skotothalamos
formerly roadtoad
As the earthquake struck Macbannin’s manor, the constables were scattered about the house:
Malkie was being escorted to the basement by a member of the household staff. As soon as the earth shook, Malkie leapt at the woman’s neck and drank her blood, not quite killing her.
Ironpeak and Cazara acquired some rusted iron necklaces and, putting them on, prepared to descend to the basement of the house. Summer popped into existence in their room, seemingly as confused by this turn of events as anyone. She hurriedly told Cazara that she’d been focusing on her questions from the night before, about who was behind the witchoil operation and why. Summer said she had dreamt of the Great Malice, when the Eladrin goddess Srasama died and created two new races: the Tieflings, cursed for bringing down a god, and the Devas, who each inherited a tiny shard of Srasama’s power, and who reincarnated without end. When she awoke, she detected the distinct smell of cigarette smoke in her room.
Mort was chatting with Mayor Macbannin, who suddenly excused himself, leaving Mort alone with Macbannin’s butler, Cillian Creed. Mort offered the man a drink, into which he had slipped some poison. Creed was having none of it. He said, “How stupid do you think I am? I should have killed you back at the Consulate,” before slashing at Mort’s face with shadowy claws, blinding him, and then firing his pistol. Luckily for Mort, the shot went wide, shooting out the window behind him. Mort dove out the window and scrambled away as fast as he could.
Cazara and Ironpeak found a cargo lift in the basement, and also several labs devoted to witchoil. One of them looked like it was devoted to the creation of witchoil-powered golems, the other seemed set up to create flayed jaguars. The jaguar lab was damaged in the quake, and was strewn with body parts. A lone flayed jaguar roamed about the room. Cazara and Ironpeak shut the beast in and continued their search of the basement.
Malkie, with freshly blood on her face, ran into Mayor Macbannin in the hallway near the basement access. The Mayor told Malkie to step aside as he had important business matters. Malkie responded by biting the man’s shirt. Macbannin held out a magic sigil in an effort to ward off the vampire. It seemed to be effective, as Malkie just let the man pass. When Macbannin got past Malkie, he saw Summer, who had just entered the hallway. She did her impression of a scared member of the household staff, and Macbannin seemed to buy it. He told her to run to safety. As she ran past, Malkie took a swipe at her, but missed. Macbannin was just about to enter the basement when Malkie summoned up the courage to jump him, trying to steal his rusted iron necklace (which seemed to be needed for basement access). She found herself unable to touch him, instead doubling over and vomiting up a giant black centipede as Macbannin headed into the basement. Summer turned invisible and followed behind.
Having scared off the Tiefling, Creed reloaded his gun and headed for the basement himself. Upon seeing Malkie in the doorway, he demanded that she get out of the way. When she refused, Creed’s face changed to that of Detective Porter. If Creed thought that would help his cause, he was wrong, Malkie still refused to move. Creed shoved her out of the way. Malkie attacked the man and vomited up another giant centipede. She was clearly not doing well. “You’re the one who doesn’t want me to die, right? You’d better help me not die,” she said, doubled over in pain as the insects from Macbannin’s curse writhed around in her stomach. Creed seemed swayed by this argument. He pulled out a chrome syringe and jabbed it into Malkie’s neck, instantly putting her into a deep sleep.
Mort snuck back into the house when his vision returned. He went into Macbannin’s office and started looting through his desk, looking for interesting papers.
In the basement, Cazara and Ironpeak found a room with a massive engine in it, which seemed to be powered by witchoil. They didn’t have much time to sort out the details, as they had more pressing matters to deal with. Two more of the flayed jaguars were in the room, pawing at one of the doors on the far wall. From behind that room came the cries of James Chinast, who was currently lying on a metal table in the RHC morgue. Cazara noticed one corner of the engine room seemed significantly cleaner than the rest of the basement, as if the necrotic energy of the Bleak Gate had been washed away. She discovered a shower head and hose in that corner that sprayed what seemed to be some industrial variation of holy water, possibly for cleaning up witchoil spills. The spray seemed to burn the jaguars, though one of them was angered by it enough to try to attack Cazara. Before it could do much harm, Ironpeak and Cazara were able to kill it.
The other jaguar finally knocked down the door to James’s room. While beating the cat over the head with a bedpost he had enchanted, James explained to Cazara and Ironpeak that he had been replaced by some sort of machine that had taken on his appearance. James had been able to see what the machine was doing, as though through its eyes, but could not control any of it.
