Gears of Revolution: A Zeitgeist campaign

[Colmarr]

Session 8

RT3's members returned to RHC headquarters the next morning, eager to quiz Alton about how the strange scroll had made its way into Tok's pigeonhole. Unfortunately, Assistant Chief Inspector Delft summoned them to his office before the mail clerk arrived at work.

Delft had a new investigation for them. A young woman had perished, having jumped from the window of the Danoran consulate and impaled herself on the fence outside. The distance from the window to the fence – 40 feet – suggested that the woman might be connected to the eladrin terrorist Gale. As the investigators looking for Gale, RT3 were the obvious choice to investigate the woman's death.

The constables took an RHC carriage and headed straight to the consulate. On arrival, they were met by officer Belastair of the Flint Police. He informed RT3 that most of the witnesses gave the same story. They had heard gunfire, seen the woman jump out the window, and land on the fence. One scoundrel had apparently stolen items from her body and ran away as she was bleeding out. Belastair explained that by the time the first of his men got there the Danorans had taken the victim off the fence and carried her inside. He recommend that the constables speak to Danoran Security Chief Julian LeBrix.

Belastair was clearly keen to hand the investigation off to the RHC and didn't want to get involved in any "international incidents", but when Tok reminded the policeman that the scoundrel's theft had occurred outside consulate grounds (and thus within the Flint Police's jurisdiction), Belastair grudgingly agreed to have his men attempt to track down the thief. He pointed out Chief LeBrix standing inside the fence and the crowd where any witnesses might be located, and then he and his men moved off.

RT3 first moved to interview the witnesses in the crowd, only to discover that most of the people who had seen the incident had already moved on. Erik entered the consulate to speak with LeBrix and secure the scene, while the rest of the squad were able to quickly track two witnesses.

The first, a businessman, told them that the victim had crashed out the window, hit the fence, and then there were two gunshots, a few seconds apart. When she had jumped, she had had her arms covering her face, as if to shield herself.

The second witness, a washerwoman, relayed that after the victim impaled herself on the fence, a well-dressed man with a goatee went up to the dying woman, she handed him a bundle of papers and folders, then whispered something before she died. The man had yanked a yellow pendant and necklace off the woman’s neck, before running away.

Unable to locate any other witnesses quickly, Tok, Thornt, Wilheim and Cassi returned to the consulate. Erik and LeBrix, a balding and rheumy-eyed veteran, were waiting for them. As he walked the constables into the consulate, LeBrix hoped aloud that they would take the woman’s body and go quickly. He suggested the consular shouldn't have to be bothered with such things while having to deal with treaty negotiations and trade contracts. "You don’t want powerful men thinking about death when they’re deciding our fates, you know? “

LeBrix advised that the victim went by the name Nilasa Hume. She’d visited the consulate a few times in recent months and seemed nice enough. She had brought the consulate staff breakfast that morning, and had been dating one of the security personnel, Braden. Le Brix suspected that she had used him to case the building, and must have overheard someone talking about upstairs. He had noticed that she had slipped out while everyone else was eating the food she’d brought. A hunch had led him upstairs, and he found her slipping gold forks and spoons into her pockets. He had shot her in the leg when she tried to escape, and when she jumped out the window had shot her again, this time in the back. When Nilasa's body was brought down from the fence, he had discovered a priceless jewelled egg in her clothing.

At the squad's request, LeBrix lead them past a room full of consulate staff and up to the fourth floor. He took a position outside the consular's office and refused them entry to it, citing diplomatic reasons (and indicating that the door had been found locked after the incident in any event). He allowed the constables to inspect an attache's office from which the cutlery and egg had been stolen. The desk drawers in the room were locked, and Erik was able to ascertain that the locks had not been picked. A shattered glass case stood in one corner of the room, filled only with an expensive-looking cushion and shards of glass. LeBrix confirmed that it was where the egg had been kept.

Out in the hallway, Thornt moved to inspect the broken window from which Nilasa had leapt. The glass had shattered outwards, confirming that the window had been broken from the inside. However, when the shifter looked down, he noticed a gap in the thin layer of dust near the window. Suspecting that the hall rug had been recently moved, he lifted it up to discover fresh blood underneath. He called Cassi over, and she determined that the blood pattern was not consistent with a fusil wound. The blood spray had been caused with a slashing weapon.

Careful not to reveal their discovery to LeBrix, RT3 next asked the Danoran security chief to take them to see Nilasa’s body. The aging chief led them back downstairs and into the consulate’s basement. There they came across a body draped in clean white linen. A lantern-jawed young man sat disconsolately nearby, and LeBrix confirmed that he was Nilasa’s boyfriend Braden.

While Thornt and Wilheim moved to inspect the body, Tok went to speak to the grieving guard. Braden was clearly distraught over Nilasa’s death, but the changeling managed to calm the young man long enough to learn that the two of them had first met at the Thinking Man’s Tavern, and that Braden knew Nilasa worked at an acid factory named Hewards. Even from across the room, Thornt noticed that the youth seemed more hyperactive than would otherwise have been expected.

Meanwhile, Thornt and Wilheim’s inspection of Nilasa’s body revealed glass wounds on her arms, two puncture wounds to her abdomen consistent with being impaled on the consulate’s fence, gunshot wounds to the back of her left thigh and shoulder, and an unusual wound on her scalp. Thornt called Cassi over to examine the wounds, and the young knight quickly determined that the scalp wound had been caused by necrotic energy and that the gunshot wounds probably came from above after Nilasa was impaled on the fence.

Examination of Nilasa’s clothes revealed a bail certificate from the Parity Lake police station. The certificate indicated she had been picked up in a contraband raid recently but released on bail paid by Heward Sechim. Better hidden in her blouse was an empty vial, which Tok quickly identified as an elixir of invisibility.

Careful to again keep their discoveries from LeBrix’s notice, RT3 thanked the security chief and made arrangements for the RHC’s coroner to come into the consulate and collect the body. As they left, Thornt again noticed hyperactive behaviour, this time among other members of consulate staff. RT3 made their way out of the consulate and returned to RHC headquarters to consider their options.

 

[Colmarr]

Session 9

Upon arrival at headquarters, Erik went to speak about Heward Sechim with Ziggy in administration, an old contact of his who had access to the RHC’s archives. Ziggy knew of Sechim as an industrialist and was happy to help, disappearing into the record stacks for a few minutes before returning empty-handed. Neither Sechim nor his factory had previously attracted the RHC’s attention. When Erik mentioned the bail ticket they had found on Nilasa, Ziggy advised that the RHC did not have access to the Flint police’s records. RT3 would need to visit the issuing station in Parity Lake.

RT3 travelled to Sechim’s Alkahest & Etchings, only to discover the street filled with women protesting the imprisonment of their husbands, sons and brothers by their industrialist masters. When Tok questioned one of the protesters in the guise of a young woman, he learned that the men had been locked in the factories as a response to docker campaigns for improved wages and working conditions. The factory owners, led by Mr Dupont, were refusing to release the workers until someone came to replace them.

