tragicThaumaturge
Explorer
Session 2.2
2nd of Summer
My memory of these events is a bit hazy. The party started the day by going to their office, where Juza relayed the information she had received from the carriage driver. Jasbeer and Uzziel decided to visit the House of Blue Birds, where they learned officer Porter had already come asking about the doctor. They went to his room and talked to the cleaning staff, learning of the wound of the policeman’s chest and the smell of burnt engine grease. They also got the cloth with the black stain, which they took for analysis.
Juza decided to go to the Nettles to check up on Rider and his brothers, to see if they had discovered anything new. Unfortunately they hadn’t, so she decided to link up with the others. Gwen’s player was absent since he’d had to leave early (this bit happened during the previous session).
Jasbeer and Uzziel decided to visit the police to ask about officer Porter, and learned he did not exist. This confirmed their suspicion that it wasn’t a policeman, but someone else, who was probably up to no good. After linking up with Juza (and Gwen), they ventured into the Cloudwood in search of the bandits.
As they traveled through the woods at night they heard the sound of battle and saw a horse running toward them. They managed to stop it and calm it down, and realized it had broken free of its harness. They ran following the sound of gunshots and came upon the bandits attacking a group of men who had taken cover behind a carriage. They won initiative and proceeded to attack the bandits, so they responded in kind.
The battle went as follows: Juza opened fire against the bandits on the ledge near the bridge and then moved to take cover behind a tree. One of the bandits summoned the hummingbirds and sent them down to go around the carriage and attack the men, splitting them up so they would flank them. Jasbeer and Uzziel, followed by Gwen, began going up the road to help the men. Renard used show your face, so I can put an arrow there to prepare an attack against Juza, and landed the shot when the woman left the safety of the tree to attack. On his turn he attacked Gwen, and she decided they were too obnoxious to be left alone, so she decided to climb the cliff. Kell’s men missed all their shots because of the distance, darkness and fog. The players were somewhat frightened of the hummingbirds because of the viciousness of the concept. After a couple of rounds the carriage began slipping toward the cliff edge, prompting screams from Morena, the woman trapped inside. Realizing she was going to fall to her death Jasbeer rushed toward the carriage, using a double move and her action point to both earth-shape the cliff to create a wall (using the golden icon of Urim she had kept) and to pull the carriage and knock it on its side (succeeding the DC 22 strength check). Uzziel was left fighting the hummingbirds, against which he shot divine bolts. Juza attacked the men above the cliff with blazing starfall, and Gwen succeeded in climbing the cliff only to be hit by Renard’s axe and knocked down, taking damage from the fall. The brigand who had stayed near Renard to protect him decided to climb down the cliff to attack the injured woman. The bandits near the carriage focused their attention on Jasbeer, and reinforcements came from the upper cliffs, heading straight for the two gunners. The falconer attempted a risky move: he took a running start and jumped off the cliff to get close enough to Jasbeer to use earthsurge, hoping to hit her and send her flying off the cliff to her death (she had already revealed they were police). His attack landed and dealt a good amount of damage, but as she fell toward the cliff she used persistent harrier to teleport adjacent to him, hitting him while still in the air. Both then fell to the ground and continued to fight, but Jasbeer was the first to stand up (since she hadn’t had her turn yet that round). Uzziel managed to drive off the hummingbirds and rushed to the gunner’s aid, while Juza continued to attack from afar. Gwen tried to hit the brigand, missed, and used her experimental strike to disarm the enemy, taking away one of its axes and rendering him unable to use his double attack. Jasbeer decided to talk to the falconer to get them to surrender, and though she didn’t manage to pull that off she learned the gunners were criminals who had kidnapped a woman, and that the leader of the Cloudwood brigands was a man named Renard. Deciding against bloodshed Jasbeer informed the others and got the team to devote its efforts to taking out Kell’s men and ensuring Morena’s safety. They tried to keep the hummingbirds from killing them, but succeeded in saving only one.
After the battle was over Renard tried to kill the surviving gunner, but the PCs managed to talk him out of it, promising they would take the man to prison and make him pay for his crimes. They asked the bandits about Gale and Nilasa and they confessed to having dealt with them both, but said they could not contact the eladrin. However, they offered to provide safe passage through the forest to talk to skyseer Eva Sechim, who would know how to reach her. Jasbeer agreed and although the others weren’t too excited about the idea, they followed through.