Summer watched invisibly as Creed caught up to Macbannin. Creed told Macbannin that he had taken care of the Tiefling and the Vampire. Macbannin responded by saying they needed to fix the system before the whole mountain exploded. Macbannin was standing on the lift while they talked, and Summer had finally had enough. She shot a chaos bolt at the chain holding up the cargo lift, but she was unable to break it. Macbannin whirled and demanded to know what Summer was doing, still mistaking her for one of his staff. She quickly explained that she thought she had seen the vampire and panicked. He told her the vampire had been taken care of and then instructed her to start cleaning up the basement.
Macbannin and Creed made their way to the engine room, where Ironpeak and Cazara were helping James find where his gear had been stored. Instead of attacking the two said they didn’t have time to fight, but needed to prevent a catastrophic explosion. The constables weighed their options and let the men go through the engine room to a sublevel of the basement to make their repairs.
Mort eventually headed to the basement. He was able to wake Malkie from her slumber. Eventually, the two of them caught up to the others, and Cazara and Mort snuck down to see what the two men were up to. They found a chamber which seemed designed for the storage and movement of witchoil, which was currently flooding. Macbannin and Creed were in a control room of some sort, overlooking the witchoil reservoir, frantically operating switches and levers. Macbannin headed back upstairs, where he attempted to enlist the aid of James to get the witchoil-powered engine running again.
Cazara bargained with Macbannin: answer our questions and we’ll help you stop the catastrophe. Macbannin agreed to talk while he worked. With Creed and Mort in the basement, he seemed willing to talk more freely than he might have otherwise.
Macbannin explained how he was overseeing the operation of a secret military project designed to secure Risur’s borders against future Danoran aggression. His facility gathered witchoil, which was sent to a production facility on “the other side” (which was inferred to mean in the Bleak Gate mirror of Flint). Macbannin said he didn’t know much about his counterpart on the other side, referring to him only as “The Steelshaper.” When the constables threatened to report this operation to higher authorities, Macbannin only smiled and said his operation had been established on the king’s own authority. Macbannin pointed out that his operation was giving Risur the means to defend itself against Danor, and acting against him would weaken the state. He asked the constables on which side they thought they were fighting.
James and Macbannin got the engine started and the witchoil began to flow properly again, preventing a pressure buildup that could have been catastrophic for Cauldron Hill and the communities below. Macbannin reversed the curse he had put on Malkie, and the constables left the manor with some documents, some witchoil, and a lot of information. They headed back to their auxiliary headquarters in Sechim’s Alkahest & Etchings, there to sort out their next move.
Major questions had been raised. Saxby had tried to delay their search of Macbannin’s manor, while Delft had pulled some strings to get them a search warrant. Was Saxby trying to stop them from finding anything? Was Delft sending them into a trap? The constables needed to know who to trust. They asked Summer to look to the stars for an answer.
Furthermore, had the near catastrophe been nothing more than an industrial accident, or had someone sabotaged the operation? If it had been sabotage, was it timed to when the constables would be at the location? Had someone been trying to kill two birds with one stone? The constables asked Summer to look to the stars to see if what had happened on Cauldron Hill had been an accident or sabotage.
Also, they could not be certain if Macbannin was telling the truth or simply telling them what he thought they wanted to hear. After Malkie’s experience trying to fight Macbannin, and two separate losing fights to Creed, the group did not feel like the time was right to try to take the two men down, but had they been too eager to look for a way out? They asked Summer to search the stars for signs of Macbannin lying or telling the truth.
Other questions they would have liked to ask included whether King Aodhan actually had knowledge of Macbannin’s operation and also whether the Jierres knew about it. Mort was very concerned with the last bit, threatening to throw his badge out the window in the interest of protecting Danor from whatever Risuri war machine was being built. In the end, however, Summer only had time to focus on three questions and the others were given higher priority.
The constables sent a message to the office, informing them that the investigation was continuing, and then they set up camp in their room at Sechim’s (which had previously been Nilasa’s bedroom). Cazara took the first watch. About half an hour into the night, Mort rose and began to dress quietly, grabbing his guns and knives. Cazara noticed that his eyes were half-lidded, as though he were sleepwalking. She awoke the others, and Ironpeak tackled Mort. Mort seemed to awake with a start, saying he had no memory of putting his clothes back on after going to bed. The constables restrained Mort with rope, and he struggled against his restraints all night, and awoke in the morning feeling completely exhausted. James examined Mort and said that he seemed to be suffering from some sort of affliction or curse. The group pieced together the idea that Mort was being possessed by some spirit from Cauldron Hill. They also decided that Mort’s bloody hands from the previous morning and the coincident Ragman murder were a pretty strong indicator that the Ragman murders could be the result of people being possessed by an evil spirit from Cauldron Hill.