The doors to Sechim’s factory were not locked, and there was no crowd of woman protesting outside. RT3 were shown into the factory by the guards stationed on the front door, and met personally with Heward. Although initially disappointed that the industrialist was not the goateed man who had taken Nilasa’s bundle, Sechim nevertheless proved to be a font of information.

Nilasa had been one of Heward’s first workers, and he was distressed (but not surprised) to hear of her passing. A week earlier, Heward’s skyseer uncle Nevard had told him that “an adopted daughter would blindly ride the wind to her demise”.

Heward had done his best to protect Nilasa from the ‘wrong crowd’ with which he knew she associated, but he had also given the half-elf her privacy. He knew her boyfriend Braden by description, and that Nilasa had been enthralled by the activities of the eladrin terrorist Gale, but he knew little else about her. He asked RT3 to find her killer.

When they agreed, he asked them for another favour; to visit his uncle Nevard in the Cloudwood. Heward hoped that Nevard might serve as a facilitator for a meeting between Gale and the authorities, and might therefore prevent further people dying. RT3 again agreed and Nevard gave them directions on how to reach Nevard’s henge. Then he bid them good day.

As RT3 left Sechim’s factory, the guards out front queried whether ‘the boss’ had spoken to them about ‘the guys who smelled like burnt grease’. Realising that the industrialist had left something out, RT3 returning inside. Heward admitted that he had been approached recently by two men who had asked him to sell them universal solvent off the record. When he refused, the men had grown angry and made heavy allusions to the fires that had been striking the warehouses around Parity Lake. They left, saying they’d be back, but Sechim hadn’t heard from them again.

RT3 then split up. Wilheim and Tok headed to the Thinking Man’s Tavern to investigate its connection to Nilasa and Braden. Erik and Cassi headed to Parity Lake police station to investigate Nilasa’s arrest. Thornt returned to the Danoran consulate, intending to stakeout the entrance until Braden emerged and then follow the young man home.

Erik and Cassi reached their destination first, and were shown in to see Sergeant Belastair. The policeman seemed more helpful now that he was back in his office, and happily fetched Nilasa’s file. The half-elf had a significant juvenile record that had been expunged under Stanfield’s Matriculation Act of 328, and her subsequent recorded history was slight. The file did however name two known accomplices, Ford Sorghum and Travis Starter, who had pleaded guilty to various warrants and were held in Goodson’s Estuarial Reformatory.

Erik quizzed the officer on his men's response to the factory owners locking in their workers. Sergeant Belastair shrugged non-committally and said only that it was a matter for the workers and their bosses; clearly they hadn't checked their work contracts well enough.

As Erik and Cassi prepared to leave, Belastair proudly told the constables that his men had also tracked down a carriage driver whose vehicle had been hired by a blood-covered man with a goatee. Belastair had directed the man to RHC headquarters. Keen to follow this new lead, Erik and Cassi went to meet Thornt and the three of them set off across town.

Tok and Wilheim found the Thinking Man’s Tavern crowded with patrons but dominated by two distinct groups; a dozen minstrels and musicians known as The Band, and a cluster of professional scholars. As they entered, a tremor shook the room, causing a small panic and distracting attention from their arrival. Wilheim’s keen eyes picked out Thames Grimley sitting alone in the darkened corner of the bar, but Tok instead moved to speak to the old woman who acted as the tavern’s hostess. Barb took an instant liking to the disguised changeling. She was devastated by news of Nilasa’s death, and informed Tok that Nilasa had had dealings with both of the main groups that frequented the tavern.

While Tok comforted Barb and escorted her home, Wilheim attempted to maintain a low profile at the bar. Unfortunately, a scholar named Hennet spotted him and somehow made him out as a constable. He challenged the deva to a philosophical debate about the rights of authority to enforce its will, and Wilheim promptly responded by hand-cuffing the man and leading him back to RHC headquarters. The Band followed behind, loudly singing songs about repression and heavy-handed authority and drawing a crowd of onlookers.

Meanwhile, Erik, Cassi and Thornt had arrived at RHC headquarters to find carriage driver Jack Byron impatiently waiting for them. Byron told the investigators that he had collected a goateed man with bloody hands from an alley near the consulate that morning, and had taken him to a hostel named the House of Blue Birds. The man, dressed in respectable clothes, had been carrying a bundle that the carriage driver opined were surgical tools. After dropping the passenger off at the hostel, Jack had waited half an hour for his fare to be paid, then left disappointed and returned to his pickup point. He had discovered the Flint Police in the area and told them his tale.

Erik thanked the carriage driver for the new information. “Let me know if you get my fare, won’t you?” Jack asked as he left.

 

[Colmarr]

Session 10

RT3 soon regathered at the constabulary’s headquarters in Central District. They exchanged the information they had obtained and reported on their activities. They all agreed that Nevard Sechim seemed to be their most promising lead into exactly what Nilasa was involved in, and therefore made plans to journey into the Cloudwood to visit the skyseer early the next day. No one was keen to venture into the wood with night fast approaching. Instead the team journeyed back to North Shore to visit the House of Blue Birds. They were met by the hostel’s proprietress. The matron was obviously proud of her establishment, and initially reluctant to release too much information about her guests, especially since a police officer had visited the House earlier in the day. However, once her half-orc chambermaid Julietta identified the goateed suspect as “the doctor with funny accent”, she seemed enthralled by the investigation and happily showed the investigators around the premises.
The guest in question was Dr Wolfgang von Recklinghausen, and he had returned to the House almost half an hour after Nilasa’s fall. Julietta recalled him coming in. His hands were slick with blood and the doctor asked for water to wash them, claiming he had come from a surgery. Then he hurried to his room and exited through the House’s back door a few minutes later.

The police officer had appeared an hour later and showed a badge identifying him as officer Porter. Julietta described him as a “tall, skinny man, yellow hair, thin moustache”. She also mentioned that he seemed to be wounded, with a bandage around his chest barely visible beneath his collar. Officer porter had spent a few minutes in Dr Recklinghausen’s room, flipping over mattresses and pulling personal items into a small bag then had left. Julietta cleaned the room afterwards.

The matron and Julietta showed RT3 up to Dr Recklinghausen’s room, which had been restored to order. Unfortunately, it was also clean of any clues as to where the doctor might have gone.

That problem soon solved itself when Erik asked whether the proprietress had any documentation for Dr Recklinghausen’s stay. She showed RT3 her books, and a letter of recommendation from Dr Barnaby Camp. Suspicious that the letter was forged, Thornt checked the house’s guest book for Dr Recklinghausen’s signature. The writing in the book and the writing in the letter were by different hands.

RT3 emerged from the House of Blue Birds just as the sun was beginning to set. Moving through the twilight, they located and visited Dr Camp’s well-appointed residence in the North Shore district. Camp confirmed that Dr Recklinghausen, a native of the malice state of Arrovia, had been a student of his years earlier. They had kept in contact for many years via letter, and when Recklinghausen mentioned marital problems and a desire to travel to Ber, Camp had arranged residence for his former student in the House of Blue Birds.

Camp had also been visited by Officer Porter, who had rudely refused Camp’s offer to allow one of his students to treat Porter’s injury for free. Dr Camp had not heard from Dr Recklinghausen over a week, but had not found that strange. The two men were not especially close.