After a bit the party reached Eva’s henge and talked to the old woman’s caretakers, who asked them to wait for sunrise as it was very late already. They settled down for a night in the camp, with the intention to talk to Eva in the morning.
3rd of Summer
The constables woke up early and went to see the skyseer in her tent. They asked her about Gale and she admitted she knew how to contact her, but to do so she wanted something in exchange. The party agreed to listen to her request, and she said she wanted them to accompany her to the peak of Cauldron Hill so she could have a vision before she died, for she had foreseen that in less than a year she’d be dead. This revelation shook Juza, since Eva was her surrogate mother. Eva apologized for not telling her before, and explained that she hadn’t wanted to worry her considering the other things Juza had had to deal with. After hearing her request the constables readily agreed, thinking they would have the rest of the year to fulfill their part of the arrangement, but the woman quickly told them she would only contact Gale after she had had her vision. Needless to say, this complicated the constables’ schedules even further.
Despite this complication the party still agreed to help her, since being able to arrange a meeting with Gale was too good to pass up, and Juza wanted to honor her nanna’s wishes.
Knowing they had to get permission from the mayor Reed Macbannin, the constables decided to head back into the city. They split up, with Juza and Gwen going up to the mayor’s mansion in the Nettles while Jasbeer and Uzziel went to the Police Station in Central District to turn in their prisoner.
At the police station Uzziel stayed to deal with the formal arrest of the man, while Jasbeer went by herself to “take care of personal business”, agreeing to meet up at the surgical theater where Dr. Barnaby Camp imparted class. She dropped by a few cop friends in Bosum Strand and called in a favor to convince them to leave their posts on the night of the fifth so Jered and his band could mess with the cargo of the ship.
As Uzziel finished his business in the police station he emerged onto the street and proceeded to make his way by foot to North Shore. As he turned a corner, out of the corner of his eye (and thanks to his 21 passive perception) he saw a man whom he had passed just a few blocks after leaving the police station, more than a district away by now. Realizing he was being followed he decided to confront the man, and waited for him after turning the corner. The man nearly crashed into him, stopping a few inches from Uzziel’s face. The constable immediately demanded to know what his business with him was. To this the man simply leaned in and whispered “Lorcan Kell wants to talk to you about the doctor you’re looking for. Meet him at Lammers Theater in Parity Lake. The curtain goes up tonight at 8 pm.” Uzziel was stunned and the other man simply walked away.
Juza and Gwen arrived at the mayor’s mansion and were greeted by the Butler, who introduced himself as Cillian. He asked what business they were in and the constables informed him they wanted to discuss something with the mayor. Cillian left to inform the mayor of this, and asked them to wait in the garden. They wandered around, taking in the sight and smell of the flowers, and decided to go see the horses in the stable. Another man approached to retrieve his horse, and engaged them in conversation. As he lead his horse through the garden he retrieved a cigarette to smoke, and offered one to the PCs. Gwen accepted and introduced herself, asking what the man’s name was. He said his name was Doro, and that he was a courier. His stare drifted towards the slums of the Nettles, and he expressed his disappointment in the state of things, saying he’d gladly renounce chaos if it meant people would stop suffering. Gwen replied that although she also felt sympathy towards the poor, she wouldn’t want to forsake the spontaneity of the world, since it also led to marvellous things. The courier finished his cigarette and mounted his horse, bid farewell to the women and departed, leaving them in the garden feeling like they had just let a sidequest slip out of their grasp. Doro’s words did rise a bit of suspicion amongst the players. They told me he’d sounded like a villain giving a speech.
Jasbeer and Gwen arrived at the surgical theater and found Barnaby Camp giving a lecture, so they decided to wait for him. Uzziel told her companion about Lorcan Kell’s offer and they decided they would accept and go talk to him after they had linked up with the others. Once Dr. Camp finished his lecture he saw the constables as he made his way to the exit of the building, and was immediately wary once he learned they were police. However Jasbeer was able to convince him they could be trusted, so he asked them to accompany him to his house. Once inside he locked the door and after making sure they were alone he told them he had received a letter from Wolfgang this morning, asking him to contact professor Lynn Kindleton. He didn’t want to get involved in whatever sordid business his former student had gotten himself into, so he gave the constables the letter and asked them to get in touch with Kindleton in his stead. He also said he’d been visited by an officer named Porter, who’d been very rude. Jasbeer and Uzziel told him this man was impersonating a cop, and should not be trusted. He’d figured as much.
