the adversary would
have to somehow reverse engineer the previous movements,
or generate a brute force list of all possible movements,
 which would likely take a Code Cleric's lifetime. Either way
way,,
harvesting previous message utilizing these techniques is ex-
traordinary painful.

51
/root/offline security/cd ..
/root/cd new talents and spells
/root/new talents and spells/ls

-rw-rw-r-- root root new talents............................53

-rw-rw-r-- root root new spells.............................56

new talents

and spells

52
/root/new talents and spells/

New Talents
Tis section introduces new talents for Crypto-
mancer  characters,
  characters, some of which were designed to better
facilitate the adventure modules in this sourcebook.

Caster's Carry-On 2 alent Points

 An actor is able to attune her trademark outfit or

trademark weapon (and associated ammo) to her magical
essence and transport it with her when casting Shard Warp.
Tis talent may be purchased twice.

Feral Ferocity  1 alen

alentt Point 

 An actor is able to use her knowledg

knowledgee of animal
behavior and physiology to prevail in combat against the
natural fauna of the forest and the deep. Once per scene of
combat, she can make an additional Beast Ken skill-check
immediately after doing damage to any non-sentient beast
(e.g. bears, giant vermin, wolves, etc.) and add any successes
to the damage she delivered. Te difficulty of this skill check
is identical to her attack roll.

Martial Mana 3 alent Points

 An actor can convert her mana reserves to vitality

vitality..
She can convert 3 MP (of her own) to 1 HP (of her own)
at will, at any time, including immediately after sustaining
damage.

Mechanical Malice 1 alent Point 

 An actor is able to use her

her knowledge
knowledge of metallurgy
and clockwork to prevail in combat against constructs and
mechanized foes. Once per scene of combat, she can make
an additional Craft skill-check immediately after doing
damage to a mechanical foe (e.g. behemoths, siegemechs,
etc.) and add any successes to the damage she delivered. Te
difficulty of this skill check is identical to her attack roll.

--more--

53
Pattern Recognition 1 alent Point 

An actor is able to instinctive

instinctively
ly separate the signal
from the noise and find patterns hidden in data. Once per
session, she can invoke this talent to automatically deter-
mine if there is a useful pattern hiding within a set of data,
 which includes but is not limited to encrypted shardnet
communications,
communication s, financial records, golem registry logs, and
town board posts. No skill check is necessary. She simply
needs to say she is using it, and the GM should provide as
much information as possible.

Shardsplitter 2 alent Points

An actor has acquired the very secret and exclusive

knowledge of shard-splitting from a dwarven gem-cutter.
She is able to split any shard into several equally-sized parts,
thereby creating a new shardnet. o do so, she must succeed
at a Craft skill check, the difficulty of which is determined
by how many shards she is trying to create: trivial for less
than 6 shards, tough for more than 20 shards, and challeng-
ing for anything in between. Failure results in not being able
to figure the correct calculations and needing some down-
time to stew on it. Dramatic failure destroys the shard. Re-
member, a shard cut any smaller than a chicken egg becomes
bec omes
a mundane gem with no connectivity. Tis talent may only
be learned by another character who possesses the talent.

Sudden Snares 3 alen

alentt Points

An actor is able to see and exploit opportunities

to turn scenery (including objects and architecture) into
traps at moment's notice, without premeditation.
premeditation. Once per
scene, she can make a raps skill check to determine how
many points of traps she can leverage against her enemies,
as if she had already spent a session of downtime preparing
them. Her player is still on the hook for narrating how these
improvised traps are sprung (e.g. pulling out the rug un-
derneath foes, knocking down large chandeliers, smashing
support beams to create a cave-in, etc.).

--more--

54
empe
empered
red ast
astee 1 alen
alentt Point 

An actor is a bard of beverage and minstrel of

meals, able to recount fascinating details and unearth hid-
den nuances of food and drink, to the delight of her audi-
ence. Ignore 1 botch for any Charm, Deception, Menace,
or Performance
Performance skill check so long as the character is using
anecdotes about food or drink that is present in the cur-
rent scene to inform her yarns, insults, or compliments.

rue Named Blad

Bladee 2 alen
alentt Point
ointss

An actor can consecrate her trademark weapon

 with her true name, making it more
more effective against
against that
adversaries that know her true name. She paints or etch-
es her true name onto the weapon, and then uses basic
cryptomancy to encrypt that mark with her soul key. Te
 weapon now does +1 damage to anyone who knows her
true name. However, there is immense risk in revealing
your true name to enemies, so be careful!

rue Named Plat

Platee 2 alen
alentt Point
ointss

An actor can consecrate her trademark outfit

 with her true name, making it more resilient to attacks
from adversaries that know her true name. She paints or
etches her true name onto her outfit, and then uses basic
cryptomancy to encrypt that mark with her soul key. Te
armor now has +1 DR against attacks made by anyone
 who knows her true name. Howe However
ver,, there is immense
risk in revealing your true name to enemies, so be careful!