RT3 thanked Dr Camp for his assistance, and gave him their contact details at RHC headquarters. Then, with night descending, they called it a day.

The next morning, the constables assembled at RHC headquarters and Erik filed a quick report on the previous day’s investigation, then they headed into the Cloudwood to meet with Nevard Sechim. The directions given to them by Nevard’s nephew Heward made it clear that Nevard’s Henge lay four miles past Flint’s outer boundaries, and the Cloudwood was well known as a wild and dangerous place. RT3 went prepared.

The feeling of intrusion that the constables had earlier felt in the Cloudwood was still there, and all but Thornt walked the wooded trails with unease. The road rose continually as RT3 moved away from the city, and thick clouds and sweltering air cut visibility to only a few feet in places.

As Wilheim led the investigators up a series of switchbacks towards a forested plateau, shots rang out and then a panicked horse streaked past. A snapped carriage harness trailed behind it. A woman screamed up ahead.

RT3 moved cautiously forward and came upon an ambush. A man and a woman sheltered behind a carriage, exchanging fire with brigands on the overlooking crests. Another scream sounded from the wagon, which was visibly sliding towards a steep drop. Thick fog banks drifted through the area, hampering vision.

Wilheim, Thornt and Tok moved forward quickly, targeting a druid that seemed to be controlling the clouds. The elf saw them coming, and swarms of black and red chitinous hummingbirds swooped down to slash at the constables. Wilheim swapped at one with a practiced palm, and the swarm dispersed in a cacophony of cries.

Erik and Cassi followed more slowly, seeking to round on the bowman harassing the carriage’s defenders. As they cleared a fog bank, Tok called out to the combatants, “We are the Royal Homeland Constabulary!” One of the carriage’s defenders uttered a curse, reloaded his pistol, and fired it into Tok’s shoulder.

Despite that new complication, Wilheim, Thornt and Tok continued their pursuant of the cloud-controlling druid, taking them right past the carriage defenders. The two took their opportunity to make a break for the city, only for one to be felled by the woodsman above. Almost simultaneously, Erik and Cassi reached the bowman’s position. Between Cassi’s hammer and Erik’s gunblade, the brigand had no chance.

While all this took place, the carriage continued to slip closer and closer to the precipice. As it lurched on final time before tumbling over, its occupant screamed in terror. The cry was cut short as the carriage shattered on impact. The woodsman cried out in rage and despair, and Erik immediately realised how badly his squad had erred in assessing the situation.

A blow from Cassi sent the woodsman to his knees half-senseless, and a shot from Erik crippled the leg of the fleeing carriageman. Nearby, the druid and his guardians fell to Wilheim’s masterful blows and the living cloud of insects that Thornt had become.

As silence descended again, RT3 regrouped to consider what had just happened.

 

[Colmarr]

Session 11

While their companions paused to ponder what had just happened, Tok and Wilheim sprinted down the switchback to the crushed carriage. The changeling clambered into the wreckage and began lifting shattered timber from the pile, soon uncovering the body of the carriage’s unfortunate occupant. Tok pulled the woman from the clutter and laid her one the ground, practised fingers moving to her neck and finding a weak pulse.

Tok immediately commenced CPR, but had little success. When Wilheim arrived, the deva surveyed the scene for a second. Then he reached past Tok and jabbed the woman’s chest with two rigid fingers. She inhaled sharply and jerked upright with a scream. Her eyes were momentarily wild as she looked around, then calmed as she saw the woodsman rushing toward her. Wilheim smiled at Tok. “Pressure point”, the monk said.

Once he was sure that his love Morena was safe, the woodsman Renard turned his fury on the captured pistoleer. He explained to the constables that Lorcan Kell’s criminal gang had been pressing into the Cloudwood. When Renard and “the men who valued his opinion” refused to pay off the thieves, Kell had sent cronies to kidnap Morena. RT3 had wandered straight into the situation.

Renard urged RT3 to set Kell’s pistoleer free, and to allow him just one shot at her. RT3 refused, but Erik convinced Renard and Morena to make statements about what had happened. Although he knew that neither would appear in court to give evidence, the statements allowed him to take the pistoleer into custody, which defused the situation. Renard happily guided RT3 the rest of the way to Nevard’s henge, dispatching Morena and his wounded compatriots into the Cloudwood as they travelled.

The skyseer camp was located in a small clearing high in the hills surrounding Flint. A large marquee tent dominated the clearing, and it was into that tent that RT3 was shown. Nevard Sechim, once one of the most prescient and respected of skyseers, was now feeble and bent. His eyes were cloudy with cataracts and the smell of age was deep on him, yet when he talked the wind itself seemed to quiet in respect.

Nevard confirmed that Gale had come to him several times asking for guidance. She hadn’t listened to his urging to eschew violence, but the last time she had visited she had said that she had followed his advice, finding a mutual threat that even the people of Flint would take seriously. Nevard agreed to arrange a meeting between Gale and RT3, but first he asked a favour. He wanted RT3 to arrange passage to - and an overnight stay at - the peak of Cauldron Hill so that he could seek one last good look at the stars before he died.

Once the den of a coven of witches that terrified the Flint area, Cauldron Hill was still steeped in dark magic and the supernatural even though the witches were destroyed long before. Access to the hill was restricted, and RT3 wondered whether it would be better to seek permission or to secretly climb the hill. They agreed to Nevard’s request, and the skyseer made plans for his departure. Erik offered Nevard a bed under his roof that night, and the skyseer and his retainers happily accepted.

RT3 returned to Flint in the mid-afternoon, leaving Nevard and his retainers to follow at a more leisurely pace. Once back in the city, Erik , Tok and Wilheim asked around town for ways to gain access to Cauldron Hill. All replies were the same; only the mayor of the Nettles, Reed Macbannin, had the authority to grant access. Aware that the sun was soon to set and that they wanted to climb Cauldron Hill the next day, RT3 hurried to Macbannin’s manor.

As they climbed the lower slopes of Cauldron Hill, they realised that the only serviceable road on the hill led straight to the Mayor’s manor. It would be difficult – if not impossible – to climb the hill without being discovered. They were received by Mr Creed, mayor Macbannin’s butler, who went to announce their arrival. While they waited, a courier named Doro joined them, musing aloud about the chaos of life in Flint and how it could be assuaged. After Doro left, Thornt commented aloud how much his thoughts matched those of Rutger Smith, captain of the RNS Impossible.

Mayor Macbannin was at first reluctant to grant RT3 access to Cauldron Hill, warning them that it was still a place of darkness and danger, but Tok swayed him by referring to the possible boon to the city that Nevard’s vision that could be. Realising that being associated with such a boon would bring him glory, Macbannin agreed to grant RT3 passage. He insisted on two conditions; that RT3 pass though his manor on the way up the hill so that he could ward them against the dangers on the hill, and that they pass through the manor on the return trip so he could check them for possession. RT3 agreed, and after Macbannin and Tok exchanged subtle innuendo about political life, took their leave for the night.

