ZEITGEIST BSI: Bosum Strand Irregulars

[skotothalamos]

A Train Full of Dangerous Ladies

The voyage from Flint to Danor went within sight of Axis Island, where new construction could be seen. Alienor leveraged her celebrity veteran status to dock in the star fort where her son and the other constables had defended the lighthouse against the Duchess Ethelyn’s rebel troops nine months prior. James took the opportunity to poke around a bit and Alienor asked the right questions of the right people. They came away with the conclusion that Danoran engineers were undergoing a major excavation, and possibly draining a lake, either for coolant or for better access to the bottom of the lake. Unable to get more information without drawing suspicion on themselves, the constables departed.

Some time after leaving Axis Island, Cazara spied what appeared to be a small steam pipe following behind their ship. James told the others that he was familiar with the theory of a self-propelled submersible – or “sub-marine” – vessel but he was not aware of anyone successfully testing that theory. Cazara lost sight of the pipe she had seen, and the constables became suspicious that the vessel might be preparing to attack their ship. Ironpeak dove into the water to see if they were being followed by one of these sub-marine ships. She surfaced a few minutes later and said she saw no sign of anything. James said that submarines were incapable of keeping up with surface vessels for very long, so Alienor ordered full steam and there were no more incidents during the journey.

The ship dropped off James, IronPeak and Coney in Beaumont, at the western terminus of the Avery Coast rail line. The city was far more industrialized than Flint, and the cold Danoran winter was blowing in. The city was mostly black soot and gray snow. James and IronPeak were to board the train on the 11^th of Winter; IronPeak would be guarding a crate of cargo containing some of the group’s supplies. Coney boarded the train a few days early and headed a few stops down the line to the agricultural town of Keskay, where she would lie low until the 11^th, to throw off any Obscurati spies who might be watching for a large group of non-Danorans boarding at once.

On the 11^th, James and IronPeak boarded separately, with forged identification documents for Timothy Smith and Kordovés Titanfist Maderesk. “Timothy” boarded in second class, and “Titanfist” boarded in the first coach car, where she would have easy access to cargo.

Before tickets were taken, the constables had free run of the train, and did some snooping around in various cars. IronPeak met a Danoran war veteran named Bree Kaldeckis, and the two of them hit it off immediately. They went for a drink in the first-class lounge before the conductor could shoo them back to coach. IronPeak talked about how she was working security for the train journey, and Bree asked if she knew anyone who was hiring. IronPeak did not.

James also ended up in the lounge, as the guest of a first-class passenger named Damato Griento. Griento was an Orc from Ber who was also a railroad entrepreneur. He was traveling with his wife and two children, while also doing research on the successful Avery Coast Railroad. Damato’s son became fascinated by Bree, who had a large scar around her right bicep. When he asked her about it, she told him that “when” his sister loses one of her limbs, he should hang onto it so that it can be re-attached. This precipitated a panic attack in the young orc girl, and the Grientos quickly exited back to their first-class cabin.

Train guard Malia Baccarin eventually came around and booted all the rabble from the first-class lounge, leaving it for Rock Rackus to enjoy by himself.

The train stopped about every hour in some small town or another. Some of the stops were nothing more than an open shelter with only a roof and a bench. Others were small towns with little more than fuel and water for the steam engine. The second stop, however, was the agricultural center Keskay, where Coniglietta boarded the train, with false papers indicating she was a religious missionary.

Other interesting passengers to board in Keskay included an unpleasant woman named Elanor Yanette who had a veiled companion, tethered to her wrist by a gold chain. They boarded first class, where Elanor got herself a few alcoholic beverages in the lounge, but only water for her companion, before they both disappeared into their cabin.

A cocky tiefling gunslinger who kept introducing himself as Olivert Boone made a spectacle of himself in the dining car, flirting with every woman who would tolerate his presence. Another passenger, a dwarf, caused a commotion as he was boarding. As he passed from coach through the dining car to his second-class cabin, he bumped a man who was snacking at the bar. The man choked to death on a salted nut and died before anyone could help him.

Coney, sensing that something out of the ordinary was happening, rushed up, introduced herself as a member of the Clergy, and demanded the right to give the unfortunate man last rites, in private somewhere. The train guards pointed her to a nearby restroom (“you know the one,” said one guard to the other) and – seemingly completely disinterested in the death of one of their passengers – allowed the strange girl to just take the body away to the bathroom to do whatever she wanted.