 Vermin
 Vermin Vantage
Vantage 3 alent
alent Points
Points

An actor always has a useful set of tools available

to her, by virtue of her relationship with insects and oth-
er vermin offering their services to her. At any time, she
has access to insects that can substitute for a lockpick and
torsion wrench, a stylus and ink, and a silken rope (which
can also function as a stabilizing tourniquet). She simply
 wills the insects and vermin in the area to come to her her,,
and they contort their bodies into tools, or produce as
much ink or silk as she needs.

55
/root/new spells/

New Spells
Tis section introduces new spells for Cryptomancer 
characters, some of which were designed to better facilitate
the adventure modules in this source book.

 Anti-Scry (Cantrip)
(Cantrip)

A spell that irritates a caster with a tingling sensa-

tion or a dull pain whenever she is in the line of sight of an
active scrying shard. Te sensation or pain becomes more
acute when the eye of the scryer is gazing upon her. Caster
makes an unopposed Willpower skill check of challenging
difficulty. Upon success, the target is instantly notified any
time she is in line of sight of an active scrying shard, and
ignores a botch when making a Stealth skill check to avoid
their gaze. She is also instantly notified if she has been seen
through a scrying shard. She can cast this spell on herself, or
another target, so long as she can lay a hand on them. Lasts
for the duration of a scene.

Mana Mold (Cantrip)

 A cantrip that permits

permits a caster to hold
hold a small item
in one hand and then conjure a magical replica of that item
in the other hand. Tis is a stealth spell, cast without the
verbal evocation and light show associated with most spells.
Caster holds a small item (small enough to fit into a pock-
et) and makes an unopposed Willpower skill check of chal-
lenging difficulty. If she succeeds, she has conjured an exact
physical replica of the object, though anyone with Astral
Eyes can determine the object is a magical replica, and its
creator can be found with Astral rail. Tis cantrip is par-
ticularly useful for making copies of keys, coins, scrolls, and
other objects that might be pick-pocketed from their owners
(and maybe even returned). However, Mana Mold does not
 work on any object that already
already has magical
magical properties (e.g.
encrypted scrolls, potions, shards, or another magical repli-
ca).

--more--

56
Rope Sprite (Basic Spell)

A spell that conjures a translucent, silent wisp that

floats around and leaves a glowing magical trail in its wake.
 As soon as the caster revokes the spell and makes the sprite
vanish, the magical trail it carved into the air becomes a
solid rope, strong enough to climb, bind a captive, or tight-
rope across a chasm. Caster makes an unopposed Willpower
Willpower
skill check of challenging difficulty. Upon success, the sprite
appears and begins to slowly fly in a pattern dictated by its
conjurer, creating a physical rope in its wake. Upon failure,
the magical trail sprinkles to the ground like dust. Te sprite
is too obvious and moves too slowly to be used in a combat
capacity, and can only create enough rope to extend medi-
um range between any two points.

Uncanny Eye (Basic Spell)

A spell that permits a caster to touch the subject

of a painting, drawing, or sculpture, and then see and hear
from the vantage point of that subject represented in paint,
ink, or ceramic, any time she closes her eyes. For example,
she could touch a bust of a long dead philosopher, walk
away, and then see and hear everything occurring near the
bust when she closes her eyes. Tis is a stealth spell, cast
 without the
the verbal evocation and light
light show associated
associated with
with
most spells. Caster lays a hand on a piece of art that con-
tains a mortal or sentient subject (e.g. dwarf, elf, human,
orc, etc.) and makes an unopposed Willpower skill check
of challenging difficulty. Upon success, she has transformed
that art subject into a viewing and listening device she can
access instantly by closing her eyes. Te piece of art does
not need to be fixed in place. For example, this spell can be
cast on a statuette and placed strategically somewhere. Lasts
for the duration of a scene. Tis spell can be detected by
 Astral Eye
Eye and
and traced with Astral
Astral rail. Yes, the
the gargoyles
gargoyles are
are
 watching you.
you.

57
/root/new talents and spells/cd ..
/root/cd the crypto masquerade
/root/the crypto masquerade/ls

-rw-rw-r-- root root overview...........................59

-rw-rw-r-- root root the invitation.....................60
-rw-rw-r-- root root up to no good......................62
-rw-rw-r-- root root on your very best behavior.........63
-rw-rw-r-- root root the ballroom.......................67
-rw-rw-r-- root root intrigues..........................68
-rw-rw-r-- root root what's next?.......................72

the crypto

masquerade

58
/root/the crypto masquerade/

Overview
Tis chapter contains material that is not so much
an adventure module as it is an interesting social sandbox
that can be incorporated into any Cryptomancer  campaign.
  campaign.
By "sandbox," we're referring to a very open-ended scenario
 where players can explore, immerse themselves in the story
stor y
space, and pursue the plotlines that interest them the most,
as opposed to playing a module that has a distinct beginning
and end (like most dungeons).

