When we return back to Flint after our short trip, we immediately report back to Assistant Chief Inspector Delft. He seems to be satisfied with our work and is expecting our complete written report about the events on Axis island. Because of our good work, he promotes us to "Constables 2nd class". We are extremely grateful for this honor. He unofficially explains that Gale's attacks are getting more and more frequent and that someone should take care of it should the opportunity arise. (
I wanted to hint of things to come)
The next morning, we are called to Lady Inspectress Saxby's office, where she officially orders us to take care of the case of Gale. She gives us four weeks to gather all the information about Gale's whereabouts and plans and to arrest her, should the opportunity arise. Saxby also tells us that as long she has not chosen a new Team 3 yet, we can move into their old office. We ask her about Burton and are told that the Goblin moved to Slate and we speculate that he might need some distance after the loss of his comrades.
As Team 3's old files are still lying around in their office, we decide to check up on them. However, we cannot really decipher their (
partly elven) code, which we think is a creation of the late Tanya Blattgold. We decide to write a letter to Burton and ask him if he can help us decode their files, or whether he would prefer to have the files sent to his new office in Slate. Since he apparently needs distance from his previous work, we expect the former.
Around noon Carlyle, who has been eating in the cafeteria, reads that a kind of trainer is being sought for the prison-ships of Goodson. He is bewildered at the concept of using a ship as a prison and can hardly imagine the concept of "rehabilitation".
At the same time Auryn visits the Dawkins estate to announce that she will be coming for dinner today. However, the very friendly Julien Moore (
Dawkins former ship steward) insists that she stays for lunch. When she arrives at the RHC again, Carlyle asks her to meet him in his home the next afternoon, as he needs her help. She is a little surprised, but she agrees anyway. The two then discuss the concept of prison ships and they agree that it is extremely alarming that Goodson now also starts managing private prisons. They wonder if there is anything left in this world out of which the man doesn't try to make profit.
(
Goodson gets to be the hated Mr. Nice Guy ... all good things he does leave a foul taste in the players mouth.)
On their way home, Carlyle notices that Goodson has established a fairly cheap tabloid newspaper which is reporting on fires on a prison ship and attributing the fire to the "terrorist Gale". He is more than just worried about Goodson when he sees an advertisement for the Vantrys ironworks factory "Gutstahl" in the same newspaper and their logo seems to indicate that the factory has close ties to Goodson.
(
The party took an interest in the industralism conflict but they had the tendency to see it as evil and i wanted to start some controversy and see how they would react when their most hated industrialist seems to ally with Mr. Gabriel's Lord Vantrys. I told them „Gutstahl“ (baking pans etc.) was an old brand that was beloved by the flinter households but has steeply declined in the last years due to financial problems of the Vantrys family.)
When Auryn arrives at the Dawkins estate, Milena is concerned about the apparently miserable condition of Auryn. Since she does not want to burden her friend with the ugly details, she tells her that she saw too much suffering and death on her last assignment and does not really know how to deal with it. Milena tells her that she happens to know "someone", who had to cope with the same kind of problem (
She means that Auryn should speak to her husband who has seen death's ugly face in the Yerasol war.). After Morris's arrival and their dinner together, the read admiral asks his wife for a little time with Auryn in the cigar room. Morris offers Auryn a "special" cigar which Auryn accepts with a grin. (
Auryns player loved to smoke a marijuana cigar with her "father".). She tells him about the incident on Axis island and her insomnia, but also mentions Asrabey, Nathan and Kasvarina. Morris tells her that he fears a rift within the Fey community due to Beshela's actions and the ongoing industrialiation of Risur. He also mentions that he had to learn gradually that many actions, which are natural to the a Fey of the Dreaming, can cause great suffering in the realm of mortals and lead to serious consequences. He gives her the advice to not judge herself too harshly and finally offers her some rest by enchanting her with a sleep spell.(
"sleep my beloved child. you need to rest your mind.")