In the bathroom, still a bit shocked at her luck at getting the guards to do what she wanted, Coney talked to the spirit of the dead man. He told her that he had been cheated out of gambling winnings by the dwarf, Verzubak Tantalovich, and he had come to kill him. By some stroke of awful luck, just as he had been preparing to make his move, stab the dwarf, and disappear in the crowd of boarding passengers, someone had bumped into him from behind and he had lost track of what happened after that. Coney informed the man that he had died and would be moving on soon the to the afterlife. She offered to carry a message to his loved ones, but the man would only reply with angry shouts, so she let him go, and then left his body in the bathroom without even searching his pockets.

Finally, the train made its way out of Keskay, and the rest of the day’s journey into the Danoran capitol of Cherage was uneventful. The train pulled into a Railroad Enclave, nearly identical to the Enclave in Beaumont.

Each major city along the route had one of these walled neighborhoods at the nightly train station. The train stopped for the night, and the passengers would sleep in one of the hotels, according to their station. Restaurants, bars, shops, and other entertainments were available inside the walls of the enclaves, which – even outside of Danor – were considered Danoran soil and subject to Danoran law. The city of Cherage was under a nightly curfew, so no rail passengers would be allowed to exit the enclave, though Cherage citizens with the appropriate papers could travel after sundown and could enter and exit the enclave.

That night, the constables decided to lay low. Coney shared her opinion with the other two that she thought the dwarf Verzubak might be an assassin. Perhaps he was connected with the Obscurati in some way.

James went to the railroad museum in the enclave, doing an excellent job of appearing to just be a train enthusiast and not a police investigator, then went to a bar where he befriended Verzubak by chatting with him while the dwarf gambled. At 9 o’clock, Verzubak used a chunk of his gambling money to buy a round for the bar, toasting everyone: “To those we trust in, and to those who earn our trust. May alcohol forever help bring us together!”

IronPeak went to the Rock Rackus concert which was held within the enclave to allow passengers to attend. On her way back to the hotel later that night, IronPeak was nearly run into by a large shabby-looking blond man wearing nothing but a long coat covered in patches and holes. The man sprinted past her, smelling of fragrant bath oils, and being closely pursued by four enclave guards. IronPeak got the distinct impression that the man was not running as fast as he could, possibly to make it an interesting chase. He reached a bridge over the railroad tracks, leaped down onto the train, and disappeared from view.

Intrigued, IronPeak asked the guards what had happened. They referred her to the first-class hotel where the concierge informed her that the man had come in, looking a mess (but wearing pants, at the time), and said he had a reservation for the penthouse suite under the name “Mr. Mapple.” When the concierge said they didn’t have a reservation under that name, Mapple suggested that they had gotten the name wrong for his penthouse suite reservation. When the concierge informed Mapple that no one had reserved the penthouse suite, Mapple had thanked her and left without another word. Becoming suspicious after a while, she called security after about half an hour and sent them up to the penthouse suite, where they discovered the naked Mister Mapple in the suite’s bathtub, along with many of the complimentary bath oils. Mapple grabbed his coat and jumped out the fourth-floor window, leaving his shirt and pants behind. IronPeak was intrigued and was immediately convinced that the man was stowing away on the train. She would check out the freight cars in the morning.

The next morning, several more interesting passengers boarded the train. Alienor Contessa Soliogn-Stark was boarding. The famous lone survivor of Risur’s shelling of a Cherage orphanage 43 years prior was a face many Danorans would have recognized on sight were she still a child. That image of that one bloody orphaned child sold had more War Bonds than any campaign before or since, and the Danoran government was not shy about reprinting her face and her story whenever they wanted to stir a patriotic fervor. Madame Soliogn-Stark was accompanied by her handmaidens “Ilaria de los Campos,” and “Winter,” or so the paperwork for Cazara and Summer read.

Additionally, a junior member of the ruling family of Danor was boarding. Luc Jierre was the son of Han Jierre, the Danoran Sovereing. He made few public appearances; rumor was that he was a brilliant arcanoscientist who rarely left his laboratory. The public would grumble that the Jierres could import magic for themselves, while insisting that the poorer Danorans embrace the technological future. Accompanying Luc was a half elven woman with the tattoos of a Clergy oracle on her face and hands. She and Luc communicated via sign language.

Lastly, a well-dressed man with a strong Risuri accent was loudly arranging plans with Malia the train guard, making sure that everything was in order for his meeting. This man was notable for his finely-tailored attire and the briefcase handcuffed to his wrist.