Te basic premise is as follows: the local regent is

hosting the annual masquerade ball, an evening of enter-
tainment and splendor where all the wealthy, powerful, and
famous people of the kingdom can mingle with each oth-
er anonymously for one evening. However, instead of just
 wearing masks,
masks, all guests must show up with their
their very faces 
very faces 
encrypted by the Dissemble spell. Tis event gives all guests
the rare liberty of engaging with each other without worry-
ing about political rivalries, court intrigues, or other societal
baggage that complicates relationships.
relationships. Of course, this ano-
nymity also provides an opportunity to engage in some seri-
ous plotting, scheming, and skulduggery. And that's where
things get really  interesting.
  interesting.

o make this sandbox as user-fri

user-friendly
endly as possible,
 we have included some descriptive (and sometimes didactic)
text that can be read aloud to players throughout the session
of play. Tese sections will be in bold print for your con-
 venience.
 veni ence. But remember, this isn't a ready-to-play adven-
ture module; it's a sandbox, or a toolkit. Still, we encourage
players to not read any further in this chapter if their GM
indicates a desire to use this material during a session or
campaign.

59
/root/the crypto masquerade/

The Invitation
Te party has acquired invitation
invitationss to the local re-
gent's Crypto Masquerade. Given that player characters in
Cryptomancer  are
 are fugitives trying to keep a low-profile, it is
unlikely they were directly invited. It is far more likely that
their patron provided them with invitations, or they were
able to successfully steal invitations from another group
during a previous caper.

Each separate invitation is a scroll that reads as

follows:

"His Highness Cordially Invites You

Te 27th Annual Crypto Masquerade

Join us at the Castle, 4 hours before Midnight,

on the Holiday of Secrets.

Before arrival, faces must be dissembled, gar-

ments must be stripped of identifying heraldry.

 After arrival, only guards and servants are per-

mitted to make their faces public. Anyone else who
defies the Masquerade will be removed from the event
and banned from future masquerades for no less than 5
 years."
 years."

Below the invitation's text is what appears to be a

crypto-signature: a string of nonsensical and ever-chang-
ever-chang-
ing letters. It is likely the crypto-signature is a count-
er-forgery technique. Someone at the door of the event
 will likely be review
reviewing
ing each invitation and decrypting
the crypto-signature to assert the invitation's validity.
validity.

Tere is always the possibility that the encrypted

text says who the invitation was originally sent to, as a
means of potentially tracking and punishing those who
gave their invitation to unwanted guests, or those who
--more--

60
 stole someone else's invitation. It is also feasible that the
regent's investigators could use the Psychometry spell
to review how the invitations changed hands before the
event.
even t. Ten again, these types of accountability measures
measures
 would violate the very spirit of the
t he Crypto Masquerade,
 wouldn't they? If the guests suspected the regent was spy-
ing on them during this even
event,
t, all attendance would stop.

Regardless, the party might want to consider

Regardless,
these possibilities as they prepare the event.

Honor Among Crypto-Thieves

Is the Crypto Masquerade as secret as it is sold to be? Te regent

is certainly in a position to spy on guests, but if he did, no one
 would attend
attend this event ever again. Tere are behavioral
behavioral and eco-
nomic factors at play in any security equation. Let's consider the
behavioral and economic factors of ransomware, for instance:

• If you are a victim of ransomware, you might ask yourself

"What incentive does the bad guy have to actually give me
my data back if I pay them?" Well, consider behaviors in the
ransomware economy. If everyone knew  that
 that the bad guys
never honored the arrangement, no one would pay them.
So, if not enough of the bad guys "honor their half of the
bargain," the entire ransomware economy would dry up.
Te bad guys who don't restore a victim's data are ruining
the ransomware market for other bad guys!

• On the other hand, if victims of ransomware universally

stopped paying the bad guys, this would also make ransom-
 ware no longer
longer profitable,
profitable, and the bad
bad guys would move
move on
to some other type of fraud to generate money. However, the
reality is, some victims are put in situations where they have
no choice but to pay, which keeps these attacks profitable for
the bad guys. In a way, this creates a shared security prob-
lem, similar to "Everyone should drive the speed limit, but I
can't today because I am having an emergency." We're all in
this together, and the attacks won't stop until we find a way
to make them no longer profitable.

61
/root/the crypto masquerade/

Up To No Good
Te players are not attending the Crypto Mas-
querade just to hobnob with the most powerful and well
connected people in the kingdom. In fact, they aren't even
supposed to be there. Tey are there because they have a
very important task to carry out, likely assigned to them by
their patron. Tis is a rare opportunity for their patron to
send deniable operatives into the most secure and exclusive
place in the kingdom wearing the equivalent of magical ski-
masks. So, what are the players hoping to achieve during
this event? Here are a few ideas:

• Te party is tasked with identifying and spying on

someone at the Crypto
Cr ypto Masquerade and eavesdropping
on their meetings with other guests. Perhaps the subject
is one of the patron's closest allies or most feared rivals.
Perhaps the subject is using the Crypto Masquerade to
acquire allies in order to conspire against the patron,
 whether it is through business negotiatio
negotiations,
ns, political
pacts, or outright aggression. Te patron hopes to fig-
ure out what's coming in advance and plan accordingly.