The next morning, Auryn wakes up in a guest room and heads back home. Around noon, she appears at Carlyle's place, who leads her through his house to his alchemy room and shows her a heavy spellbook, which is written in a very old elven style and also includes religious themes. He explains to his very surprised colleague that he had unconsciously written texts and spells into this book since his first rebirth and his transformation into a Deva. As he was disturbed by his uncontrolled writings, he sought to find a way to suppress his urges to work on the book with alchemical potions. But as the knowledge about Fey, Eladrin, and their relationship with Risur seem to become more and more important for his work as a constable, he wants to try to let his suppressed traits reappear again. He even seems interested in trying to understand and learn the unconsciously written magic. Auryn is more than impressed by the content and scope of his book, explaining that she herself had to study casting magic from books many decades ago, but never learned it correctly. She tells him about Estelar, one of her mother's husbands who was keen on invoking a spark of magic in "his daughter". Auryn explains that to Estelar's disappointment she had no talent for book magic but that maybe her rudimentary knowledge could help him. Carlyle explains that he has made an alchemical mixture to neutralize his suppressive drug and drinks it in her presence. As lightning flashes over his face, both feel like being torn from their bodies and fly to a clearing at the border to the Dreaming.
There we see a guardian in the form of a deer, who explains that he has yet to decide whether he can allow the Deva to cross the threshold to the Dreaming. He says that he will observe and judge him by his deeds. Carlyle asks Auryn about the meaning of the deer's words and she suspects it could be related to the case of Gale. After a short stay, they fly back to Stray River. On their journey back both of them notice that a dark presence is imprisoned in Cauldron Hill, which is confined by an arcane protective network in the nettles.
(
The deer is inspired by the guardian of the threshold from various shadowrun books and is both a guardian of Risur's border to the Dreaming as well as a spiritual sentinel of magic. I have not decided yet if I use him instead of Old Stag or if he actually is the Old Stag. Right now he is a tool to get Mr. Carlyle to know the mystic side of Risur without exposing the Vekeshi of Risur to his mercy. Just a bit of flair to add to Risur. I hope, i find a way to use Mr. Carlyle's new magic get him used to the goddess and more importantly to get him to see the Vekeshi as a just movement. Otherwise it could get ugly, if he finds his trusted partner to be one of the hated terrorists.)
We spend the next few hours practicing magic together and Carlyle asks Auryn about her opinion of Gale. Auryn explains that she cannot imagine that Gale would ever seriously harm people, at least not if she had grown up with the same philosophy as she did. She also tells that she once had met Gale at a party and got the feeling that the Eladrin's only troubles were with Danor (
and therefore with technology).(
Auryn just assumes that all Eladrin follow the vekeshi philosophy. Probably she grew up too well guarded. *not so evil grin*)
The next day we are called back to Delft's office. He tells us that a half sunken cargo boat was found in Parity Lake in the morning which now blocks the channel. He suspects that Gale might have something to do with it, and that her actions now angered some really powerful people. We also learn that people accuse her to have sabotaged several factories and that this sabotage might have resulted in fires. (
there where some newspapers destroying Gales reputation later this day and we all know who paid for the bad press.) We decide to examine the crime scene.
In Parity Lake, the local police forces are busy controlling the curious onlookers and protesters. People accuse us of destroying evidence which might point to the fact that the factory owners might have faked the "accident" themselves to prevent them from striking. We calm the people down and assure that we are only here to find out the truth behind this presumed sabotage. The investigation of the cargo boat (
which causes Mr. Carlyle to slip and fall into the water. He later insists that he wanted to dive anyways) reveals that the ship was indeed sabotaged and sunk. In addition, we find a small box containing a mimic of unknown (alchemical) origin. This could be an indication that the perpetrator works with an alchemist or even be one. Carlyle decides to take the "thing" to his lab to analyze it later (
and then to give it as a present to Delft they almost gave Delft a heartattack ). We then ask old Tom, a day-laborer at the pier if he saw anything suspicious and after a small payment he explains that he saw a flying woman carrying an axe on the boat. As his description of a flying woman is a direct reference to Gale (
not too many flying people in Flint...), we're convinced that she is really the culprit. We offer Tom to pay him to keep an eye on the lake.
Back at the RHC, we give Delft an update on Gale. We speculate what sentence gale might be facing for her crimes and conclude that she could end up in prison for a very long time. Auryn hints that there are other people who are probably hurting Risur much more than Gale and are still not persecuted by RHC agents. Delft kind of agrees but explains that these "others" didn't carelessly annoy and financially damage too many influential people. On our request, he tells us that the former team 3's funeral would take place the next morning, and that would be given leisure time for the rest of the day.
After their conversation with Delft, Carlyle asks Auryn why she would feel so much sympathy for those who practiced vigilante justice. She tells him that she herself does not know exactly what to do with people who do evil deeds but cannot be persecuted by traditional law enforcement. Carlyle seems to reject this thought, but Auryn gets the impression that he is distancing himself far less from vigilantism than he wants it to seem.