As the passengers boarded the train that morning, the constables heard various people talking about an awful murder that had happened the night before in the railroad enclave. A woman had been found, eviscerated and ritually posed, with her viscera making a circle around her, liver in her right hand, heart in her left. When Coney rushed to the police station to try to talk to the spirit of the murdered woman, she was told that, owing to the clearly demonic overtones of her murder, the body had been burned, according to Danoran practice.

Coney got back to the train just before it left, and so the constables had their work cut out for them. Many interesting characters were riding the Avery Coast Railroad, but which of them had intended on meeting Caius Bergeron, and which were other Obscurati agents independently traveling to the same meeting? More investigation would be required over the next four days and nights.

 

[skotothalamos]

Rolling Rogues Gallery

There was a strange event at the Danoran fort bordering the Malice Lands. An exuberant band played as a squad of Danoran troops got off the train. It seemed the environment itself was affected by the moods of the people.

Cazara was suspicious of the well-dressed Risuri man who had boarded in Cherage. She managed to flirt her way into a private dinner with the man, Cardiff Hengehill, who claimed to be a Risuri spy on a dangerous mission. His mysterious briefcase was always handcuffed to his wrist.

There was a brief safari on top of the first-class lounge. Alienor, James, Rock Rackus, Olivert Boone, Cardiff Hengehill, and others shot at Malice Beasts before they could attack the train (or run out of sight).

IronPeak searched the freight cars for a sign of Mister Mapple. She found a crate that was marked “religious artifacts” but contained only straw that had clearly been slept in recently. She left some food for the man, hoping to make a friend.

In Orithea, Summer invisibly followed Ottavia and Luc. They crossed a bridges with Boone on it. She rode the top of their carriage to a lighthouse and watched through a window as Luc unveiled a magic lantern that had various effects depending on what kind of oil was put into it. A green oil put people to sleep. A bright blue oil created a water elemental which would do tasks on command. When the “water butler” collapsed after five minutes, Summer saw a ring of fire erupt in the ocean surrounding the lighthouse. Simultaneously, all the lamps in Orithea blinked out as their flames turned to water.

There was another ritual murder victim found in the morning. Coney was able to interview the spirit of this one, but all she would say was “FIRE!”

 

[skotothalamos]

The Day Hiram McDaniels Ate a Train

The train left that morning and train guard Malia organized another safari. In the middle of this event, the train made a sudden stop; a barricade had been put across the tracks. Just as the engineers were unloading track-clearing supplies, the bandits struck, seizing control of the locomotive and ransacking the freight cars. At the same time, a gigantic multi-headed terror emerged from the swamp to the north of the train and began sticking its heads into the passenger cars.

Alienor, James, Rock, and Cardiff shot their guns at the beast nonstop, while Olivert and Bree moved to protect the first-class car occupied by Luc and Ottavia. Summer and Cazara moved inside the train toward the passenger cars, hoping to limit the damage and maybe save some passengers. IronPeak had been searching the freight cars for Mister Mapple, and she was in the perfect position to chase off bandits. Unfortunately, they found Mapple before she did, and shot him dead just as she arrived. She was able to overpower the five men and chase their leader from the freight car before they could take anything.

And then there was Coney. She transformed from her beggar’s rags into plate armor and dove out the window of the train. Once outside the train, she charged directly at the Malice Terror and was scooped up in one of its mouths. While being slowly chewed, she thought briefly about summoning her horse in its throat, but decided that traumatizing and killing her steed was probably not the best course of action. She struggled mightily as the beast began detaching its heads inside train cars (where they split into four separate creatures and started terrorizing and killing people). Eventually, she squirmed her way free of its mouth, and, hearing the cries of the innocents being slaughtered not a dozen feet from where she stood, she charged back into the mouth of the beast. It scooped her up and shook her around like a dog with a toy, occupying that one mouth while the other four heads did their violent business aboard the train.

Inside the train, Cazara murdered the little malice beasts that had been spawned from the splitting heads and ushered the surviving passengers to the safety of the cars farther away from the monster. Despite her efforts, dozens of people died. After a while, the small beasts left the train, following after the large beast, which was slipping off back into the depths of the swamp, coincidentally at the exact moment the surviving bandits were making their escape. Almost as an afterthought, Summer cast a spell that pulled Coney out of the thing’s mouth, rescuing her from a slow digestion.