In the morning, Summer had some answers for the group. She said the stars and her visions told her that they should trust Delft, that the near catastrophe had simply been and accident, and that Mayor Reed Macbannin had been honest with them. The constables now had to decide on their next move…
Malkie was being escorted to the basement by a member of the household staff. As soon as the earth shook, Malkie leapt at the woman’s neck and drank her blood, not quite killing her.
Ironpeak and Cazara acquired some rusted iron necklaces and, putting them on, prepared to descend to the basement of the house. Summer popped into existence in their room, seemingly as confused by this turn of events as anyone. She hurriedly told Cazara that she’d been focusing on her questions from the night before, about who was behind the witchoil operation and why. Summer said she had dreamt of the Great Malice, when the Eladrin goddess Srasama died and created two new races: the Tieflings, cursed for bringing down a god, and the Devas, who each inherited a tiny shard of Srasama’s power, and who reincarnated without end. When she awoke, she detected the distinct smell of cigarette smoke in her room.
Mort was chatting with Mayor Macbannin, who suddenly excused himself, leaving Mort alone with Macbannin’s butler, Cillian Creed. Mort offered the man a drink, into which he had slipped some poison. Creed was having none of it. He said, “How stupid do you think I am? I should have killed you back at the Consulate,” before slashing at Mort’s face with shadowy claws, blinding him, and then firing his pistol. Luckily for Mort, the shot went wide, shooting out the window behind him. Mort dove out the window and scrambled away as fast as he could.
Cazara and Ironpeak found a cargo lift in the basement, and also several labs devoted to witchoil. One of them looked like it was devoted to the creation of witchoil-powered golems, the other seemed set up to create flayed jaguars. The jaguar lab was damaged in the quake, and was strewn with body parts. A lone flayed jaguar roamed about the room. Cazara and Ironpeak shut the beast in and continued their search of the basement.
Malkie, with freshly blood on her face, ran into Mayor Macbannin in the hallway near the basement access. The Mayor told Malkie to step aside as he had important business matters. Malkie responded by biting the man’s shirt. Macbannin held out a magic sigil in an effort to ward off the vampire. It seemed to be effective, as Malkie just let the man pass. When Macbannin got past Malkie, he saw Summer, who had just entered the hallway. She did her impression of a scared member of the household staff, and Macbannin seemed to buy it. He told her to run to safety. As she ran past, Malkie took a swipe at her, but missed. Macbannin was just about to enter the basement when Malkie summoned up the courage to jump him, trying to steal his rusted iron necklace (which seemed to be needed for basement access). She found herself unable to touch him, instead doubling over and vomiting up a giant black centipede as Macbannin headed into the basement. Summer turned invisible and followed behind.
Having scared off the Tiefling, Creed reloaded his gun and headed for the basement himself. Upon seeing Malkie in the doorway, he demanded that she get out of the way. When she refused, Creed’s face changed to that of Detective Porter. If Creed thought that would help his cause, he was wrong, Malkie still refused to move. Creed shoved her out of the way. Malkie attacked the man and vomited up another giant centipede. She was clearly not doing well. “You’re the one who doesn’t want me to die, right? You’d better help me not die,” she said, doubled over in pain as the insects from Macbannin’s curse writhed around in her stomach. Creed seemed swayed by this argument. He pulled out a chrome syringe and jabbed it into Malkie’s neck, instantly putting her into a deep sleep.
Mort snuck back into the house when his vision returned. He went into Macbannin’s office and started looting through his desk, looking for interesting papers.
In the basement, Cazara and Ironpeak found a room with a massive engine in it, which seemed to be powered by witchoil. They didn’t have much time to sort out the details, as they had more pressing matters to deal with. Two more of the flayed jaguars were in the room, pawing at one of the doors on the far wall. From behind that room came the cries of James Chinast, who was currently lying on a metal table in the RHC morgue. Cazara noticed one corner of the engine room seemed significantly cleaner than the rest of the basement, as if the necrotic energy of the Bleak Gate had been washed away. She discovered a shower head and hose in that corner that sprayed what seemed to be some industrial variation of holy water, possibly for cleaning up witchoil spills. The spray seemed to burn the jaguars, though one of them was angered by it enough to try to attack Cazara. Before it could do much harm, Ironpeak and Cazara were able to kill it.
The other jaguar finally knocked down the door to James’s room. While beating the cat over the head with a bedpost he had enchanted, James explained to Cazara and Ironpeak that he had been replaced by some sort of machine that had taken on his appearance. James had been able to see what the machine was doing, as though through its eyes, but could not control any of it.
Summer watched invisibly as Creed caught up to Macbannin. Creed told Macbannin that he had taken care of the Tiefling and the Vampire. Macbannin responded by saying they needed to fix the system before the whole mountain exploded. Macbannin was standing on the lift while they talked, and Summer had finally had enough. She shot a chaos bolt at the chain holding up the cargo lift, but she was unable to break it. Macbannin whirled and demanded to know what Summer was doing, still mistaking her for one of his staff. She quickly explained that she thought she had seen the vampire and panicked. He told her the vampire had been taken care of and then instructed her to start cleaning up the basement.