• Te party is tasked with acquiring a very expensive piece

of art or a very powerful artifact that is securely stored
inside the regent's castle. Executing an infiltration of
the castle on any other day of the year would be nearly
impossible, as it is the most secure location in the realm
and the seat of the regent's power. Te Crypto Mas-
querade, with the access and anonymity it affords, is the
best possible chance to pull of such a caper.

• Te party is tasked with either carrying out or prevent

prevent--
ing an assassination plot. Someone wants another some-
one else to be murdered at this very prominent event to
send a message to the regent and the court. If the patron
is trying to prevent this outcome, there is a reason that
information about this plot cannot simply be shared
 with the regent or the potential victim. Perhaps
Perhaps the in-
formation was acquired through very illegal means or-

--more--

62
 perhaps the regent is suspected of being in on the plot.

Rest assured, the party's patron is not the only per-

son hoping to use the Crypto Masquerade to further some
end. While a majority of the guests attending will actually
be those prominent persons the regent intended to invite,
many of them will be operatives and assets placed here to
spy, cause trouble, or carry out secret missions. In fact, most
of the nobility would agree that this is why attending the
Crypto Masquerade is so exciting in the first place. And the
regent is no fool: the event's security staff is always the finest
the king can muster.

/root/the crypto masquerade/

On Your Very Best Behavior

Te party will be able to learn about the majori-
ty of the event's security protocols and expected behav-
iors through their patron, who has attended the event in
the past, or through research on the Shardscape (the event
always results in a flurry of public gossip, only some of it
true). Below are the things players should be permitted to
know straightaway, written in bold in case the GM wishes
to read them aloud:

Te regent's personal guard will be at every en-

trance and exit, in full battle dress, and ready to respond
rapidly to emergencies. Tese are some of the most sto-
ried and decorated warriors in the kingdom who have
not yet retired into politics or a mercenary's life.
l ife. Of those
great warriors who have left the service of the regent,
some of them are among the event's guests. Either way,
open aggressors during this event have approximately 1
turn to act before being swarmed by an overwhelming
force.

Guest are required to keep their face dissembled

at all times during the Crypto Masquerade, and anyone
 who drops this magical mask will be forcibly remo removed
ved
from the premises by the regent's guard. Guests are cer-

--more--

63
 tainly permitted to share the keyphrase encrypting their
own face with other guests they have chosen to trust, if
only to prove that they are who they say they are. How-
ever, sharing someone else's keyphrase or their name
 without their consent is consider
considereded taboo, and will be
considered a sign that you are untrustworthy. Obviously,
this doesn't stop some guests from doing so, and occa-
sionally, the regent's guard is forced to remove someone
 who is subverting
subverting the spirit of the event.
event.

Guests are permitted to carry "civilized" weap-

onry, such as ceremonial daggers, sheathed rapiers, and
maces hanging from a belt, etc., so long as the weapon is
carried openly, sheathed at all times, and bare no iden-
tifying marks. Duels are forbidden at the event, though
they can certainly be arranged there and then executed
at another place and time. Guests are also permitted, if
not encouraged, to carry unique accouterments, such
as fans, distinct jewelry, canes, and so forth, to assist in
 what might be called "temporary identification." Given
that Dissemble makes everyone appear as a stranger as
soon as you look away, it is useful to be able to recognize
people as "the lady with the fan" or "the man with the
sapphire amulet." However, none of the weapons or ob-
 jects discussed abov
abovee should contain identifying heraldry
or be something the
t he person is known to wear (e.g. "Tere
goes the mage Zyrdane with his gnarled staff").

Guest are permitted to attend the event with their

 voices
 voices encrypted by Babel if they choose to do so. Tis
means that no one will
wil l be able to eavesdrop on their con-
 versation
 versatio n unless they know
know the keyphrase
keyphrase used when the
spell was cast. Of course, this makes it very hard to min-
gle or have conversations without also carrying around a
scroll that has the keyphrase written on it, so that it can
be shared with intended parties. Further, all guests are
required to speak plainly and directly when addressed by
the regent's guard (however unlikely this event is), for
the safety and security of all guests. Refusing to do so is
grounds for removal.

--more--

64
 Guests understand that the Crypto Masquerade
begins before they arrive at the event. Tey must cast
Dissemble in a secure location, travel under cloak, take
diversionary and roundabout methods to get to the cas-
tle, and not arrive on a carriage or mount known to be
affiliated with their houses. Once a guest leaves the event,
event,
they are not permitted re-entry.