IronPeak tried to administer first aid to Mapple, but he was unsuccessful. She rushed off to find Summer or James to try some healing on him, but by the time she returned, he was fine. His wounds had completely regenerated. She spent some time talking to him, and found out his real name was Andrei von Recklinghausen, and he had been traveling the rails for several months, seeing the world. His father was Doctor Wolfgang von Recklinghausen, who the constables had encountered while investigating the murder of Nilasa Hume over the summer. She inferred that he had been constructed like a flesh golem, and he shared with her the confusion he sometimes had when his brain and body didn’t agree on things. He also confided that he had violent flashbacks, but he did not think they were his own. She supposed that his brain had once belonged to a violent man. IronPeak was charmed by the man, and promised to bring him some pants in the future, along with more food.

 

[skotothalamos]

Limping into Drakr

The train got underway again after the attack. Malia and some of the other guards did a quick check of the cargo and said nothing obvious had been stolen by the bandits; “TitanFist” and “Mister Mapple” had scared them off. However, some twenty third-class passengers had perished when the gigantic malice beast attacked. One of the undamaged passenger cars was converted to a temporary morgue, and lower-class passengers were allowed into the second- and first-class cabins for the remainder of the day.

After several long, crowded hours, the damaged train finally entered the nation of Drakr and stopped at the city of Trekhom. The dead were conveyed to a nearby theater hall where Rock Rackus’s show had originally been scheduled. Instead, there would be a memorial service for those who had died on the train.

Alienor insisted that Ottavia and Luc attend the service, even though Ottavia protested (through Luc’s translation) that they had urgent business elsewhere. The memorial was attended by the constables and many of the passengers along with locals who had heard of the attack. To the surprise of the constables, the founder of the Heid Eschatol movement, Vlendam Heid, had been brought in to speak.

In typical Eschatologist fashion, Heid began by telling everyone that they were going to die, and that nothing they did would change that. He began to move into a typical Eschatology lecture on making sure everything is ended properly, including life, when he caught sight of railroad entrepreneur Damato Griento, who was visibly shaken by the events of the day. Heid interrupted his prepared program and sat at the edge of the stage to address the Beran face-to-face. Heid asked Griento if he had any questions for him.

Griento, tears in his eyes, said, “The people who died today don’t have a chance to change anything anymore. I do. I hurt my family, and I can’t stand myself now. I want to change things. I saw I could die out of nowhere, so I guess I should make amends while I have the chance.”

“I have dealt with this before,” Heid said. “Life has many chapters, and if you want the book to end properly, you must choose the path of each chapter well too.”

“Oh.” Damato slumped. “It’s hard, because I think if I try to fix anything, I’ll getmyself killed.”

Damato Griento told the story of how he’d been swindled by a fake investor in his railroad business. His family were proud warlords, but he was more interested in the exciting technological advances of the modern age. A smooth-talking human had come into his village in Ber and convinced to go into business with him developing railroad service throughout Ber. Damato had a decent amount of money to invest from his own real estate business, but it wasn’t enough, so the human had teleported Damato to Flint to do fundraising at a series of lavish parties. Before Damato knew what happened, his “partner” had spent most of Damato’s money throwing parties and the only fundraising they had achieved was a loan from a group of Crisillyiri businessmen who called themselves The Family.

Damato’s partner disappeared shortly thereafter, leaving Damato with no business, no money, and no way to pay back the Famiy loan sharks. The Family told him to steal the ancient artifacts and heirlooms of his clan, and bring them to Nalaam, and that would settle his debt. Unfortunately, when Damato lied to his wife Ejeka about why he was going to travel the Avery Coast Railroad (he said it was research for his own railroad) , she insisted he bring her and the kids along for a family vacation. Now, with a Suitcase of Holding full of the stolen treasures of his clan, and his family in tow, he was stuck with the prospect of either giving the treasure to The Family, and then having his clan kill him when he returned to Ber, or skipping out on the meeting in Nalaam and then being killed by Family hit men.

After much discussion with Vlendam Heid, who encouraged him to find “the truth” of the situation and told Griento that no one could choose the right way for him to face death, Damato decided that he owed more to his clan and his ancestors than he ever would to The Family. If he was going to die either way, the proper way to end his life would be to honor the memory of his ancestors by digging into the treasures for some ancestral weapons, putting on some warpaint, and slaughtering the Family when they came to collect. He even started casting about the audience, looking for the people who had fought so well defending the train.

