Aftermath
After the destruction of RHC Heqdquarters, the surviving constables – Cazara, IronPeak, James, and Summer – attended many memorial services for their fellow employees. Newly-minted Chief Inspector Stover Delft had many positive things to say at Malkie’s funeral. Mort Stark’s funeral was held at the Danoran Consulate. Julian LeBrix spoke about Mort’s dedication to Danor and the bright future of cooperation between Danor and Risur.
As Mort’s memorial was winding down, an imposing black steamship pulled into the Danoran Consulate’s private pier, belching black smoke into the sky. A black-clad tiefling woman with a set of horns that would make a water buffalo jealous emerged from the ship. Followed by her dwarven assistant, she swept majestically down the pier, where she demanded Mort’s ashes. LeBrix was clearly expecting her, and he handed the urn over, addressing her as “Madame Stark.”
“Soliogn-Stark,” said the dwarf, as he made a note on his clipboard.
Mort’s mother held the urn high over her head and dumped its contents over herself, looking up and spitting forth the fire from her belly as the ashes fell. The ash burned again, wreathing Madame Alienor Contessa Soliogn-Stark in a conflagration composed of her son’s ashes and her own sorrow. She leveled her gaze at the constables. “Who is responsible for this?”
Delft introduced himself, and praised Mort’s contribution to the RHC, and explained that he was in the process of forming an independent task force to answer exactly that question. Alienor invited Delft and the constables into her ship, where they could meet in private and discuss matters. Her office on the ship held more guns than some RHC offices. Delft and the constables explained that they were investigating an international conspiracy that had started the series of events which led to the deaths of Mort, Malkie, and about 80% of the RHC’s Flint-based staff.
In fact, the next step of this investigation would involve traveling to Danor and boarding the Avery Coast Railroad in secret, to spy on a meeting of the conspirators. Delft and the constables secured Alienor’s assistance in this effort. Not only would she join with the group, she would use her ship to support the mission, and her not-inconsiderable resources to secure passage aboard the train. As a popular figure, known to many throughout Danor – including the Jierre family – Alienor could easily help with paperwork and logistics. The mission would not launch for nearly two months. Alienor decided to stay in Flint for the interim, ostensibly carrying out her own business. Officially, she and the RHC would have no association.
The RHC headquarters were relocated to the first floor of an old Pemberton Industries building in the Pardwight district. The building was an abandoned testing ground for the discredited Pemberton Industries’ experiments with personal arcanoscientific devices. Most of the old equipment was moved into storage on other floors of the building, but the creepy paintings of Benedict Pemberton remained. The building had the advantage of being in a far more fashionable neighborhood than the old RHC building, with restaurants, shops, and Pardwight University all within a short walk of the front door. Delft began the long process of hiring new constables and staffers.
About a week after the constables had moved in to their new facility, they were accosted by a street urchin on their way back from lunch. The young woman latched on to IronPeak, saying she had seen stories of her escapades in the newspaper. The beggar asked if they could “speak privately” down a back alley. IronPeak was not quite sure whether she was being propositioned for prostitution or a mugging, but she went along, while the rest of the crew headed back to the office.
The woman introduced herself as Coniglietta and said that she had abandoned the Clergy but that she knew many secrets about the Bleak Gate and she had all read about IronPeak’s heroics on Cauldron Hill and during The Incident that destroyed several city blocks. Coniglietta said that she had a unique perspective on the events happening in the Bleak Gate, and she would like to help. IronPeak told her to come in to headquarters and make a statement, not to accost people in random alleyways.
When IronPeak told the rest of the group about it, they all pretty much agreed that this woman with “a unique perspective” was probably an Obscurati spy. Delft put forth the theory that maybe if they hired her, they could keep an eye on her, so the next morning, that’s exactly what he did. He took Coney’s statement that she “just felt” she belonged with the group, ran her through the loyalty ritual, and hired her for the coming mission to Danor. Everyone hoped the new Ob spy would do something stupid and reveal herself before long.
For the next seven weeks, the constables went about planning their operation to Danor and beyond. They knew that Caius Bergeron has been planning a train trip from Beaumont to Vendricce, thanks to the creepy letter he wrote to Finona Duvall. The letter also revealed that there would be an important Obscurati meeting in Vendricce. The constables and Delft hoped that other Obscurati members would be making the same 3,000-mile train voyage, so they could find out information from them. Ideally, the constables would travel the train with cover identities, find out as much as they could about what the Obscurati was up to, and then return to Risur without anyone knowing they had been there.
For cover identities, the main snag was their new unofficial association with Alienor. She was too well-known to travel under cover, but they thought of a way to use that to their advantage. Alienor “hired” Cazara and Summer to be her handmaidens. The three of them would travel first class, boarding the train in Alienor’s home city of Cherage, one day into the six-day journey. Alienor booked freight through from Beaumont to Vendricce, and secured IronPeak passage as a guard for the freight. James and Coney would board independently. James would simply be traveling as a train enthusiast; Coney, who once served the Clergy, would be a pilgrim, traveling to Crissilyir for religious reasons.
In order to keep the Ob from finding out what they were up to, the constables met in secret and acquired false papers and tried to find out if anyone was spying on them. IronPeak confronted a young woman in the new secretarial pool who was spying on her for a man she thought worked for the newspaper, but was actually working for Lorcan Kell. The young woman never came to work again.
The constables secured the release of Rock Rackus from jail, informing him of the untimely death of his promoter Malkie. They talked to him about the fact that he had been mentioned in Caius Bergeron’s letter, and Rock told them a fantastic story of using a scroll he had found in another ziggurat dig, partying with the fey, finding himself suddenly on the moon, and being accused of a crime, for which he then had to defend himself in a trial by combat. He was paired off against a fairy with a large rack of antlers; Rock shot him and immediately won his freedom. He went back to partying and later awoke back in the forest, but his gun had turned into his now-famous solid-gold, diamond-encrusted piece. He mentioned that he had some more scrolls, but he couldn’t remember where he’d put them.
Rackus mused on the difference between fey laws and mortal laws. The Unseen Court said they thought he might be a criminal, so he shot a man who was trying to kill him, and that meant that he was free to go. Back in the “real” world, a man tried to kill him, Rock shot the man, and the mortal government said that he was a criminal and would have to be locked up. Rock seemed to like the Fey way better. The constables convinced Rock to make a concert tour of Danor, Drakr, and Crisillyir, which just happened to sync up with their own journey. They hoped he would provide enough of a distraction to throw off anyone looking for Risuri spies.
All the pieces seemed to be falling into place. In the last week of Autumn, the constables and their new ally Alienor set sail for Beaumont, on the west coast of Danor.