At the mayor’s mansion Juza and Gwen met with Reed Macbannin. He asked what they wanted to discuss with him, and then interrupted himself to ask them if they wanted something to drink. They were willing to accept some coffee, so he asked Cilian to make some and bring biscuits. Once the butler had left Juza and Gwen explained that they were in the middle of an investigation to apprehend Gale and Eva Sechim, the renowned skyseer, had offered her help if they could help her reach the peak of the cursed Cauldron Hill so she could have a vision of the future. Macbannin took on a sombre demeanor and began muttering to himself. Gwen asked why he was so pensive, and he said that if the newspapers got wind of his involvement in helping both a beloved prophet and the police capture a terrorist, he could use that leverage to get more money to help the poor people living in his district. The constables were delighted at the idea, and relieved that Macbannin was completely on board with granting them access to the mountain. To make it official the mayor asked them to sign a document with the scheduled date for the ascent. He asked their names and hesitated after hearing Gwen’s absurd surname. They even heard Cillian chuckle from outside the door, and Gwen decided to get back at him by emerging onto the corridor and tipping the tray he was carrying, which made the butler lose his balance as he tried desperately to keep the coffee and biscuits from falling to the floor. It was a very lighthearted scene, and they seemed to really like the mayor and his butler. Luckily for me, both Juza and Gwen have garbage Insight, and Jasbeer and Uzziel were busy elsewhere.
Meanwhile Jasbeer and Uzziel went to meet with Lynn Kindleton. By this time it was already late in the afternoon, so they found the professor about to go out to a hospital morgue to teach class. Suspecting officer Porter might have come here already they quickly shot down suspicions that they were working with him, told her that man was an impostor and probably a criminal, and reassured her they wanted to protect Wolfgang and ensure both his safety and hers, even offering to grant her asylum in the RHC until the whole situation was resolved. She finally agreed to share what information she had, including that she had been communicating with Wolfgang via letters delivered by a boy. They asked what his name was, and I figured “yeah, let’s do this”. His name was Rider, she said. Jasbeer and Uzziel didn’t know Rider peronsally, but they knew that was the name of an orphan boy whom Juza had befriended.
After locking up her office Lynn Kindleton followed the PCs to the RHC, where they arranged for her to stay in one of the cells where she’d be safer than in her home. Carlao told them Stover Delft was looking for them, and he was rather mad. They went into his office and he asked where the hell they’d been, since Lady Saxby had been waiting for them all day to talk to them about the case. He suggested they go talk to her right now, and they both went in like children who knew they were in for a scolding.
They found Margaret Saxby in her office, going through their reports. She glanced at them as they came in and told them to approach. Without looking at them she asked where they had been, and they meekly explained they had followed a lead into the forest, where they had apprehended a member of Kell’s guild and gotten the aid of Eva Sechim, which pleased the Lady Inspectress. They explained they would ascend Cauldron Hill with the old woman as soon as they could, but in the meantime they had learned Wolfgang had been communicating with Dr. Camp and Professor Kindleton, to whom they’d already spoken to. They had also learned Lorcan Kell might have more information on his whereabouts, which was why they were going to meet him in less than an hour in a theater in Parity Lake. Despite her usual attitude towards the party, and her initial displeasure at their failure to report for duty in the morning, it was hard to imagine she’d be mad considering the astounding progress they had made in just a couple of days. Especially since that would reflect well on her. So she let them off easy, telling them to give notice whenever they planned to spend the morning doing field work, and said they’d done a “good job”. She also told them to keep their cool when they went to talk to Lorcan Kell, reminding them that though a criminal, he was not their target on this mission, and they shouldn’t get in over their heads and do anything stupid. That was mainly so they wouldn’t try to take him down, considering they were going in alone and that would most likely get them killed. It was already 7:30 pm and they didn’t have time to link up with Juza and Gwen, and because of Jasbeer’s previous favor with the police they couldn’t call in reinforcements quickly enough.