Heid congratulated Griento on making an “authentic choice” in his life, while the eschatologists in the back furiously scribbled notes on what they had just seen. The memorial, such as it was, broke up, and Heid and Griento went off arm-in-arm, headed for the hotel bar. James and Verzubak and some of the other constables joined them. During the course of conversation, the topic of passing around a collection hat to help out came up, and Griento revealed that he owed 34,000 gold pieces to The Family. Verzubak immediately donated a thousand gold from his gambling winnings. Not to be outdone, Rock Rackus made a huge spectacle of himself while “loaning” fifteen thousand to Griento. He told the orc that he would have to work that off later, so he’d better be alive to do it.

Cardiff Hengehill had agreed to a dinner date with Cazara after the memorial, but he stood her up. Cazara broke into his hotel room and found that he had changed clothes and left in a hurry. Such a hurry, in fact, that he left a scrap of paper behind with the name of a warehouse scribbled on it. Cazara asked the concierge for directions and went off into the night in search of one of the twitchier characters the group had yet encountered.

Verzubak excused himself from the philosophical revels at the hotel bar, and held a carriage for Ottavia and Luc, who were headed out for the night. Verzubak joined them in the carriage, and Summer once again invisibly rode along on the top. Luc and Ottavia met with a wealthy dwarf who had maps of various lighthouses and spires around Drakr. They demonstrated Luc’s lantern without a hitch, and seemed to make a good impression on the dwarf.

Alienor had gone down to the harbor to check in with her dwarfservant Balincord, who had been managing the ship in her absence. On her way back from the docks, she encountered Cazara, who asked if she wanted to tag along to deal with Hengehill. They both had the impression that he was too obviously a spy for Risur who tried to get Danoran secrets, so they suspected he must be up to something even more nefarious. Truth be told, Alienor would have been happy just taking out a Risuri spy working against Danor; she needed no extra incentive.

Luckliy for them both, however, Cardiff Hengehill was up to no good. He was selling the Danoran secrets that he had stolen for Risur, and selling them to the Drakran military. He handed over his briefcase full of documents and collected a sack of money, which he transferred to his own dufflebag. He then left the warehouse and made his way for the docks, with a giant bag of cash over his shoulder, unaware that he was being shadowed by two very patriotic representatives of the two governments he had most recently betrayed…

 

[skotothalamos]

I'm about twelve sessions behind on getting updated here. I will briefly sum up what's going, for those who have the AP and know the main plots, before putting up the session from last night.

At some point, I will come back and re-insert the missing 12 sessions.

The constables killed Cardiff Hengehill, took his money, a loan from Rock Rackus, their own funds and a gift from the dwarf gambler whose name I forgot, pooled all of that and helped Griento pay off his debt to the Family.

IronPeak befriended Mapple and then enlisted his and Bree's help to kill Olivert Boone for his murder spree. Of course, Bree left the others waiting while she tried to "flush him out" and actually warned Boone away. While IronPeak and Mapple were waiting for Boone to show, Elanor came along and had them both arrested and thrown into the Nalaam arena.

IronPeak made fast friends with the Dire Bear that was sent into the pit, called out a challenge to Elanor and then rode it straight to Elanor's luxury suite. Elanor demanded the Pyrecat be released and Kulp obliged. Mapple followed IronPeak and the pyrecat chased the others toward Elanor's suite. She and the buyers scattered, but Kulp referenced the disclaimer at the arena entrance that all who enter the arena are warriors, and kept Elanor from fleeing the battle. She was eventually killed by the pyrecat after IronPeak knocked her unconscious.

New party Paladin whose name I barely remember any more got herself killed trying to stop the pyrecat. It rather gruesomely speared her on its hook and then ran around the fight with her skewered in place. It wasn't until Mapple grabbed the pyrecat and threw it back into the arena floor that she died from falling damage.

Mapple escorted the eladrin slave to safety, and the group moved on.

They managed to avoid the suspicions of the Ob for a while by deflecting all attention to Rock Rackus. This ended up with Rock Rackus being the only one drawn into the shadow train by the purple lamp oil. It wasn't until the Spring when they encountered him again in Flint at the debut of his new show Purple Train, that the constables found out what happened to him.

However, Ottavia had a plan to take care of any unknown threats to their mission. She had Luc loudly tell Malia to make sure their bags were ready for their new travel plans in Sid Minos, hoping it would catch any remaining followers. She put an illusion on Boone to make him appear to be Luc, and the two of them headed for the Isle of Odiem, where Boone and any other problems would be dealt with by the drowned dead.