RT3 quickly made their way down Cauldron Hill in deepening darkness, splitting up once they reached the Nettles proper. They agreed to meet at Erik’s house in East Bank first thing in the morning.

Wilheim returned to RHC headquarters, where he surreptitiously filed a report outlining the deal made between Renard, Tok, Erik and Thornt.

All others except Erik went directly home. The sergeant passed by RHC headquarters on his journey, and discovered a note from Heward Sechim waiting for him.

I had another visit last night; two different men this time. I stalled, saying I needed time to arrange something, then had them followed. They went to a seedy part of Parity Lake, nearer to the Nettles, but that’s as far as they could be tracked.
​

Erik folded the note and kept it in his pocket, then headed home to find Sara busily entertaining Nevard and his retainers. During the evening, Erik took the sksyeer aside and detailed Sara’s recent behaviour. He asked Nevard to do a reading on his wife. The aged man replied that he was not a clairvoyant; he could not read people, but he agreed to watch the stars that night and see what he could discover about the Pride family’s future.

In the morning, while the Pride family entertained Nevard, his retainers and the rest of the RT3 team, Erik again took Nevard aside. The skyseer confirmed that he had had a vision; of Erik and Sara standing with a baby in a circle of light. A musical voice asked something the skyseer could not hear, and Erik shook his head. Then shapes moved in the darkness and – as Nevard’s vision ended - Sara screamed.

Across town, Wilheim was woken in the middle of the night by a rapping at his door. He cautiously went to open it, and found a note and a parcel waiting for him. Opening the note, he read it.

The Unseen Court is watching. Take this gift, and deliver it to Gale.
​

The deva unwrapped the brown paper, discovering inside a bizarre mirror made of gnarled wood. Instead of glass, the frame was filled with a sheet of running water that stayed put no matter how Wilheim tilted it. The Deva surveyed the road outside his residence a final time, then returned to bed.

After breakfast, Sara left RT3 and their guests in privacy to prepare for their day’s activities. Nevard and one of his retainers, an orc shaman named Pazamu, asked RT3’s assistance in a ritual that would make the journey easier for the aged skyseer. As Pazamu laid a scroll and ritual components out on the table, Tok recognised the Bond of Forced Faith. The bard’s extensive education meant he knew full well the horrors of how the ritual scroll had been created, and that it would link Nevard’s health to their own, effectively fortifying the skyseer with his charges’ own vitality.

Wilheim noticed Tok’s pause, and Erik demanded an explanation. The bard complied, and Nevard confessed that he knew of the horrific creation of the scroll. “Better that it be put to good than wasted,” he said and RT3 eventually agreed. They bound their health to Nevards, and then set off for Cauldron Hill.

As agreed, they passed through Macbannin’s manor on their ascent. The mayor and a blue-robed acolyte cast rituals of warding over the journeyers, and provided them with rusted iron amulets that would protect them against possession. Then he gave them four kegs of goats blood and directed them to paint a ring around their campsite as a misdirection of the terrors that might approach.

RT3 made their way to the peak of the hill and settled in for the night. They built a small fire among a ring of fallen hengestones, circled their camp with the goats’ blood, built a small hide and then used tent canvas to screen the area from prying eyes. As a supernatural cold descended on the area, Nevard turned his eyes to the stars and they settled down to wait.

It wasn’t long before the terrors of Cauldron Hill arose. Mad screams and laughter rode the wind, drilling into the constables’ sanity. Spooks swept across the sky, and creatures made of madness – a legless skull-faced human that dragged itself around on its hands, a serpent-maned lion and a bent and misshapen hag – emerged from the darkness and began to circle the ring of blood. RT3 crouched within their prepared position, hoping to avoid the notice of the creatures beyond.

Then a velvet curtain manifested in the middle of their camp, and Nilasa Hume stepped from it. She placed a finger to her lips, then pointed into the darkness. “The man who killed me. He is coming. His face is scarred, so he hides behind many faces.” Then she raised a featureless black mask to her face and vanished as the air filled with the stench of burnt engine grease.

Then RT3 saw the stars overhead streak into lines, and then to the north, down by Parity Lake, a building caught fire with dreamlike swiftness. Suddenly they found themselves standing between two factories, and two tongues of flame leap from one to the next, like burning dragons. Screams erupted from the people trapped inside. The flames consumed the factories, and the charred buildings collapsed to reveal the sunrise. A blackened sign sat in the ash, “Sechim’s Alkahest & Etchings.”

The vision ended with a snap, and RT3 was back in the bitter cold at the peak of Cauldron Hill. Nevard looked skyward, and pointed out that Jiese, the plane of fire was brighter than usual. Then he noted how the light reflected off Parity Lake. He turned to the constables and asked “You saw it didn’t you?”

The night stretched on interminably, with RT3 crouching behind the stones as gibbering horrors cavorted just beyond. Then, just after midnight, Thornt’s keen ears picked out the crack of a sunrod. The nearby peak was suddenly awash with light. RT3 and the horrors of Cauldron Hill turned to look. A humanoid figure held the sunrod, its body inhumanly angular, its skin featureless and black like a silhouette. It sprinted to the near edge of the other rise and then hurled the sunrod. The glowing beacon arced toward the center of RT3’s camp, and Cauldron Hill’s denizens watched its passage with inhuman eyes.

 

[Colmarr]

Session 12

The sunrod landed square in the middle of RT3's camp, and Wilheim immediately moved to scoop it up and cast it back into the darkness. Even his fleetness proved insufficient and the semi-transparent crone circling the camp swept up into the sky with a cackle, from where she could clearly see the investigators sheltered within the ring of stones. The sudden light and the crone's insane chattering drew the attention of the other horrors, who abandoned their mindless circling of the ring of blood and began to push into the hidden camp.

The serpent-maned lion roared with the force of nightmares and chilled blood rooted RT3 to the spot as the beast bounded through a concealing sheet of tent canvas and moved to attack Wilheim. On the opposite side of the camp, the legless horror dragged itself toward Cassi. It's eerily glowing eyes drilled into her mind, filling it with mindless terror. The hag wraith hovered overhead, its miasmic stench filling the air. As if in a dream, Erik looked to the hag, then pointed his loaded pistol at Wilheim and fired. Misshapen denizens of Cauldron Hill swooped in to join the fracas, their demonic chattering and dance biting at RT3's sanity.

Cassi lashed out at the cackling crawler with her warhammer, even while trying to manoeuvre closer to the lion that was savaging Wilheim. Occupied with the legless horror, she had no opportunity to defend herself when a black-robed spirit manifested nearby. The vestige drifted over to her and caressed her hair with a bony hand, and Cassi felt a burning tugging as if on her very soul. The vestige disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
Thornt moved to the north of the camp, filling the area with swarms of biting and clawing insects that took a toll on the lesser swooping terrors that ringed the camp. Tok moved among the combatants, blasting at the nightmare-creatures with his magic and shouting warnings to his companions.