The two constables took a carriage to Parity Lake to get there as quickly as possible, and I gave them a bit of leeway so they wouldn’t miss their appointment. As they walked through the streets of the factory district they realized this neighborhood looked a bit better off than the others, and Uzziel noticed that people were looking at them from their windows. This made them incredibly paranoid, so when they heard screams and saw the woman crying for help they were suspicious. They saw the two men with the red scarves running off after apparently assaulting the carriage driver and stealing something from the woman, but they did not move. The woman yelled that they had taken her baby, trying to spur them into action, but Uzziel’s player asked if he’d heard a baby’s screams, and the answer was no. He questioned the woman a bit and rolled Insight, and automatically succeeded since I had lowered the DC considerably because of his previous observation. They called BS on her and the woman got mad and began running after the men herself, but someone quickly told her to stop and a man arrived, parting the crowd and telling everyone to return to their business - these people were not falling for it. The players felt a knot in the pit of their stomachs. They realized they had been incredibly close to falling into a trap, and the thought that all these people were in on it scared them.
The athletic man who had dispersed the crowd told them to follow him to the theater, where his boss was waiting. They obliged and handed in their weapons with the promise that they would be returned. They didn’t believe it, but they had no choice. Lorcan Kell was waiting for them in one of the theater’s balconies, and he quickly got down to business. He explained that he knew where Dr. Wolfgang was, but in exchange for his help he wanted the constables to stop a smuggling operation that would happen the following night and hand the contraband wands over to him. Jasbeer and Uzziel were sure this was a bad idea, but they were in no position to negotiate. They agreed, figuring that it would probably make little difference if the wands ended up with one criminal syndicate or another. However, they other possibility was to stop the smuggling operation and turn the wands over to the RHC, but this would mean Lorcan might harm Wolfgang. To drive the point home Lorcan asked the constables to stay for the comedy show in celebration of their business agreement. The curtain opened and a drunken docker walked on stage, where a woman flirted with him. Uzziel’s player was the first to realize what was up, and he timidly asked me if it was going to be like a “red room”, almost dreading the answer. Gwen’s player asked what that was, but got her answer quickly.
Another man arrived on stage, angry that the drunkard was flirting with his girlfriend. He began to chase him around in a comedic fashion, but it quickly took a grim turn as someone from the audience handed him a board with nails. More people began to hand the man and woman crude weapons of various kinds, and together they beat the docker to within an inch of his life. Jasbeer and Uzziel stared in horror and Uzziel tried to do something, but Jasbeer stopped him. She told him “I know you want to help that man, but right now there’s nothing we can do. I also want to do what’s right, but sometimes, that means you have to submit.” Kell overheard this and was greatly pleased. So he decided to stop the show just as the actors were about to kill the man, ordering to take him away and have him healed. He turned to the constables and said “he’ll live… as long as you uphold your part of the deal”.
Jasbeer and Uzziel were shaken. Juza and Gwen’s players were shaken too. The constables rendezvoused at the RHC and Jasbeer and Uzziel asked their companions to accompany them to drink. Once at the “Golden Scale” they explained what had happened and proceeded to drown their sorrows and fears in copious amounts of alcohol.
The players told me they had really liked Lorcan Kell’s character, and that he was obviously meant to be a monster. Jasbeer’s player said he’d really liked that the campaign was willing to go that far. Uzziel’s said he saw it coming at the last second and felt terrible about not being able to do anything, and that his character had despaired at realizing that maybe he couldn’t really make a difference despite his best efforts. Juza’s player just said that she was glad she hadn’t been around for that, because she didn’t think she’d be able to handle it. Gwen’s player even told me it had made him sick to his stomach. I later asked him why, since extreme violence was nothing new to our D&D games, and he told me that he felt there was a difference between confronting violent and sadistic monsters and confronting violent and sadistic people. It had hit close to home, because he knew that although we live in a relatively safe city, there actually exist people like that in the world. Hell, our own country, Mexico, is full of that kind of stuff happening in the north, and that was why it had shaken him so much. We ended the session there, at about 4 am, and all the players were really excited. They’d had fun, and despite that last part hitting them like a truck, they had found it engaging and enjoyable in its own way.