Shard scryi
scrying
ng during an event is an offense even
more egregious than dropping your Dissemble spell.
Shards are certainly permitted during the event and used
frequently, but if regent's guard become suspicious that
someone is shard scrying through a guest's shard (e.g. a
guest is "aiming" their shard to get a good vantage point,
or wearing it on an amulet, etc.), this behavior will be
addressed immediately and potentially result in remov-
al and/or a permanent ban. Te primary concern with
shard scrying is the
t he risk that there could be Code Clerics
on the other end of a shardnet seeing and then decrypt-
ing everyone's face and sharing this intelligence with
their client.

While guests are expected to be under the influ-

ence of magic spells during this event, the act of actually
casting spells in the castle is absolutely forbidden to the
guests. A fair number of the regent's guard possess the
Spellbreaker
Spellbreaker talent and will use it to neutralize any mage
 who appears to be conjuring something like a Kill Ball or
a hazardous Maze.

Lastly, there are court crypt

cryptomancers
omancers available at
the event to perform cryptomantic services for the guests.
Tey are readily available to cast Dissemble or Babel on
a guest who wishes to reset their keyphrases, or create se-
cure enclaves within the ballroom itself by casting Maze
and sharing the keyphrase with the guest who requests
it. Given that the court cryptomancers already have their
 voices
 voic es encrypted with Babel, they can perform these
services in plain sight, without being concerned about
someone overhearing the keyphrases they are using.

65
 Social, Security

Tat's a lot of security procedures and rules to unpack, with a lot

of interesting lessons and/or real life parallels. Let's discuss a few
of them:

• While we sometimes don't think of clothing as an identifier,

it absolutely is when it comes to law enforcement. Cloth-
ing selection is extremely important if you are attending a
demonstration that has the possibility of becoming chaotic.
If you are dressed exactly like the most active or out-of-con-
trol elements of an advocacy group, you stand the risk of
being implicated in any illegal activity they are up to, even
if you had nothing to do with said activity. Nondescript,
unmemorable clothing is probably your best bet.

• Te "No Shard Scrying" rule should be thought of as "No

Flash Photography" or "No Recording Tis Concert." While
these rules are driven by anti-piracy measures, there are also
social norms to consider when it comes to photography or
recording. For example, it can be extraordinarily anti-social
to take someone's picture without their permission, even in a
place with no reasonable expectation of privacy. Be consider-
ate. Ask first.

• Te court cryptomancers practice good operational securi-

ty by using an already secure channel (i.e. their encrypted
voices) to create and use new keyphrases for their spells.
Because of Babel, they can cast cryptomantic spells in front
of people, and still protect their keyphrases. However, the
first time they casted Babel that evening, they did so in a
secure location where no one could hear them say the key-
phrase. If someone overheard them doing this, they would
have heard the clear-text keyphrase they used, and be able to
harvest every new keyphrase they create during the evening's
activities. It goes to show that a system of secrets built on
one initial secret can fall apart if that initial secret is exposed.
Consider how the compromise of your email credentials, for
example, could lead to a complete takeover of all your other
online accounts.

66
/root/the crypto masquerade/

The Ballroom
Te following text can be read aloud to the players,
to introduce them to the venue they'll be spending the eve-
ning in:

 When guests arrive

arrive,, they are greeted by one of
the regent's finely-dressed retainers wearing a black robe
and a massive white ruff around his neck. He is flanked
by a handful of the regent's guard,
guard, each of them wearing
a polished bronze breastplate and a crimson sash around
the waist. Te retainer checks the validity of each invita-
tion: he must know crypto-signature's
crypto-signature's keyphrase, or per-
haps he encrypted it himself with his own true name. He
then places the invitations in a strongbox next to him,
telling the guests that all invitations will be thrown to
the fire so long as the event goes off without a hitch. He
then beseeches each guest to enjoy themselves while also
observing the strict rules of the event.

Te ballroom's walls are decorated with tapes-

tries depicting historical or mythical events; the corona-
tion of kings, epic battles between ancestral armies, and
loyal subjects triumphing in times of flood and famine,
thanks to their regent. Carved marble columns hold up
a long balcony wrapping around the room, which is ac-
cessible from a grand staircase via at the far end; above
the staircase is a painted portrait of the founders of the
Crypto Masquerade, the grandparents of regent. Guests
looking to get a bit of distance from those they have al-
ready revealed themselves to can converse on the balcony
- depending on how you position yourself you can also
keep an eye on the ballroom floor below
bel ow or conceal your-
self to an extent from the view as well as the hearing of
those below
below..

On the lower floor, there are six distinct enclaves

spanning from the ballroom to the left and right. Each
enclave contains luxurious furniture surround an ornate-
ly carved wooden table, all standing before a grand fire-
--more--

67
place. Tere is a court cryptomancer on either side of the
ballroom, each one dressed in gray and wearing a hood,
ready to create or tear down a cryptomantic Maze to af-
ford privacy to the groups wishing to use these spaces.