The next morning, the burial for our comrades takes place. Carlyle seems a bit astonished at the sight of Auryn's white-red mourning garb and her traditional paintings. (
I wonder if she looked like a japanese kabuki player playing a miko?). He realises that the funeral does shake her to the bones, but does not want to impose himself on her (
probably due to Morris Dawkins' presence) . The rear admiral offers to take us to Stray River and we gratefully accept the offer. After leaving Carlyle at his home, Dawkins asks Auryn about her colleague because he feels an unprecedented connection of the Deva with the old spirits of the Eladrin and Fey. She tells her old friend of Carlyle's magic and his desire to understand what's happening to him. Dawkins tells her to find out if whether he's going to be a powerful friend or foe of the Fey. He also asks her to contact Gale and gives her a wooden framed mirror as a gift for the apparently hiding Eladrin.
After changing clothes, Auryn appears at Carlyle's house to practice with him - again -, which seems just like an obvious distraction maneuver to the Deva. He asks her openly whether working as a constable was truly the right job for her if this incident puts her off track this much. Auryn tells him that because of her seeming inability to deal with death and because she seems to adhere much less to the rules of her people, she fears that she might have lost her way. Caryle tries to comfort her and tells her that while one can always suppress grief for the moment, truly coping with it takes a lot of time. Also, simply following the rules because they are given rules without ever questioning them doesn't seem like a wise idea. (
Well i guess he means the rules Auryn learned in Elfaivar because he is pretty stubbornly following his own rules which are a mix of traditional beliefs in aristocracy and written risuri laws. He has not told Auryn yet about him being secretly Zorro the masked avenger for the Vantrys family.)
And while Auryn thinks that not wanting to put the lives of others at risk or even sacrifice them for her own survival are signs of an inherent weakness, Mr. Carlyle tells her that in his opinion her "flaws" are signs of her courage and compassion. After thanking her colleague for his encouragement, Auryn suggests Carlyle could visit his "friend, Lord Vantrys", who is pretty obviously looking for his support. He considers this a good idea.
On the next day, Delft is assigning us to a new case: a young Half-elf had been caught trying to break into the Danoran embassy, tried to escape and then crashed into an iron fence. What's intriguing about this case is that she was trying to "fly" out of the window of the fourth floor before crashing down and getting impaled by the fence. As this accident is a bilateral incident, the RHC is responsible to investigate a the "foreign embassy". So we head straight to the embassy, only to find a blank fence next to a police barrier plus some indignant Danorans.
Julien LeBrix, the security chief of the Danoran Embassy tells us that they took the dead woman to the ground floor and we decide to let him explain the incident from his point of view. He tells us that the dead woman, Nilasa Hume, was a friend of one of the guards and had brought them sweets as usual. When no one paid any attention to her, she disappeared to the upper floors, took some gold and a valuable art egg, and fled upstairs. He had pursued her, fearing she could jump out the window and shot her in the leg. She then jumped out of the window, he accidentally shot her in the back, and then she landed on the fence and bled to death. The story sounds extremely unbelievable to us, so we investigate the crime scene and the dead woman's body. It turns out that Nilasa was shot after "landing" on the fence (
not before!) and that she had a slightly necrotic wound in her face which had been recently healed by magic. She also carries a empty potion bottle and has a certificate of bail issued by an Alfred Bellastair. Under a carpet on the fourth floor, we discover (
despite or thanks to the seemingly uncooperative LeBrix Lebrix was obviously helping them but never admitting that he did) traces of blood, which have to be the result of some sharp weapon and which would be perfectly fitting to Nilasa's wound on her head. We persuade LeBrix to visit us unofficially in a cafe within a day or two, and he seems to agree. We also express our condolences to Nilasa's friend, a certain Brendan, and note that the Danoran guards seem to be under the influence of Fey Pepper. Since Nilasa had brought them sweets, and one of the boxes has the imprint of the shovelnose ray tavern, we decide to question Brendan and the guards. We learn from Brendan that Nilasa had previouslyworked for a certain Heward Sechim, the very alchemist who had been called a humanist by Vantrys back on the Coaltongue.
(
the players investigate the fence in the courtyard and come to the right conclusions that the fence is too far away to be reached by someone that fell out of the windows. They think that Nilasa tried to use some flying magic but was blind from the wound in her face and did not see the fence on which she got impaled.)