2nd of Summer
My memory of these events is a bit hazy. The party started the day by going to their office, where Juza relayed the information she had received from the carriage driver. Jasbeer and Uzziel decided to visit the House of Blue Birds, where they learned officer Porter had already come asking about the doctor. They went to his room and talked to the cleaning staff, learning of the wound of the policeman’s chest and the smell of burnt engine grease. They also got the cloth with the black stain, which they took for analysis.
Juza decided to go to the Nettles to check up on Rider and his brothers, to see if they had discovered anything new. Unfortunately they hadn’t, so she decided to link up with the others. Gwen’s player was absent since he’d had to leave early (this bit happened during the previous session).
Jasbeer and Uzziel decided to visit the police to ask about officer Porter, and learned he did not exist. This confirmed their suspicion that it wasn’t a policeman, but someone else, who was probably up to no good. After linking up with Juza (and Gwen), they ventured into the Cloudwood in search of the bandits.
As they traveled through the woods at night they heard the sound of battle and saw a horse running toward them. They managed to stop it and calm it down, and realized it had broken free of its harness. They ran following the sound of gunshots and came upon the bandits attacking a group of men who had taken cover behind a carriage. They won initiative and proceeded to attack the bandits, so they responded in kind.
The battle went as follows: Juza opened fire against the bandits on the ledge near the bridge and then moved to take cover behind a tree. One of the bandits summoned the hummingbirds and sent them down to go around the carriage and attack the men, splitting them up so they would flank them. Jasbeer and Uzziel, followed by Gwen, began going up the road to help the men. Renard used show your face, so I can put an arrow there to prepare an attack against Juza, and landed the shot when the woman left the safety of the tree to attack. On his turn he attacked Gwen, and she decided they were too obnoxious to be left alone, so she decided to climb the cliff. Kell’s men missed all their shots because of the distance, darkness and fog. The players were somewhat frightened of the hummingbirds because of the viciousness of the concept. After a couple of rounds the carriage began slipping toward the cliff edge, prompting screams from Morena, the woman trapped inside. Realizing she was going to fall to her death Jasbeer rushed toward the carriage, using a double move and her action point to both earth-shape the cliff to create a wall (using the golden icon of Urim she had kept) and to pull the carriage and knock it on its side (succeeding the DC 22 strength check). Uzziel was left fighting the hummingbirds, against which he shot divine bolts. Juza attacked the men above the cliff with blazing starfall, and Gwen succeeded in climbing the cliff only to be hit by Renard’s axe and knocked down, taking damage from the fall. The brigand who had stayed near Renard to protect him decided to climb down the cliff to attack the injured woman. The bandits near the carriage focused their attention on Jasbeer, and reinforcements came from the upper cliffs, heading straight for the two gunners. The falconer attempted a risky move: he took a running start and jumped off the cliff to get close enough to Jasbeer to use earthsurge, hoping to hit her and send her flying off the cliff to her death (she had already revealed they were police). His attack landed and dealt a good amount of damage, but as she fell toward the cliff she used persistent harrier to teleport adjacent to him, hitting him while still in the air. Both then fell to the ground and continued to fight, but Jasbeer was the first to stand up (since she hadn’t had her turn yet that round). Uzziel managed to drive off the hummingbirds and rushed to the gunner’s aid, while Juza continued to attack from afar. Gwen tried to hit the brigand, missed, and used her experimental strike to disarm the enemy, taking away one of its axes and rendering him unable to use his double attack. Jasbeer decided to talk to the falconer to get them to surrender, and though she didn’t manage to pull that off she learned the gunners were criminals who had kidnapped a woman, and that the leader of the Cloudwood brigands was a man named Renard. Deciding against bloodshed Jasbeer informed the others and got the team to devote its efforts to taking out Kell’s men and ensuring Morena’s safety. They tried to keep the hummingbirds from killing them, but succeeded in saving only one.
After the battle was over Renard tried to kill the surviving gunner, but the PCs managed to talk him out of it, promising they would take the man to prison and make him pay for his crimes. They asked the bandits about Gale and Nilasa and they confessed to having dealt with them both, but said they could not contact the eladrin. However, they offered to provide safe passage through the forest to talk to skyseer Eva Sechim, who would know how to reach her. Jasbeer agreed and although the others weren’t too excited about the idea, they followed through.