Along one side of the wall is a banquet table

spread with roast spiced meats, fruits (grapes, sliced mel-
on, pitted apricots), sweet rolls, candied nuts, tarts (filled
 with cherries, lemon custard,
custard, or goat cheese), and a plat-
ter of small cakes elaborately decorated to look like flow-
ers. Servants wearing white gloves and crimson tunics or
dresses circulate throughout the hall carrying wine and
silver trays of sweet and savory pastries. Teir faces are
not obscured by the Dissemble spell, but they are hu-
morless.

In one corner are a group of musician

musicianss playing
the lute, flute, and tambourine. wice during the night
the musicians will take a break and a different set of en-
tertainers will take the stage - first a band of acrobats,
and second an illusionist.

/root/the crypto masquerade/

Intrigues
Intrigues are interestin
interestingg bits of drama, gossip, or
intelligence that can be gleaned by talking with guests and
earning their trust, eavesdropping on conversations, or
maybe even pick-pocketing their shards. It is up to both
the GM and the players how they'd like to interact. Some
players will want to role-play out conversations with GM
characters, while other characters will want to chuck dice
resolve social interactions using their characters' Charm,
Deception, Menace, Performance, or Sleight of Hand skills.
Te Highbred talent from Cryptomancer is also very likely to
pay dividends here, as is the Veteran talent, given that many
guests in attendance are storied war heroes.

Below are several of examples of intrigues, but the

GM is encouraged to modify these or build her own:

--more--

68
• One of the servants carrying wine to the guests is spy-
ing on the regent and intends to use this opportunity
to pass off important information regarding the castle
layout or the regent's political machinations to one of
the guests. Te party could intercept this information
or at least notice it - which implicates the spy, though
probably not the guest.

• A merchant has discovered that a respected officer of the

law concealed evidence that her son was involved in a
notable act of vandalism. Te merchant seeks to black-
mail the officer, but has to find her first. If the players
can uncover the blackmailer's identity they could earn
the gratitude of the officer - or attempt to blackmail her
themselves.

• A criminal has recently stolen an important contract

 which he now
now wishes to sell to the highest
highest bidder.
bidder. He'll
approach at least one member of the party - they might
be able to buy the contract if they offer a good price.
Te contract contains the rue Names of two notable
individuals and further, its content is potentially rele-
vant to one of the secret meetings.

• Te lutist, a well-known bard, has previously romanced

three separate guests at the party, none of whom are
aware of the others existence and all of whom are in-
clined to have a private conversation during one of the
musicians' two breaks.

• Te lords and ladies of surrounding lands who have

sworn fealty to the regent don't
don' t get along with each oth-
er. Te regent abides their infighting (which sometimes
escalates into wars), so long as it ends quickly and has
a decisive winner. Tat being said, many of these lords
and ladies are in attendance, and negotiating the terms
of their next feud with potential allies and enemies.

• At least one guest has not only dissembled their face,

but they have expertly deployed the Glamour spell to
change their apparent age, presumed gender, physiolo-

--more--

69
 gy, and race (i.e. dwarf, elf, or human). Of course, this
could only be detected by someone who casts the Astral
Eye cantrip. Tis guest is clearly trying to hide some-
thing. Or they are trying to ensure they are not recog-
nized if they drop their Dissemble spell... and perhaps
they intend to in order to execute a very public false flag
operation implicating another fantasy race or faction
for what they are about to do.

• A number of guests are using this event's anonymity

and high security as Elysian grounds for negotiations
that would otherwise be impossible. At least two so-
ma-cartel bosses are in attendance to discuss a bloody
dispute they normally settle with assassins in alleyways.
 A faction
faction who has kidnapped a noble's
noble's heir
heir,, and
and warned
warned
against attempts to contact the authorities, is discussing
terms of release with the captive's family.

• Agents of the local constabulary are in attendance, gain-

ing intelligence on threats to the city-state and possible
corruption
corru ption among high-ranking officials. Given that the
regent gives nobles a wide birth when it comes to un-
scrupulous dealings, the constabulary must sometimes
take the law into its own hands in order to expose cor-
ruption (and share it with the people or use it for lever-
age against the regent).

• One of the guests is acting particularly erratic. Inter-

actions with him lead the party to believe that he is a
Stranger, one of the unfortunate souls who have had
his face and voice encrypted against his will by the Risk
Eaters. Tere must be a reason he is here, and it is un-
likely to be a pleasant one. Further, there is really no
 way to tell if there are other Strang
Strangers
ers in the crowd.
rouble could be brewing.

• And of course, the regent just might be in attendance,

masquerading as just another noble...