Erik recovered his senses just in time for the hag to swoop down and attempt to plant a vomit-filled kiss on his lips. RT3's sergeant leapt aside and moved quickly to aid Cassi against the crawler. The lumbering thing moved with surprising agility when Erik levelled his pistol at its back, latching onto his legs and climbing the constable's body towards his neck. Erik wrestled with it, eventually managing to free his weapon. He rammed his pistol-bayonet into the crawler's mouth and pulled the trigger, scattering the creature's skull pan over a nearby fallen menhir.

Freed from the crawler's gaze, Cassi moved off to engage the lion and in turn allowed Wilheim and Thornt to turn their attention to offence against the swarming spooks. While the risuri knight held the creature at bay, the balck-robed vestige appeared twice more, each time caressing her face. At the third touch, Cassi felt its grip on her soul solidify. She called a warning to her companions, and Erik turned against to aid her.

When the vestige appeared for the fourth time Erik's pistol roared and the black robe danced wildly as the vestige spun. The shot had not been enough. A bone scythe appeared in the vestige's hands and swung down. Cassi, assaulted on one side by the serpent-maned lion and on the other by the vestige, could not avoid the blow. The tip of the scythe blade passed into the gorget of her armour and continued downward until it was buried almost entirely in her flesh. Cassi gasped once, and then slid wordlessly from the blade.

Even in death, the young knight had served her companions well. Using the time Cassi had bought them, each now turned their attention to the lion, the hag wraith and the vestige. First one then another fell under a fusillade of pistol shots, blows and magic until the peak of Cauldron Hill was empty but for Nevard and the survivors of RT3. The skyseer moved quickly to Cassi and felt for a pulse. When he found none, he looked sadly to the investigators then calmly suggested that they should leave as soon as possible.

The silhouetted figure had slipped away unnoticed during the battle.

RT3 regathered their breath before fashioning a little for Cassi's body, and then set out with utmost haste for the safety of Mayor Macbannin's manor. As they travelled, Nevard confirmed that their time at the peak had been sufficient to grant him a vision. Now he needed time to interpret it. That knowledge did little to raise RT3's spirits.

When the investigators eventually reached Macbannin's manor, they were surprised to find a throng of people gathered inside the rear gate.

 

[Colmarr]

Session 13: Twin Dragons

Almost as soon as the manor’s guards allowed RT3 through the gates, the constables found themselves surrounded by armed and armoured Risuri soldiers. Their leader, Lieutenant Dale of the 4th Regiment, stepped forward and demanded to know why the investigators had been up on the hill at night. At that precise moment, Mayor MacBannin emerged from the house, and assured the lieutenant that RT3 had ascended the hill with his permission.

When Tok spoke up, Dale recognised him as a fellow student at the Battalion academy. Recalling other classmates, Tok asked after Cassi (who had also been at the Batallion at the same time), and expressed his condolences when Tok sadly gestured to the little carrying the knight’s body.

MacBannin brought the constables and Nevard into the manor. He checked the wards on the investigators and performed rituals to cleanse them of any lingering taint, then went with them to his study to ask what had happened on the mountain. Erik relayed to him all they had seen at the peak, particularly the dark man, but MacBannin had never heard of such a creature. He told the constables he would think on it, and would contact them if he came to any conclusions.

RT3 knew that they needed to get to Parity Lake quickly check Heward’s factory, so they asked the mayor to take possession of Cassi’s body and to care for Nevard until an escort to Flint could be arranged. MacBannin graciously agreed to do so.

However, when the investigators relayed their plan to the aged skyseer, Nevard wordlessly reminded them that the Bond of Forced Faith ritual was still in full effect (and thus he was perfectly capable of keeping up with them) and then expressed the wish to return to Flint and his retainers as soon as possible. MacBannin repeated the offer of hospitality, but Nevard was keen to reach his henge and ponder his vision.

After making arrangements with MacBannin’s provisioner to requisition some of the manor’s healing elixirs, RT3 hastened to Parity Lake. As they moved, Erik shared with his companions Nevard’s vision about Sara. None of the investigators knew what to make of it. Passing through the streets, they noticed that the area was quiet but not deserted. Even before dawn, the Lake’s industry didn’t sleep. All but a few stalwart protesters had gone home, and those that remained lay sleeping in the street.

In an alley beside Heward Sechim’s factory, they discovered a crew of men and a towering dragonborn unloading crates and bottles. The greatsword slung across the dragonborn’s back hinted strongly that the group were up to no good. When Erik and Tok stepped forward to question the dragonborn, they noted the contents of a bag lying open on the ground: firegems.

Almost before they could act, the dragonborn’s mouth opened and fire filled the alleyway. Wilheim vaulted forward and felled one of the human arsonists and then Tok moved forward to catch the dragonborn and the humans behind him in a blast of musical magic. In return, the scaled warrior almost felled the changeling with a vicious blow from his blade.

Already worn by the events on Cauldron Hill, the investigators quickly began to suspect that they were outmatched, and proof soon appeared on the roof above. Another dragonborn, skinnier than the first and carrying a gem-tipped staff, pointed the weapon down into the alley and a bolt of flame burst beside Tok, Erik and Thornt. Then he swept his free hand and a wall of blazing fire filled the alley, cutting the investigators off from their quarry. The dragonborn warrior laughed, the turned and ran off.

The heat of the flames dropped Thornt and Tok to their knees, and Erik himself only narrowly escaped. Heedless of the danger and fortified by a potion Erik handed him, Wilheim sped into the flames and dragged Tok clear. As he turned to go back for Thornt, the flames guttered and died. When the investigators looked to the roof, the arcanist above had also fled.

RT3 patched their wounds. Perhaps shaken by two such close calls with death on the same night, they chose not to pursue the fleeing dragonborn. They secured the one surviving human arsonist (his companions having expired in the flaming wall erected by their former partner in crime), and then Heward Sechim came out of his factory to find out what was going on.

After ensuring that the arsonists had truly fled, RT3 conducted a thorough search of Heward’s Alkahest & Etchings. They found nothing to indicate that the dragonborn had been inside, but Thornt’s keen nose did lead him to a small vial hidden under a bat of acid. The lack of fresh tracks in the soot-covered area suggested that either the vial had been there for some time or that whoever left it there had flown.

When the shifter uncorked it, he noticed an odour similar – but not identical – to the stench left behind after Nilasa’s spectre vanished on Cauldron Hill: burnt engine grease. Thornt took the oil to his companions. Tok examined it and noted similarities to the sample that they had collected from the headless golem on Axis Island, but the aura around the oil seemed incomplete; as if it were missing its most powerful ingredient.

When Erik showed the oil to Heward, the industrialist had no idea what it was. At RT3’s request, he carefully mixed a portion of it with his stock of universal solvent. The two swirled in their sample dish, but nothing momentous occurred. As the constables pondered their next move, Heward confirmed what he had written in his note. A member of his staff had tracked the visiting dwarf and a half-orc to the Nettles end of Parity Lake, but then lost track of them.

Exhausted after their long night, RT3 returned to RHC headquarters and delivered both oil samples to Elbert, the constabulary’s alchemist. The bespectacled gnome gladly took the samples and promised to ‘rush’ his analysis of them. He asked after Cassi, and was saddened to learn of her death.