Boone went down easily enough, and the constables fled into the Crypta Hereticarum, where they had many exciting adventures that are too numerous to relay in this summary. The end result was that Summer acquired the First Blade of Srasama (she just "had a feeling" that it belonged to her), Alienor acquired a pair of cursed items (the Rod of Negation and the Teapot of Losing All Your Friends), they found Malkie re-incarnated and hidden away with all the other vile abominations, and Ashima-Shimtu helped the party along their way after they killed the annoying godhand.

The group spied on the meeting at the private train station in Vendricce, but saw no reason to reveal themselves to the Ob, so they quietly returned to Flint with a ton of intel.

Several months later, They met with King Aodhan about security for the upcoming peace summit, got a mission from Asrabey, failed to keep Pardwight from exploding, got nine police officers killed trying to crack down on the Kell Guild, and tracked down Ekossigan two days early thanks to figuring out that the dead kid in the Cloudwood district must be an orphan and Cazara having knowledge of the Gallo School for Boys.

Also, they encountered Gale, which allowed Alienor to deal with some of their shared backstory, mostly revealing that Alienor has serious attachment issues based on the fact that Gale helped raise her.

Also, eight junior constables joined the team. Instead of breaking up into an A Team of main PCs and a B Team of junior constables they've been mixing the groups together whenever they need to split up.

Finally, IronPeak got a promotion and is now Assistant Director of the Flint office of the RHC.

 

[skotothalamos]

Into the Cloudwood

Cazara, Summer, and a couple of junior constables (Pablo Duende the Bugbearian, and Magnus Magnusson the Pacifist Cleric) trekked into the Cloudwood in search of the Gallo School for Boys. Asrabey of the Unseen Court accompanied them. The orphanage was situated several hours’ hike into the woods but the constables were determined to find out if Ekossigan or his gremlins had taken the dead boy from the school.


The rain started about a half mile from the orphanage: first a light drizzle, then growing into a steady downpour as they got closer. The orphanage was situated up in the boughs of a centuries-old tree in the rainforest. Seeing no sign of anyone around, three of the constables headed up the spiral stairs which wrapped around the trunk of the tree. Pablo stayed below to guard their retreat.

As they neared the top of the stairs, tiny arrows whizzed past them, though one or two struck Cazara, and she felt a numbing poison go through her. The constables rushed up the stairs to the treehouse, but still could not see their assailants. Summer turned invisible. Cazara finally spotted a little green gremlin, no taller than a foot, wielding a tiny bow on a nearby branch. She leapt away from the tree trunk and confronted the minuscule archer, but he laughed at her effort and skittered out of reach. From the branch, Cazara could see that many of the branches of the great tree had empty nooses hanging from them.

Magnus opened the door to the school. Inside, he saw half a dozen more of the little green creatures. They had converted the school’s front office into a makeshift dormitory, setting up little beds inside desk drawers. Also, some of the gremlins had been decorating: school paperwork had been converted into papier-mâché sculptures of people. Magnus slowly closed the door.

Pablo caught up with the rest. He and Cazara kicked in the door that Magnus had closed, and engaged the gremlins in melee, but they found that their attacks were excessively unlucky today. The gremlins managed to knock Zara down and slip a noose over her neck before Asrabey finally deigned to help out by cutting the rope. The combat looked like it might devolve into comedy until Summer turned herself into a spark of electricity and shot through four gremlins at once.

The lone survivor of the office-bedroom dashed away with Pablo hot on his tail. The gremlin slipped between the loose boards of the wall dividing the classrooms from the cafeteria. Pablo tried to follow, but just smashed straight into the wooden wall at full speed.

The melee looked ready to spin out of control when Summer noticed that Gale was sitting atop one of the outer buildings of the school, itself perched on a separate branch. Cazara asked if there was going to be any trouble and Gale warned her to stay out of the building she was sitting on.

A wooden mask with antlers appeared in full sight of all the combatants, floating in the air. A black hood appeared behind the mask, suggesting the head of its wearer. Then leaves of the tree gathered below them to approximate the shape of a man. The susurrus of the rainfall against the forest canopy united as a single voice to speak to fey and constables alike.

“Enough!”

The gremlins stopped fighting, turning their attention to the masked figure.

“Greetings. I am Ekossigan of Spring, devoted servant of the Unseen Court and protector of the ever-turning seasons. It is with much remorse that I come to your dull and colorless world, but I shall rid this garden of the dark seeds you have planted.”

The fey’s mask looked over the constables and then stopped at Asrabey.

“Ah, the guard dog of the Court. I had hoped that you would lend me aid, but I see your masters want me put down. Yet you cannot harm me, so the guard dog brings pups of his own. Do you know what is inside Cauldron Hill, little pups? Step with me into the gate, and we’ll weed this dark garden together.”