We order Nilasas corpse to be taken to the RHC for autopsy and Carlyle tells Auryn that because of his connection to the spirits, he is able to contact the deceased. When asked by Gabriel why she has "broken into" the embassy, Nilasa answered that she wanted to prove that the Danorans work on something that might harm Risur (
Carlyle assured her that he only wants the best for Risur and also wants to bring those to justice who caused her death). When asked who she is working for, she says "for Gale".
Since we have not found any stolen evidence for suspicious Danoran activity with her, we suspect that she must either have an accomplice or that LeBrix has already taken it from her corpse. The next place for inquiries seems to be the shovelnose ray tavern where Brendan and Nilasa have met, so we head there. (
The police apparently also has found no further clues… They will report later. The shovelnose ray tavern (
the players never found the reference to the german kampfschwimmer emblem. I even gave hints and promised a reward if they looked it up but they never bothered.)
is the Dockers tavern where the hip Docker artists meet their wealthy patrons and Auryn is very familiar with it. I changed the name of the tavern which Nilasa was supposed to frequent.)
Around noon, owner Tad Hilly, a waitress called Barb, "the band" and a group of students are present, the latter exchanging their thoughts loudly in the "Riot Room" upstairs. We explain to a very horrified Barb that Nilasa is dead and ask her whether she had bought sweets today. Since the grim news seems to take its toll on the old woman, we wait politely, while Tad treats us to a wine for the bad news and the prospect that we will investigate the case of their dead friend. Both the band and the students are attracted by the turmoil. At first, Hennet, a geologist (himself loudly arguing), complains that there is too much noise downstairs, which in turn alarms the band. When we want to ignore the two groups and ask the two tavern workers to tell us more about Nilasa, Hennet intervenes and asks us why we would have any authority to question people here. We declare that we are from the RHC and investigate the case of Nilasa, which apparently does not get us any sympathies. Hennet demand a discourse about authority with us (
and apparently does not recognizes the deficiencies in his own claim). Auryn is piqued about his reasoning and behavior and tries to silence him with statements about Miller and the history of the kings Risur (
without whom no human community in Risur could have ever been founded), and after a while he tells them that Nilasa asked for a letter in Crisillyiri highspeech, but he did not know exactly what she wanted. Carlyle concludes that this could be either a letter to an entrepreneur (
La Familia? again a paranoid player who is astonishingly right) or to a Crisillyiri noble.
(
Auryn did eventually return to Hennet to hand him a short, written essay on the nature of authority and why having laws and those who enforce them offers more protection to those who are weak than living in anarchy. She just didn't want to feel forced to act to some nosey boy's demands)
Both Tad and Barb sincerely tell us that Nilasa was a nice woman and we decide to ask the named bailiff about the bail that was paid for her. In the corresponding office the officers tell us that Nilasa's bail was paid by a certain Heward Sechim. Getting her out of jail was not that hard for him, as Nilasa only had a juvenile crime record. He would also have tried to free her alleged accomplices, Ford Sivghum and Travis Starter, who could not be released because of they had infringed the conditions of their probation. They had caught Nilasa in a tavern literally sitting on a box with valuable stolen property but could not prove that she knew of the box' contents. We thank the officers and head to the industrial district of Partiy Lake to visit Mr. Sechim.
On the way to Sechim's factory we see a number of protesters standing in front of groups of guards who are guarding some of the factories. Sechim's chemical factory is apparently not subject to strikes and the "doorman" leads us right to his boss, the young Heward Sechim. We learn that he is the grandson of the famous missing Skyseer, Nevard. Sechim expresses his dismay at Nilasa's death and tells us that he finally understands what his grandfather's vision meant: That an adopted daughter would fly to her death. As he leads us to Nilasa's old room, he tells us that the half-elf has been working for him for two years, and he hoped that she had finally ended her criminal career. He seems to be a humane employer, who appreciates his workers and teaches them properly before letting them do dangerous work. Since we are extremely sympathetic to him, and realize that he is facing financial troubles, we discuss spontaneous ideas about how he could exploit his quasi-monopolistic position in order to promote ethical entrepreneurs and to demand more from those who exploit or abuse their workers. He also tells us that his new "super acid" Alkahest had caused great interest and he had already been threatened by shadowy characters who were stinking like burnt oil. Moreover, even Stanfield wants to buy the stuff for a dumping price, which makes him seem suspicious. (
I always wondered why the players reacted so strongly to Stanfield wanting to buy cheaper? He was instantly suspected to be involved in any conspiracy because of this.)