After a bit the party reached Eva’s henge and talked to the old woman’s caretakers, who asked them to wait for sunrise as it was very late already. They settled down for a night in the camp, with the intention to talk to Eva in the morning.
3rd of Summer
The constables woke up early and went to see the skyseer in her tent. They asked her about Gale and she admitted she knew how to contact her, but to do so she wanted something in exchange. The party agreed to listen to her request, and she said she wanted them to accompany her to the peak of Cauldron Hill so she could have a vision before she died, for she had foreseen that in less than a year she’d be dead. This revelation shook Juza, since Eva was her surrogate mother. Eva apologized for not telling her before, and explained that she hadn’t wanted to worry her considering the other things Juza had had to deal with. After hearing her request the constables readily agreed, thinking they would have the rest of the year to fulfill their part of the arrangement, but the woman quickly told them she would only contact Gale after she had had her vision. Needless to say, this complicated the constables’ schedules even further.
Despite this complication the party still agreed to help her, since being able to arrange a meeting with Gale was too good to pass up, and Juza wanted to honor her nanna’s wishes.
Knowing they had to get permission from the mayor Reed Macbannin, the constables decided to head back into the city. They split up, with Juza and Gwen going up to the mayor’s mansion in the Nettles while Jasbeer and Uzziel went to the Police Station in Central District to turn in their prisoner.
At the police station Uzziel stayed to deal with the formal arrest of the man, while Jasbeer went by herself to “take care of personal business”, agreeing to meet up at the surgical theater where Dr. Barnaby Camp imparted class. She dropped by a few cop friends in Bosum Strand and called in a favor to convince them to leave their posts on the night of the fifth so Jered and his band could mess with the cargo of the ship.
As Uzziel finished his business in the police station he emerged onto the street and proceeded to make his way by foot to North Shore. As he turned a corner, out of the corner of his eye (and thanks to his 21 passive perception) he saw a man whom he had passed just a few blocks after leaving the police station, more than a district away by now. Realizing he was being followed he decided to confront the man, and waited for him after turning the corner. The man nearly crashed into him, stopping a few inches from Uzziel’s face. The constable immediately demanded to know what his business with him was. To this the man simply leaned in and whispered “Lorcan Kell wants to talk to you about the doctor you’re looking for. Meet him at Lammers Theater in Parity Lake. The curtain goes up tonight at 8 pm.” Uzziel was stunned and the other man simply walked away.
Juza and Gwen arrived at the mayor’s mansion and were greeted by the Butler, who introduced himself as Cillian. He asked what business they were in and the constables informed him they wanted to discuss something with the mayor. Cillian left to inform the mayor of this, and asked them to wait in the garden. They wandered around, taking in the sight and smell of the flowers, and decided to go see the horses in the stable. Another man approached to retrieve his horse, and engaged them in conversation. As he lead his horse through the garden he retrieved a cigarette to smoke, and offered one to the PCs. Gwen accepted and introduced herself, asking what the man’s name was. He said his name was Doro, and that he was a courier. His stare drifted towards the slums of the Nettles, and he expressed his disappointment in the state of things, saying he’d gladly renounce chaos if it meant people would stop suffering. Gwen replied that although she also felt sympathy towards the poor, she wouldn’t want to forsake the spontaneity of the world, since it also led to marvellous things. The courier finished his cigarette and mounted his horse, bid farewell to the women and departed, leaving them in the garden feeling like they had just let a sidequest slip out of their grasp. Doro’s words did rise a bit of suspicion amongst the players. They told me he’d sounded like a villain giving a speech.
Jasbeer and Gwen arrived at the surgical theater and found Barnaby Camp giving a lecture, so they decided to wait for him. Uzziel told her companion about Lorcan Kell’s offer and they decided they would accept and go talk to him after they had linked up with the others. Once Dr. Camp finished his lecture he saw the constables as he made his way to the exit of the building, and was immediately wary once he learned they were police. However Jasbeer was able to convince him they could be trusted, so he asked them to accompany him to his house. Once inside he locked the door and after making sure they were alone he told them he had received a letter from Wolfgang this morning, asking him to contact professor Lynn Kindleton. He didn’t want to get involved in whatever sordid business his former student had gotten himself into, so he gave the constables the letter and asked them to get in touch with Kindleton in his stead. He also said he’d been visited by an officer named Porter, who’d been very rude. Jasbeer and Uzziel told him this man was impersonating a cop, and should not be trusted. He’d figured as much.
