Links



Mail

SCENE SEVEN: THE RUNAWAY TRAIN

Anastasia will be waiting on the platform for the players. She will bundle them into the servants carriage seconds before the train pulls away from the station.

The layout of the Imperial train runs like this: At the front, the engine, next the quarters of Rasputin and other advisors, next the Royal dining car and meeting carriage, a Royal sleeping carriage, and a carriage for the servants including a small kitchen. The last carriage contains twenty soldiers, the Tsar's bodyguard.

The players have been bundled into the servant's carriage by Anastasia. Since the long trip is not expected, no servants have been taken to attend the Royal family on their one night journey, so this carriage is empty.

Anastasia will tell the players that they are to remain in this carriage until she comes to fetch them. She will then vanish. The players will be left alone for an hour. Looking out of the window they will see the cold, snow covered Russian countryside with the occasional light from a farmhouse as they go speeding past.

At this stage the GM shouold ask the players to make Listen rolls. Success will hear a distinct 'chink' of metal chains coming from the rear of the train. Another successful listen roll will tell the players that someone is on the roof.

If any of the players look out of the window, or out the back of the train they will see that the rear carriage containing the bodyguards has been disconnected from the rest of the train, and they will see it's lights vanishing slowly into the darkness. Rasputin is on the roof of the players' carriage with four guards and they are making their way to the Royal carriages.

What happens next is entirely up to the GM. The players must try and stop Rasputin and his cronies who plan to 'execute' the Tsar and his family. Other than the train driver (who is loyal to the Tsar), there is no one else on the train. Players may well like to battle Rasputin on the roof of the speeding train: or play hide and seek in the dark carriages of the train itself. Whatever happens, this should be an exciting climax to the adventure.

NEXT