70
 Fed, Ripper, Skid,
or Time-Waster?

Te Crypto Masquerade, in many ways, resembles a real life

deep web or dark web forum, whether it is a forum for um dedicated to
monetizing stolen data or sharing information between political
dissidents. Te people who frequent these places usually hide
their identities with aliases, anonymizing services like OR, and
good tradecraft.
tradecraft. While this
this protects users, it also makes it so you
never really know who you are talking to. You might be chatting
 with a criminal,
criminal, a freedom
freedom fighter,
fighter, or a journalist who
who wants to
publish your story. You might also be talking to a law enforce-
ment agent, an online predator, or members of an oppressive
regime you are trying to avoid. Tese crypto-communi
cr ypto-communities
ties can be
very dangerous places if you have not done the work of protect-
ing your identity or assuring that you can trust the people you
are communicating with. While this is nowhere near an exhaus-
tive guide, here are some security and privacy measures a user
should take before exploring these places:

• Develop a persona, which is a personali

personality
ty that is different
from your own, and never break character. Never tell people
your true identity or real details about yourself.

• Never use a device, email address, phone number, or account

name that you use for your personal day-to-day activities.
 Avoid
 Avoid accessing these
these communities
communities from home.

• When you are setting up the email addresses

addresses,, forum han-
dles, and chat accounts for your persona, anchor them to a
disposable phone you bought with cash, and only use the
phone for purposes of account set up.

• Never click on a link or open an attachment that someone

shares with you, unless you are doing so from a temporary
device disconnected from the internet, such as a virtual ma-
chine with the network settings turned off.

• Expect that you will  make

 make mistakes along the way which
could  be
 be used to identify you, and that law enforcement (or
 worse) are in the
the same anonymous
anonymous spaces you
you are.

71
/root/the crypto masquerade/

What's Next?
What ultimately transpires during this event is up
to the GM and the players. We've endeavored to create an
interestingg and exciting social encounter ripe with opportu-
interestin
nities for espionage, intrigue, danger, and maybe even some
humor. o make this sandbox an adventure, the GM is go-
ing to have to either specify a specific goal for the party or
present them with some kind of seriously dramatic event.
 Will the discovery
discovery of
of a murder in one of the Maze
Mazedd enclaves
enclaves
send shock-waves throughout the party? Will some type of
grand announcement by the regent or one of the regent's
retainers change the very contours of all the conversations
and dealings that have been happening during the evening?
Have enough skilled warriors infiltrated the party to final-
ly execute the coup they have been planning for years? We
leave all that up to you, GM.

Finally, a parting note. We've presented the Crypto

Finally,
Masquerade as an exclusive, anonymous gala for the upper
echelons of a fantasy
fanta sy society, occurring once a year. But what
if there were social structures like the Crypto Masquerade
all over the Cryptomancer  setting?
  setting? Consider illegal markets
 where people trade in illicit
illicit goods and information, protect-
ed by the anonymity of the Dissemble spell. Or what about
political voting events where the identity of the people cast-
ing ayes and nays for a policy proposal is protected? Tese
possibilities, and others, could serve for equally interesting
and exciting social encounters.

72
 common name Alisea Magmafort
true name Charl
sex, age, race Female, Dwarf
the party

wits resolve
take cover resist
vs miss
ssile vs magic
8 4
4 4 2 2
Knowledge Cunning Presence Willpower
alchemy deception beast ken mana points
craft scrounge charm
medicine tracking menace
query traps performance

appearance qualities
build Frail, Short
speed   power
dodge parry
eyes Golden vs melee vs melee

hair Black, Chin-length

6 vs miss
ssile
+ 1 damage
6
skin Tanned
3 3 3 3
personality qualities Agility Dexterity Strength Endurance
desires Prestige acrobatics fired missile brute melee Health points

fears Obscurity athletics lock picking feat of st

strength

tends to Lose her temper escape artistry precise melee thrown missile

used to Be a Gem-Cutter stealth sleight of hand unarmed melee

talents & spells

ls critical wound / weak poison mortal wound / strong poison

Shardsplitter (Can split one shard into -1 hp if move and act -1 hp per turn
many sha
hards).
Codebreaker (1% chance to know any trademark weapon: Hamm
mmer and
nd Spike
ke
symmetric keyphrase). Hammer: Brute Melee, Conc
ncealable, Dirty, Damage 0, Ligh
ght,
Melee, Short, Thrown Missile
Tracer (1 MP, Unopposed of Varying rules
(Plus Spike): Tw
Two-handed, Pr
Precise Mel
elee instead of Brute
Difficulty, locate shards). Melee, Damage + 1.
1.
Artisan (Ignore 1 bo
botch to Craft,
sometimes Performance). qualities Shoddy

Anti-Scry (1 MP, Unopposed Challenging, trademark outfit: Brigandine

ne
Ignore 1 Botch to avoid scrying).
Innocent (Ignore 1 Botch to Sleight of rules Light deflection
Hand and
nd Deception, Sometimes).
Dwarven Mak
ake (resembles a rain-coat for miners),
Denier (1 MP, Unopposed of Varying qualities Distracting f
fe
eature (st
studded man
antle).
Difficulty, pr
prohibits new ech
choes).