Macbannin and Creed made their way to the engine room, where Ironpeak and Cazara were helping James find where his gear had been stored. Instead of attacking the two said they didn’t have time to fight, but needed to prevent a catastrophic explosion. The constables weighed their options and let the men go through the engine room to a sublevel of the basement to make their repairs.
Mort eventually headed to the basement. He was able to wake Malkie from her slumber. Eventually, the two of them caught up to the others, and Cazara and Mort snuck down to see what the two men were up to. They found a chamber which seemed designed for the storage and movement of witchoil, which was currently flooding. Macbannin and Creed were in a control room of some sort, overlooking the witchoil reservoir, frantically operating switches and levers. Macbannin headed back upstairs, where he attempted to enlist the aid of James to get the witchoil-powered engine running again.
Cazara bargained with Macbannin: answer our questions and we’ll help you stop the catastrophe. Macbannin agreed to talk while he worked. With Creed and Mort in the basement, he seemed willing to talk more freely than he might have otherwise.
Macbannin explained how he was overseeing the operation of a secret military project designed to secure Risur’s borders against future Danoran aggression. His facility gathered witchoil, which was sent to a production facility on “the other side” (which was inferred to mean in the Bleak Gate mirror of Flint). Macbannin said he didn’t know much about his counterpart on the other side, referring to him only as “The Steelshaper.” When the constables threatened to report this operation to higher authorities, Macbannin only smiled and said his operation had been established on the king’s own authority. Macbannin pointed out that his operation was giving Risur the means to defend itself against Danor, and acting against him would weaken the state. He asked the constables on which side they thought they were fighting.
James and Macbannin got the engine started and the witchoil began to flow properly again, preventing a pressure buildup that could have been catastrophic for Cauldron Hill and the communities below. Macbannin reversed the curse he had put on Malkie, and the constables left the manor with some documents, some witchoil, and a lot of information. They headed back to their auxiliary headquarters in Sechim’s Alkahest & Etchings, there to sort out their next move.
Major questions had been raised. Saxby had tried to delay their search of Macbannin’s manor, while Delft had pulled some strings to get them a search warrant. Was Saxby trying to stop them from finding anything? Was Delft sending them into a trap? The constables needed to know who to trust. They asked Summer to look to the stars for an answer.
Furthermore, had the near catastrophe been nothing more than an industrial accident, or had someone sabotaged the operation? If it had been sabotage, was it timed to when the constables would be at the location? Had someone been trying to kill two birds with one stone? The constables asked Summer to look to the stars to see if what had happened on Cauldron Hill had been an accident or sabotage.
Also, they could not be certain if Macbannin was telling the truth or simply telling them what he thought they wanted to hear. After Malkie’s experience trying to fight Macbannin, and two separate losing fights to Creed, the group did not feel like the time was right to try to take the two men down, but had they been too eager to look for a way out? They asked Summer to search the stars for signs of Macbannin lying or telling the truth.
Other questions they would have liked to ask included whether King Aodhan actually had knowledge of Macbannin’s operation and also whether the Jierres knew about it. Mort was very concerned with the last bit, threatening to throw his badge out the window in the interest of protecting Danor from whatever Risuri war machine was being built. In the end, however, Summer only had time to focus on three questions and the others were given higher priority.
The constables sent a message to the office, informing them that the investigation was continuing, and then they set up camp in their room at Sechim’s (which had previously been Nilasa’s bedroom). Cazara took the first watch. About half an hour into the night, Mort rose and began to dress quietly, grabbing his guns and knives. Cazara noticed that his eyes were half-lidded, as though he were sleepwalking. She awoke the others, and Ironpeak tackled Mort. Mort seemed to awake with a start, saying he had no memory of putting his clothes back on after going to bed. The constables restrained Mort with rope, and he struggled against his restraints all night, and awoke in the morning feeling completely exhausted. James examined Mort and said that he seemed to be suffering from some sort of affliction or curse. The group pieced together the idea that Mort was being possessed by some spirit from Cauldron Hill. They also decided that Mort’s bloody hands from the previous morning and the coincident Ragman murder were a pretty strong indicator that the Ragman murders could be the result of people being possessed by an evil spirit from Cauldron Hill.
In the morning, Summer had some answers for the group. She said the stars and her visions told her that they should trust Delft, that the near catastrophe had simply been and accident, and that Mayor Reed Macbannin had been honest with them. The constables now had to decide on their next move…
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