Before RT3 could head to their respective homes, they were called into Assistant Chief Inspector Delft’s office. The superior officer was not impressed, and between stamping around his office with his cane and spitting gobs of tobacco juice into his bin, soundly berated first Wilheim for his heavy handling of the scholar Hennett, and then Erik for failing to keep his squad under control. Flint was heaving with unrest, and the last thing the RHC needed was a groundswell of public distrust of the constabulary caused by a spurious arrest in front of a group of minstrels! “And then you didn’t even question him!”

When Delft’s ire subsided, the constables quickly left the building. They paused only long enough to check their message boxes, where Erik found a note from Dr Camp. Camp had received a missive from Dr Recklinghausen, asking him arrange safe passage out of the city for the doctor, and the message alluded that Dr Recklinghausen had made deals with criminals in order to avoid a monster that he thought was chasing him. Dr Recklinghausen directed Camp to contact Lynn Kindleton at Pardwight University, who would know how to get in touch with him.

Too exhausted to follow this new lead immediately, RT3 left headquarters and began to make their way across Central District for a well-earned rest. But as they moved through the crowd, a gust of wind sprang up and a golden canary swept down out of the sky. The wind itself seemed to speak to them, and Gale’s voice invited the investigators to a meeting at Nevard’s request. Erik accepted, setting the meeting time two days hence. Then the wind was gone, leaving only the golden canary perched on Tok’s shoulder.

Wondering what could possibly happen next, RT3 said quick goodbyes and hurried home to get some sleep.

 

[Colmarr]

Session 14: Theatre of Scoundrels

When the investigators reconvened at RHC headquarters that afternoon, they set out for Pardwright University, a loose collection of buildings and offices on streets in the souther portion of Central District. They soon found Professor Lynn Kindleton in her office. Professor Kindleton was distraught to hear that her friend Dr Recklinghausen was in trouble, but maintained that she had not heard from him for some time. While Tok and Erik quizzed the surgeon, Thornt studied her office and soon cam across an envelope with the initials WvR on the reverse. Confronted with evidence that the two had been in touch, Kindleton reluctantly confirmed that she had been exchanging daily letters carried by child courier - with the missing doctor, and had begun to fear for Dr Recklinghausen’s safety. She agreed to send a letter rquesting a meeting the following day.
RT3 then split up to try to track down the dragonborn arsonist. Each investigator crossed Flint to meet with their contacts.

Thornt crossed Central District to meet with Jimmy “the eyes” Tibs in a dingy alley near the gate to East Bank. Tibs was certain that the two dragonborn had not passed through the gate at any time in the recent past - “I would’ve taken note of two bloody great lizards” – but agreed to put the word out. If Jimmy’s informants turned up any information, he would get a message to Thornt via the ex-RHC tavern owner at the Open Door.

Wilheim headed for the north-eastern quarter of Central District. He met with a bardic contact there, calling the man offstage between acts to quiz him about dragonborn in the city. Although the actor had not encountered any – “not big fans of the exquisite arts, you know” – he recalled that dragonborn consumed large amounts of raw meat (10 to 15kg a day) and suggested that Wilheim make enquiries with butchers. Wilheim thanked his friend for the tip, and then returned to the agreed meeting point.

Erik and Tok headed to Bosun Strand and a small gambling den run by Wilfredo Zinger. Zinger had served with Erik in the famous Risuri 4th company, but the two had never seen eye to eye and the enmity had simmered over the years. Nevertheless, Zinger’s involvement in the seedier side of Flint life had sometimes proved useful to the investigator. Zinger’s dislike of Erik had not abated, but the proprietor did see any opportunity for profit. If RT3 could deliver to him a crate of contraband that had been seized by RT3 customs, Zinger would have his connections track down the dragonborn.

After reuniting with the other constables, RT3 continued to the headquarters of the Flint's Butchers and Meatmen Guild. RT3 explained to the guild’s morbidly obese secretary that they were searching for dragonborn arsonists, and the man agreed to enquire with the guild’s members whether they had had an unusual spike in sales recently.

Next RT3 headed to the customs impound lot at the Royal Shipyard. They convinced the clerk on duty there that Zinger’s crate was needed urgently as evidence for a case the next day, signed it out, and then took it to a secluded location to open it. When the crate was opened, they discovered it packed with fey pepper (wrapped with coffee to mask the drug’s scent), poisons, and illicit potions and scrolls. By vote, RT3 decided to destroy the fey pepper and the poisons rather than hand such dangerous substances over. They repacked the scrolls and potions and resealed the crate as best they could, then delivered it to Zinger.

Unfortunately, Wilfredo clearly knew what to expect in the crate, and when he discovered the fey pepper and poisons missing, he refused to co-operate. When Erik and Tok attempted to convince him that some contraband was better than none, Zinger was not persuaded. “And if I let you rip me off this time, you’ll do it next time too. And then everyone else will. You need to keep to your word in this business, Pride!”

~ ~ ~​

Dejected that their best lead had fallen through, RT3 returned the half-empty crate to customs impound, uncomfortably aware that the missing contents would be reported and that they would need to answer to ACI Delft soon enough. They were making their way through the darkening streets towards RHC headquarters when a man approached them. He confirmed that they were the ones looking for “that foreign doctor”, then led them to Dr Recklinghausen.

Or so RT3 thought.

On the northeastern corner of Parity Lake, a woman cried out in alarm as two bandits waylaid her carriage driver. RT3 pursued the fleeing felons into a darkened building, only for a vast velvet curtain to open and reveal that they were standing on the stage of a disused theatre. A mean-looking crowd armed with pistols and crossbows prevented any immediate move to escape.

A voice called out from the upper circle of theatre boxes, and the constables were shown to a small bex at the centre of the ring. Lorcan Kell, criminal overlord, awaited them inside. While Kell calmly ate a sandwich, Tok studied their surroundings and realised that musket-armed criminals were stationed at each end of the round, with clear lines of sight into the box. Six more thugs waited just outside the box. Kell was taking no chances.

The gang leader eventually turned to the investigators and offered them a deal: he would reveal to them the location of Dr Recklinghausen in return for one thousand gold pieces. RT3 initially scoffed at the idea, but then Kell called for a ‘comedy’ and a drugged docker was brought on stage. Initially a strumpet flirted with him and made a show of picking his pockets, but then another gang member appeared and stage and the entertainment took a turn for the darker. The Kell guildmembers took turns beating the docker, first with their fists but then with a piece of timber.

RT3 held out as long as they could, arguing with Kell that Dr Recklinghausen was not worth 1000 gp because no one else wanted him, but when Thornt saw blood and teeth spray across the stage, his reserve cracked. He tossed his pouch - filled with almost seven hundred gold pieces of stipend - into Kell’s lap, and Erik and Wilheim soon made up the difference. Kell amiably thanked the investigators for the trade, and then ordered his crew to release the docker and RT3, and then show them to Dr Recklinghausen.

Tok administered first aid to the drugged docker in the street, and then RT3 delivered him to an infirmary. Only once they were sure he would recover did they follow Kell’s henchman Johan to an abandoned church built into a cliff-face in the Nettles. Dr Recklinghausen waited inside, guarded by a trio of Kell Guilders who left without incident when Johan arrived.