On the way from Sechim to the Lord of Law's office, we once again try to analyze what all the protesting is about. When we ask them, the protesters tell us that their family members are locked up in the factories to prevent them from striking. The police would not help them, on the contrary, some of the guards are actually police officers who are working a second job in their off time. We are indignant at these revelations, and decide to closely examine the guards and memorize their figures in order to raise appeals against them (
we are sure that the officials of Risur have to swear an oath to protect its citizens just like we had to...). As the protesters do not seem to have enough money for an attorney, we are discuss the possible plan to direct the political activity of the students in the "riot room" to a more "productive" way. In addition, we are planning to go a similar way as prosecutor Starke could be more sympathetic to the worker's case if we do him a favor by giving him his ancestor's lost notebook.
At the Judiciary Office, we are told that we should head to the port if we want to question the prisoners Starter and Sivghum, since the two are facing their sentence aboard Goodson's prison ships. Shortly afterwards we witness a strange encounter of the Lord of Law with a Crisillyiri businessman, whom seem to have a private meeting. (
I interduced Mr. Cippiano and the players later wondered what the not so evil „Don“ had to discuss with the lord judge? As they almost love and definitely respect Cippiano they never bothered to investigate. *grin*) Since it is already too late to get on supply ships to the prison fleet that day (and even Delft has already left his office), we decide to call it a day.
This evening, Carlyle visits Lord Vantrys to have a talk with him. Vantrys still seems to be doing business with Goodson, but he is trying to heed Carlyle's advice to part from him as soon as possible. He seems to have jumped onto the current "fencers" trend and declares that he wants to join other young men in the evening. Carlyle advises him to think about the stories of the Ragman and also about his rank as a nobleman.
(
Carlyle knows the fencer movement to be a historical reoccurring homosexual movement and does not approve but denies any knowledge. *grin*)
The next morning until we try to give meeting Lebrix a try and so we wait in the indicated cafe till noon. (
i feel that Stray River is where immigrants from Crisillyir live in greater numbers. Its not a "coincidence" that Mr. Cippiano owns the above mentioned cafe)
Unfortunately he doesn't show up. But who we do see again is the Crisillyiri man who met the Lord of Law yesterday. He is frequented by shady people who report their finished orders to him. Because of the overall situation, Carlyle concludes that "Don Cippiano" has to be a higher ranking member of La Familia. We wonder what he could have discussed with the Lord of Law ...
Next we go to the alchemists in Pine Island, who are supposed to have a shop next to a certain "house elf". The gnomish owner Ms. Waryeye (
a descendant of Clan Millorn?) is very attentive and tells us that one actually needs a license for buying and selling invisibility potions (
which Nilasa certainly did not have) and that a wandering alchemist from Ber had bought her signature herbal mixture recently. Since to us it is obvious that Nilasa wouldn't have gone to a proper alchemist without owning a license, we leave the gnomes uninvestigated for the time being. (
the players were shocked that the gnome seemed impervious to their 30+ sense motive checks and complained about a design flaw … a professinal alchemist having a access to potion of glibness seems unfair really … *mildly but friendly sarcastic* ) (
it wasn't so much the potion, but the fact that glibness was a level 3 bard spell which would have required a lv 7 bard for creation and was worth a whopping 1000GP which she digested just because she was being "cautious" which raised our brows 
)
At the harbor's police station, we tell the officials that there might be a corpse in the harbor basin, which does not surprise them at all (
"has been happening very often lately" I jumped at the oppurtunity to use the classic line of the mafia member reporting to the Don: „he sleeps with the fish“). We are barely catching the transfer boat to the prison fleet and are a bit surprised that Goodson's son introduces himself as the prison's director. We explain to him that the prisoners maybe should be taught to read first before they are given books and then let him lead us to the moldy cells of Ford and Travis. With the prospect of being allowed visitors (
the friends of Ford and the son of Travis), as well as being moved to a brighter cell, we get to learn more about Nilasa's plans: The half-elf got "a lot of money from the Fey" from Gale. She had planned to buy a box full of wands (
possibly from the Familia? are all players so paranoid?) with which she wanted to pull off a bigger action. To this end, she wanted to meet up with her contacts and the house elf at the Bayou of Pine Island on the 4th or 5th (
the two prisoners have contradicted each other one was reported to have been drinking more heavily). We decide to pass on the negotiated benefits for the two prisoners to the judges concerned and to look for further information.