Over the constant drone of the rain could be heard the movement of dozens of creatures down below, wings fluttering, wet hair slashing tree branches, hooves tramping the grass. From the dorms on the other branches came the nervous cries of children.

Ekossigan’s mask seemed to grow more solid. “Opening the gate requires death. The fresher the flower when cut, the more beautiful the wreath when woven. Spring must ever turn to Winter.”

More of his form began to appear and blue light beamed from every surface of his wooden skin. The temperature began to drop, and the fey lord cackled once. Ekossigan flared with near-blinding light, and then he stood before the constables, fully and physically in this world. “Greetings,” he said. “I am Ekossigan of Winter.”

Asrabey dashed back down the stairs to deal with Ekossigan’s army, shouting that he’d be back for answers. Summer, however, would not be intimidated by this fey lord. She drew the First Blade of Srasama and made the sword as large as she could hold.

“Your seasons are out of order, Ekossigan. Spring can’t turn to Winter without first going through Summer!”

Summer stared down the fey lord and invoked the power of the triple goddess to get his attention. She and Cazara argued back and forth with him, getting Ekossigan to reveal his plan to cross over into the Bleak Gate to take down the “child that sleeps under the mountain.” They asked him to spare the children of the orphanage, but he countered that the sickness at the heart of their city had already claimed innumerable souls; what difference would 31 more make?

Throughout the conversation, Ekossigan seemed to know more about Summer than she herself did. He knew who and what she was before she dropped her wood-elf disguise. He thanked her for “finally wanting to make amends.” He seemed to intuit her connection to Srasama, at one point addressing her as “Mother.” Eventually, the two of them came to an agreement: Ekossigan would give Summer two days to find another way to cross over into the Bleak Gate. If he was not presented with an alternative by midnight on the 12th (about 54 hours away), he would go ahead with his plan to sacrifice the thirty-one orphans and open up a gateway to the Bleak Gate to take the attack to the dark mirror of Cauldron Hill.

 

[Ajar]

Your group has passed mine! Yet another thread I can mine for nefarious purposes.

Very interesting reading. My group is about to do the Pardwight scene - my thread is a little behind. We'll see how it goes!

 

[skotothalamos]

Beasts of the End Time

While one team was meeting with Ekossigan, another RHC team escorted Brakken of Heffanita and a couple of Peace Summit dignitaries to the Rock Rackus show, a preview of Purple Train, set to open at the Navras Opera House the following night.

Alienor was running late, but James went to the show, leading three junior constables (Lila Coldwater the Witch, Emmeline LeCrochet the Avenger, and Garson “BugTree” Wildflower, the Wilden Swarm Druid). In the smallish nightclub, Emmeline and Lila noticed a suspicious meeting happening in one of the semi-private booths. While Brakken and the dignitaries took in the show, the meeting broke up and one of the two men seemed upset, storming out with four bodyguards in tow. Emmeline followed closely enough to hear him called “Mr. Augst” at the coat check, but was unable to follow the man. She tried to get more information out of the coat check attendant, but he clammed up. Investigating back at the booth, James and Lila found no sign of Mr. Augst’s partner, but did detect a recent use of shadow magic. James also noticed that the man had been idly stabbing the table.

Alienor showed up and got caught up on the situation, at which point Brakken shared that he had overheard the disappearing man say that Mr. Augst needed to be killed before he talked. Alienor remembered having bumped into a man matching Augst’s description. She applied her considerable talents to getting the coat check attendant to talk, learning that the man was a lawyer named Quentin Augst.

After the show, the constables checked up on the man at the temporary RHC Headquarters, and found out that he was a known associate of the Kell Guild, often turning up to defend suspected Kell Guild members who had been arrested.

The Ekossigan team returned, and everyone was antsy to follow up on two matters of importance: Quentin Augst needed to be tracked down, and the doomsday dwarf cult was expecting a dangerous shipment tonight. The eight junior constables and Malkie split into three teams to stake out Augst’s three known residences, in Central District, North Shore, and the Ayres.

Summer, Alienor, James, and Cazara went to the docks, but first they interrogated a captured zealot. Summer pretended to be interested in their cult, and learned that many “Beasts of the End Times” were gong to be released to distract the Flint PD from several major operations the terrorists were planning, including bombing the hotel where the peace summit was going to happen.

Also, Delft informed the constables that IronPeak was following up on some intriguing information courtesy of Morgan Cippiano, probable capo of The Family, the Kell Guild’s main organized crime rival.