equipment,
t, consumables, and loot
Clock, Torch, Str
trong He
Healing Pot
otion, Strong Man
ana Potion
Amethyst Dragon Figurine

cryptomancer
 common name Robric Ravenwing
true name Robenitton
sex, age, race Male, 20, Humann
the party

wits resolve
take cover resist
vs miss
ssile vs magic
4 6
1 3 4 2
Knowledge Cunning Presence Willpower
alchemy deception beast ken mana points
craft scrounge charm
medicine tracking menace
query traps performance

appearance qualities
build Athletic, Built
speed   power
dodge parry
eyes Blue, determined vs melee vs melee

hair Messy, Brown

6 vs miss
ssile
+ 1 damage
8
skin Delicate
3 3 4 4
personality qualities Agility Dexterity Strength Endurance
desires Justice, Pleasure acrobatics fired missile brute melee Health points

fears Peasants athletics lock picking feat of strength

tends
ds to Shirk
rk responsibility escape artistry precise melee thrown missile

used to Be an heir stealth sleight of hand unarmed melee

talents & spells

ls critical wound / weak poison mortal wound / strong poison

Highbred (Can save others from social -1 hp if move and act -1 hp per turn
gaffes with no
nobility).
Tempered Taste (Ignore 1 botch to Charm, trademark weapon: Ravenwing Family Sword
Deception, Menace, or Performance when
rules Brute Melee, Damage + 1,
1, Melee, Short
using Food/Drink as anecdote).
True Named Plate (+1 DR
DR against anyone Precious (jeweled), Striking Storage (the scabbard
qualities
who knows his True Name). has Ravenwing heraldry, not the sword)

Brawler (+1 to Un
Unarmed attacks)
Powerhouse (Ignore 1 Botch to Feat of trademark outfit
it: Scale Armor
Strength and Athletics)
Enduranc
nce Requiremen
ent 3, Heavy Deflection, Max
Rope Sprite (3 MP, Unopposed rules
Agility 3.
Challenging, conjures a magical rope).
Human Ma
Make (Sh
Shiny st
steel scales, eac
ach stamped with a
qualities
raven em
emblem), storied (it’s been in the family…)

equipment, consu
sumables, and loot
Clock, Torch, Str
trong He
Healing Pot
otion, Strong Man
ana Potion
Signet Ring, Scrolls, Wax for Seals

cryptomancer
 common name Evoness Guthrex
true name (Abandoned Very Young, Doesn’t Know)
sex, age, race Unspecified, 31, Elf
the party

wits resolve
take cover resist
vs miss
ssile vs magic
6 8
3 3 3 5
Knowledge Cunning Presence Willpower
alchemy deception beast ken mana points
craft scrounge charm
medicine tracking menace
query traps performance

appearance qualities
build Lithe
speed   power
dodge parry
eyes Long eyelashes, brooding vs melee vs melee

hair Shaved head

4 vs miss
ssile
+ 1 damage
6
skin Pink, with blueish hue
2 2 4 2
personality qualities Agility Dexterity Strength Endurance
desires Wealth acrobatics fired missile brute melee Health points

fears Sylvettic Elven Elders athletics lock picking feat of st

strength

tends to Look for an angle escape artistry precise melee thrown missile

used to Live with a human family stealth sleight of hand unarmed melee

talents & spells

ls critical wound / weak poison mortal wound / strong poison

Lowborn (Can save ot

others from social -1 hp if move and act -1 hp per turn
gaffes with street elements).
Liar (Ig
Ignore 1 Botch to Deception) trademark weapon: Lumb
mber Axe
xe
Brute melee, cum
umbersome, Dam
amage + 2,
2, Melee, Overwhelming,
Silver-Tongued (Ignore 1 Botch to Charm rules
Strength Requ
quirement 3, Two-Hande
ed
d
in writing and
nd over shard).
Human make (Steel blade fixed to
to oaken handle),
Smuggler (Can smuggle one small item). qualities
Mundane (just looks like it’s us
used to cho
hop wood).
Treacherous (sacrifice ally to hit that
would re
reduce you to 0 or less HP). trademark outfit
it: Tunic
Shard Sc
Scry (3 MP,
P, Unopposed of varying
difficulty, see through shards). rules Innocuous

Shard Wa
Warp (5 MP,
P, Unopposed of varying
Human Make (s
sl
leeveless, made of woo
ool), Di
Distracting
difficulty, warp through shards).
qualities Feature (Large wooden medallion), Awkward Fit (tight
and baggy in alterna
nating places).

equipment,
t, consumables, and loot
Clock, Torch, Str
trong He
Healing Pot
otion, Strong Man
ana Potion
Abacus, Carving Knife

cryptomancer