At the mayor’s mansion Juza and Gwen met with Reed Macbannin. He asked what they wanted to discuss with him, and then interrupted himself to ask them if they wanted something to drink. They were willing to accept some coffee, so he asked Cilian to make some and bring biscuits. Once the butler had left Juza and Gwen explained that they were in the middle of an investigation to apprehend Gale and Eva Sechim, the renowned skyseer, had offered her help if they could help her reach the peak of the cursed Cauldron Hill so she could have a vision of the future. Macbannin took on a sombre demeanor and began muttering to himself. Gwen asked why he was so pensive, and he said that if the newspapers got wind of his involvement in helping both a beloved prophet and the police capture a terrorist, he could use that leverage to get more money to help the poor people living in his district. The constables were delighted at the idea, and relieved that Macbannin was completely on board with granting them access to the mountain. To make it official the mayor asked them to sign a document with the scheduled date for the ascent. He asked their names and hesitated after hearing Gwen’s absurd surname. They even heard Cillian chuckle from outside the door, and Gwen decided to get back at him by emerging onto the corridor and tipping the tray he was carrying, which made the butler lose his balance as he tried desperately to keep the coffee and biscuits from falling to the floor. It was a very lighthearted scene, and they seemed to really like the mayor and his butler. Luckily for me, both Juza and Gwen have garbage Insight, and Jasbeer and Uzziel were busy elsewhere.
Meanwhile Jasbeer and Uzziel went to meet with Lynn Kindleton. By this time it was already late in the afternoon, so they found the professor about to go out to a hospital morgue to teach class. Suspecting officer Porter might have come here already they quickly shot down suspicions that they were working with him, told her that man was an impostor and probably a criminal, and reassured her they wanted to protect Wolfgang and ensure both his safety and hers, even offering to grant her asylum in the RHC until the whole situation was resolved. She finally agreed to share what information she had, including that she had been communicating with Wolfgang via letters delivered by a boy. They asked what his name was, and I figured “yeah, let’s do this”. His name was Rider, she said. Jasbeer and Uzziel didn’t know Rider peronsally, but they knew that was the name of an orphan boy whom Juza had befriended.
After locking up her office Lynn Kindleton followed the PCs to the RHC, where they arranged for her to stay in one of the cells where she’d be safer than in her home. Carlao told them Stover Delft was looking for them, and he was rather mad. They went into his office and he asked where the hell they’d been, since Lady Saxby had been waiting for them all day to talk to them about the case. He suggested they go talk to her right now, and they both went in like children who knew they were in for a scolding.
They found Margaret Saxby in her office, going through their reports. She glanced at them as they came in and told them to approach. Without looking at them she asked where they had been, and they meekly explained they had followed a lead into the forest, where they had apprehended a member of Kell’s guild and gotten the aid of Eva Sechim, which pleased the Lady Inspectress. They explained they would ascend Cauldron Hill with the old woman as soon as they could, but in the meantime they had learned Wolfgang had been communicating with Dr. Camp and Professor Kindleton, to whom they’d already spoken to. They had also learned Lorcan Kell might have more information on his whereabouts, which was why they were going to meet him in less than an hour in a theater in Parity Lake. Despite her usual attitude towards the party, and her initial displeasure at their failure to report for duty in the morning, it was hard to imagine she’d be mad considering the astounding progress they had made in just a couple of days. Especially since that would reflect well on her. So she let them off easy, telling them to give notice whenever they planned to spend the morning doing field work, and said they’d done a “good job”. She also told them to keep their cool when they went to talk to Lorcan Kell, reminding them that though a criminal, he was not their target on this mission, and they shouldn’t get in over their heads and do anything stupid. That was mainly so they wouldn’t try to take him down, considering they were going in alone and that would most likely get them killed. It was already 7:30 pm and they didn’t have time to link up with Juza and Gwen, and because of Jasbeer’s previous favor with the police they couldn’t call in reinforcements quickly enough.