~ ~ ~​

Dr Recklinghausen was initially suspicious of RT3, but they soon convinced him they could be trusted. When asked about Nilasa’s death, Dr Recklinghausen freely admitted that it was he that collected the documents and pendant from the dying half-elf. He handed the documents to Tok, who flicked through them.

The changeling quickly identified numerous reports and notes written by Security Chief Julian LeBrix that referenced financial irregularities of Danoran-owned factories. He also came across papers detailing LeBrix visiting factories and discovering flasks of strange black oil with floating motes of white light in them.
Tok pointed the documents out to Erik, and Dr Recklinghausen identified the substance as witchoil. He was familiar with it from his homeland of Arrovia, where it was created in small quantities by alchemists for use as a power source and as a stand-in for ritual components. He also vouched that he had never heard of it being manufactured in the quantities mentioned in LeBrix’s reports, and that certainly no moral man would use it, since it was composed of souls that were awaiting their final rest.

As Dr Recklinghausen finished his revelation, Tok asked about the golen canary pendant around his neck. Wolfgang had earlier confirmed that Nilasa gave it to him, but when Tok moved to take it, Dr Recklinghausen reflexively stepped back. Simultaneously, crumbled masonry crunched underfoot and a whispered voice at the church’s entrance said “Get them”. Thornt, Wilheim and Erik looked up in time to see shadowy figures moving into the light. Barely visible behind them was a silhouetted figure; just like the one they had seen the night before on Cauldron Hill.

 

[Colmarr]

Session 15: Old Faith

One of the attackers gestured with his wooden orb, and the sunrod Wilheim held aloft instantly filled with darkness, then exploded in a flash of searing cold. In the sudden confusion, Tok stuffed the recovered documents into his clothing and Erik snatched the golden canary pendant from around Dr Recklinghausen’s neck.

Another nethermancer gestured at a torch burning on the wall, and it too fell dark. The attackers moved in, taking advantage of their ability to see in the suddenly darkened room. While his companions struck out ineffectually against the attackers, Thornt sought to even the score. Calling on the primal spirits of nature, the shifter coaxed the weeds and lichen that covered the floor into a burst of life. Plants surged up, filling the main chamber with brambles so thick that finding targets within was almost impossible.

Fortunately for RT3, the attackers seemed more interested in Dr Recklinghausen than in the constables themselves. A dagger-wielding assailant moved in to attack the doctor, and the shadowy figure followed suit. The dark man fired a chrome pistol, then began slashing with shadowy claws. Dr Recklinghausen and his defenders fought back as best they could, but the dark man seemed to exist only partly in the world, and RT3 struggled to land a telling blow against him.

Two dagger-wielding assailants eventually fell, but not before Dr Recklinghausen had been sorely pressed. Even through the pressing vegetation and despite a continuous barrage of shots, blows and spells from RT3, the shadowy figure managed to land blow after blow on the surgeon. Finally, the figure retrieved a chrome syringe from somewhere within its form and sank the instrument into Dr Recklinghausen’s neck. The Arrovian’e eyes rolled up in his head and he sank to the floor.

In the confusion that followed, Tok called on ancient magic. His chant evoked the energy of a dawning sun, and when the blast struck the shadowy figure, it burned away his matte black skin. For the few seconds before the cloak of shadowy flesh returned, the light of Thornt’s hastily-lit sunrod revealed raw muscle and sinew weeping rivulets of blood. The figure snarled in anger, before bending to scoop up the unconscious Dr Recklinghausen. Erik was ready. As the dark man turned to carry off his victim, RT3’s sergeant lunged forward and cracked the figure across the back of the skull with the butt of his pistol, sending him sprawling unconscious on the floor of the church.

The two remaining nethermancers desperately extinguished the room’s lights and tried to extract Dr Recklinghausen from his protectors, but could not prevail. As the first fell, the other turned and fled for the entrance, shouting briefly in a tongue that none of the constables recognised. He stood no chance of outrunning Wilheim. The deva quickly chased him down, and a flying kick sent the nethermancer flying head-first into a wall. He did not stir.

Looking up from his fallen foe, Wilheim could see the lights of Flint, glittering on buildings and reflected from the clouds above Parity Lake, framed in the church’s narrow entrance. A dozen steel bars now blocked that entrance, somehow embedded in the stone of the doorway. Beyond, a carriage sat in the plaza fronting the church, and a dozen figures milled around it.

Wilheim called his companions to see, and as Erik and Tok moved forward, one of the figures brought a chair from the carriage and placed it on the ground. A bearded man calmly took a seat in the chair, and a metal tray bearing cheese and expensive-looking wine floated to his side. The man spoke to his companions and they hurried away, boarding two other carriages, which moved away towards the Nettles.

The figure waited calmly for a minute, then called for Tok by name.

 

[Colmarr]

Session 16: Revelations

Erik moved to bind and search the unconscious shadowy figure as Tok moved slowly toward the church’s entrance. Meanwhile Thornt called Wilheim aside and the two of them commenced a ritual that would send Gale’s canary to RHC headquarters for help. Erik confiscated the shadowy figures chrome pistol and syringe, and noticed a strange rusted iron amulet around his neck. A quick check revealed that the other attackers wore similar amulets.

As Tok peered cautiously outside, he overheard the bearded figure address one of his companions. “Tell your boss that Creed has not reported in, but that the situation is under control”. When Tok made his presence known, the bearded man introduced himself as Leone. He demanded that RT3 hand over Dr Recklinghausen and the documents he was carrying. If they did so, he would take the doctor and the documents and leave RT3 to escape at their leisure. If RT3 refused to co-operate, Leone would not be so benevolent.

Tok returned to the church and relayed what had been said to his fellow constables. They soon deduced that the shadowy figure must be Creed, and connected that name to Mayor MacBannin’s butler. Erik opined that the mayor himself must be involved in the conspiracy. He and Tok studies the canary pendant Erik had snatched from Dr Recklinghausen and realised it granted significant defensive wards and also a limited power of flight. It easily explained how Nilasa had managed to fly so far from the Danoran consulate window before impaling herself on the fence.

Thornt and Wilheim finished their ritual, and the canary cheeped twice before flying up the churches chimney and winging its way toward Central district. The two keen-eyed investigators then moved around the church checking for hidden passages. They found one hidden behind the privy, and when the wall swung open they were surprised to find a half-elf crawling up the hidden passage toward them.

The stranger introduced himself as Xaresti; a constable with RT5. Xaresti’s old faith connected him to the abandoned church, and when he had heard rumour of it being inhabited days earlier, he had decided to surveil it. For a few nights, he had secretly watched the comings and goings at the church, but when he saw RT3 enter and then the attackers follow, he had decided to act. He confirmed that the passage would allow the constables to sneak out of the church, but they would need to pass near Leone’s men to escape. Thornt immediately began preparing a ritual to disguise the squad’s passage.