The two constables took a carriage to Parity Lake to get there as quickly as possible, and I gave them a bit of leeway so they wouldn’t miss their appointment. As they walked through the streets of the factory district they realized this neighborhood looked a bit better off than the others, and Uzziel noticed that people were looking at them from their windows. This made them incredibly paranoid, so when they heard screams and saw the woman crying for help they were suspicious. They saw the two men with the red scarves running off after apparently assaulting the carriage driver and stealing something from the woman, but they did not move. The woman yelled that they had taken her baby, trying to spur them into action, but Uzziel’s player asked if he’d heard a baby’s screams, and the answer was no. He questioned the woman a bit and rolled Insight, and automatically succeeded since I had lowered the DC considerably because of his previous observation. They called BS on her and the woman got mad and began running after the men herself, but someone quickly told her to stop and a man arrived, parting the crowd and telling everyone to return to their business - these people were not falling for it. The players felt a knot in the pit of their stomachs. They realized they had been incredibly close to falling into a trap, and the thought that all these people were in on it scared them.
The athletic man who had dispersed the crowd told them to follow him to the theater, where his boss was waiting. They obliged and handed in their weapons with the promise that they would be returned. They didn’t believe it, but they had no choice. Lorcan Kell was waiting for them in one of the theater’s balconies, and he quickly got down to business. He explained that he knew where Dr. Wolfgang was, but in exchange for his help he wanted the constables to stop a smuggling operation that would happen the following night and hand the contraband wands over to him. Jasbeer and Uzziel were sure this was a bad idea, but they were in no position to negotiate. They agreed, figuring that it would probably make little difference if the wands ended up with one criminal syndicate or another. However, they other possibility was to stop the smuggling operation and turn the wands over to the RHC, but this would mean Lorcan might harm Wolfgang. To drive the point home Lorcan asked the constables to stay for the comedy show in celebration of their business agreement. The curtain opened and a drunken docker walked on stage, where a woman flirted with him. Uzziel’s player was the first to realize what was up, and he timidly asked me if it was going to be like a “red room”, almost dreading the answer. Gwen’s player asked what that was, but got her answer quickly.
Another man arrived on stage, angry that the drunkard was flirting with his girlfriend. He began to chase him around in a comedic fashion, but it quickly took a grim turn as someone from the audience handed him a board with nails. More people began to hand the man and woman crude weapons of various kinds, and together they beat the docker to within an inch of his life. Jasbeer and Uzziel stared in horror and Uzziel tried to do something, but Jasbeer stopped him. She told him “I know you want to help that man, but right now there’s nothing we can do. I also want to do what’s right, but sometimes, that means you have to submit.” Kell overheard this and was greatly pleased. So he decided to stop the show just as the actors were about to kill the man, ordering to take him away and have him healed. He turned to the constables and said “he’ll live… as long as you uphold your part of the deal”.
Jasbeer and Uzziel were shaken. Juza and Gwen’s players were shaken too. The constables rendezvoused at the RHC and Jasbeer and Uzziel asked their companions to accompany them to drink. Once at the “Golden Scale” they explained what had happened and proceeded to drown their sorrows and fears in copious amounts of alcohol.
The players told me they had really liked Lorcan Kell’s character, and that he was obviously meant to be a monster. Jasbeer’s player said he’d really liked that the campaign was willing to go that far. Uzziel’s said he saw it coming at the last second and felt terrible about not being able to do anything, and that his character had despaired at realizing that maybe he couldn’t really make a difference despite his best efforts. Juza’s player just said that she was glad she hadn’t been around for that, because she didn’t think she’d be able to handle it. Gwen’s player even told me it had made him sick to his stomach. I later asked him why, since extreme violence was nothing new to our D&D games, and he told me that he felt there was a difference between confronting violent and sadistic monsters and confronting violent and sadistic people. It had hit close to home, because he knew that although we live in a relatively safe city, there actually exist people like that in the world. Hell, our own country, Mexico, is full of that kind of stuff happening in the north, and that was why it had shaken him so much. We ended the session there, at about 4 am, and all the players were really excited. They’d had fun, and despite that last part hitting them like a truck, they had found it engaging and enjoyable in its own way.
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