Erik and Tok dragged the unconscious Creed into a side passage, then Erik hid himself around a corner and Tok assumed the form of Mayor Reed MacBannin. He gently shook Creed awake. Creed looked around groggily and, seemingly unsurprised to find the mayor present, asked what had happened. Tok explained that Creed had been defeated but that Leone had recovered the document. He asked Creed about Leone’s plans and the butler replied that the Steelshaper hadn’t told him anything. Creed then realised that his hands were bound. When Tok hesitated in untying them, Creed realised what had happened.

Erik revealed himself and together he and Tok attempted to convince Creed to reveal the conspiracy he was working for. Creed would say nothing other than that they were acting in Risur’s best interests. He maintained he had given Risur 15 years of his life, and would gladly give her his death if necessary. He called on Erik’s patriotism and urged the constables to abandon their investigation for the good of Risur and her people.

Intrigued by that turn of events, Erik offered Creed a choice: come with RT3 willingly and without tricks, or they would be forced to “deal with” the butler in the church. Creed maintained that he would not reveal further information, but agreed not to foil their escape out of respect for Erik’s service to Risur.
The constables then barricades the main hall of the church to buy themselves time and, with 20 minutes remaining on Leone’s deadline, snuck out the secret passage. Thornt’s ritual proved decisive, dampening the footsteps of the injured Dr Recklinghausen, which otherwise would have given them away. Instead, RT3 escaped into the deep Flint night and headed for RHC headquarters.

They met one of Wilheim’s contacts along the way, who informed them that Skyseer Nevard had called a rally at Dawn Square for the next day, to announce to the people a vision of the future of Flint. Intrigued – but somewhat annoyed that Nevard had not bothered to convey his vision to RT3 first – RT3 pressed on.

RHC headquarters was in chaos when they arrived, whipped up by the urgent message carried by Gale’s canary. When RT3 walked in the door with a captive and Dr Recklinghausen, the constabulary visibly settled. Armed and armoured constables began to disarm themselves, and most officers went back to work.
Erik delivered the bundle of paperwork RT3 had recovered from Dr Recklinghausen to Ziggy in administration, hoping that the bookish clerk would be able to piece together the network of transactions it contained. RT3 then delivered Creed to the mage cells in the basement. True to his word, Creed did not resist. When Thornt suggested to Erik that he should bring his wife and her family to headquarters for the night, Erik asked the butler whether she was at risk. Creed simply replied, “Cover all angles”.

A messenger was swiftly sent to Erik’s house and that of Assistant Chief Inspector Delft, and RT3 filed reports of all they had learned. After obtaining Dr Recklinghausen’s full story of the events at the consulate, Creed was charged with the murder of Nilasa Hume, impeding an investigation, and possible treason.
RT3 was now sure that something big was going on; bigger than the murder of an intruder at the consulate. Suspecting that the terrorist Gale might know more, Erik addressed her canary in an attempt to reach her. The bird stared back uncomprehending. Thornt instead dispatched it to Skyseer Nevard with the message that RT3 wished to bring forward their meeting with Gale. RT3 retired for a well-earned rest.

When they woke in the morning and Erik stepped outside for some Nicodemus leaf, he was met by an insistent wind. It invited him to whisper a message into it, and he responded. “We have information. Many things happening. Can we meet sooner?”

 

[Colmarr]

Session 17: Audience with the Wind

As Gale's messenger wind whipped away into Flint's packed streets, RT3 received word that Assistant Chief inspector Delft had reported for work and wished to see them. Delft introduced the constables to Kuri, a gnomish constable assigned to RT1 but whom he had temporarily reassigned to RT3 to assist with their investigation into the witchoil. Kuri had spent much of the night with the Constabulary's alchemist Elbert, and had reached a number of conclusions:

• The sample containing white motes was the same substance as the sample without, but some transformation had taken place to introduce the motes to the substance;
• The moteless sample was little different to normal oil, although it did contain a reagent that was often used in snare rituals; and
• The mote sample was powerful. It burned with an intense but controlled flame, and burned for far longer than oil normally would.

RT3 asked Assistant Chief Inspect Delft to dispatch surveillance to monitor comings and goings from Mayor MacBannin's manor on Cauldron Hill. He cautioned them against levelling accusations against such a prominent politician without proof, but agreed to send RT6 as requested. Delft also seconded Xaresti to RT3 to assist in their investigation.

The constables next returned to the danoran consulate, where they met with security chief LeBrix in private. The danoran initially maintained his earlier position, but when the discussion turned to the witchoil LeBrix had found and its ability to capture souls, he suddenly exclaimed and left the room. When he returned, he explained that he had just realised something: the moteless samples he had discovered had been in factories that had not had recent fatalies. The samples containing motes came from factories where workers had recently died. When he reported on the investigation, he had been ordered to shut it down.

With this new piece of information about the witchoil, RT3 realised that it was likely being placed in the factories to 'charge' it.

Swayed by the new revelation and convinced that RT3 were pursuing issues greated than Danoran industrial interests, LeBrix opened up. He admitted that he had not been the one who shot Nilasa. Cillian Creed – who had visited the consulate multiple times in the previous few weeks - had. LeBrix maintained his loyalty to Danor, but gave RT3 his home address in case they needed to contact him further.

As RT3 left the consulate, a messenger wind descended on them and urged them to meet with Gale as soon as possible atop the 'Pardwright clock tower', a rickety and patchwork astronomical observatory rising tall about the Pardwight campus. Upon their arrival, Gale swept up to meet them from the surrounding rooftops. She hovered just outside the tower until sure they would not make any hostile moves and then landed to speak with them.

RT3 explained what they had discovered about the witchoil and what they had seen in the vision atop Cauldron Hill. Gale in turn confirmed that Nilasa Hume had been working for her, and that she feared Nilasa had been killed because she discovered evidence of a greater conspiracy. The eladrin terrorist told RT3 about a visit she had recently made to the Bleak Gate, and the signs and sounds of massive construction she had observed there. She cautioned them that sizeable conspiracies were at work, and urged them to investigate further. To assist, she gave Tok a book containing a ritual that would allow the constables to track elemental energies.

Gale maintained that, while she opposed industry, she had come to realise that she could not stop it altogether. She hoped instead to keep some areas safe and sacred. As she stepped off the ledge and floated away, Wilheim called out to her. She paused and the deva presented her with a brown parcel. Gale unwrapped it to reveal a strange mirror who surface appeared to be a sheet of running water. The eladrin read the note within the parcel, then glanced silently at Wilheim.

Gale produced a swirling ball of wind from her pocket and handed it to the investigators, telling them to use it if they ever needed to contact her. Five golden feathers danced inside. While RT3 studied the strange gift, a wind whipped around the tower, bringing thick smog that blanketed the sky. When it cleared, Gale was gone.

RT3 used the ritual book to track a trail of Bleak Gate energy up the canal leading towards Parity Lake, before the trail ended abruptly at a bridge near the base of Cauldron Hill. Another trail seemed to lead to a boarded-up warehouse in Bosum Strand, but with only a few hours left before Nevard's rally in Dawn Square, the constables opted not to investigate further. They moved instead to the site of the rally, which was already filled with more than a thousand people. Clearly much of Flint would be in attendance.

RT3 moved into the crowd to assess possible threats to the aging skyseer.