The junior constables found that Augst safely retreated to his private island in the Ayres. They staked out the estate until morning, making sure nothing untoward happened.

Meanwhile, the senior constables headed to the docks, where they found a dozen dockers using a crane to help a pair of clean-shaven dwarves unload six massive crates from a steamship. Midnight approached, and The constables got into position. Cazara ascended to the rooftops and Alienor and Summer took cover behind nearby buildings as James walked right into the crowd of dockers. He informed them that they were breaking the law and aiding terrorists, and furthermore, he was with the RHC and they were surrounded. The dockers sort of laughed him off, but then Cazara and Alienor used shuriken and bullet to cut the cable of the crane, dropping its crate. Out of the remains of the crate leapt a Displacer Beast, and the dockers scattered.

Cazara went straight for the cat-like beast, knocking it senseless. Summer backed her up by dispatching the beast to the Dreaming for a short time. James and Alienor opened fire on the dwarves, but they failed to prevent them from opening two of the three crates still aboard the ship. One crate held an Owlbear and the other held a Beholder which shot fire from its eyes. The Beholder and Owlbear thanked the dwarves by killing them. As the Owlbear ate them, the Beholder floated out over the battle. Realizing that all of the creatures in the area were focusing their attacks on it, the Beholder used its telekinesis to release an Umber Hulk from one of the already-unloaded crates. Seeing that the constables were overmatched, Summer sent her raven Snow to find backup from any nearby police.

Just as the Umber Hulk emerged, however, James landed a solid shot on the Beholder and it panicked, shooting fire in every direction, which included the Hulk. Enraged, the hulking beetle-ape hybrid thing launched itself at the floating eyeball thing, scaring the Beholder away from the fight. Alienor managed to take it out before it escaped. The Hulk then turned its attention to the constables while the Owlbear ate the dwarves.

James, Cazara, and Summer took turns distracting the beast while Alienor fired shot after shot. Cazara was nearly bitten in half, and James went down at least once, but eventually the constables were victorious. While the Hulk was going down, the Owlbear finished its meal of dwarves and then wandered off into the city. Also, the Displacer Beast finally returned from its trip to the Dreaming, and then escaped into the city in a different direction. Some reinforcements arrived in the form of Flint PD and curious dockers. Cazara gathered a team to hunt down the Owlbear, Alienor gathered a team to get the Displacer Beast, and James and Summer put together a group to load the unopened crate back onto the ship (where one other unopened crate remained). They noticed that the crate that had been unloaded had a very unhappy occupant trying to smash its way out, while the one aboard ship was completely silent.

It took the dockers some time to repair to the crane so the unruly crate could be reloaded. James and Summer took the time to check out the ship, finding only a small crew who had killed themselves with cyanide pills. Alienor returned and devised a plan to have the dwarf ship towed back to see with its cargo, and then scuttled. The unruly occupant of the one crate was a point of concern, so some heavy chains were gathered and the crate was reinforced. As James and Alienor tried to put chains on the quiet crate, the crate itself grew great appendages and grabbed the both of them. Eyes appeared and a great maw opened in the side of the crate. It had been a Mimic all along!

Summer teleported the two of them out of the thing’s grasp. Alienor and James opened fire on the thing as the dockers scattered. The Mimic grabbed James again and then gave up its disguise, turning instead into an amorphous goo pile and then oozing over the side of the ship, dragging James after it.

James could not escape the grip of the Mimic. Fearing for his life, he managed to squirm his hand free and pulled forth a Potion of Invulnerability. Summer saw one chance to save him. One of her spells could teleport one creature after she stabbed it. She reached over the side of the ship, but James was flopping about on the surface of the water, too far away. Luckily, the First Blade of Srasama could be any size its owner wanted, so she extended the length of its blade and stabbed at James. She hit. She hit so well that the sword of the fallen goddess cut through James’s invulnerability, flesh, and bone. She succeeded in teleporting him back to the ship, but James was bleeding out and would have died if the constables hadn’t been there to give him immediate medical treatment (she critted for 54 damage. If he hadn’t had resist 25 all, she would have killed him while saving him).

The mimic had gotten away, but everything else had been taken care of. No one was looking forward to telling Delft that there was a giant mimic loose in the city…

 

[RangerWickett]

That was awesome. I hope they never find that mimic.

 

[Crispy120286]

Great blog!
I do have one question. I've noticed your color maps and great tokens with the portraits. How did you make them? I do admire your mapwork with the raised tokens with the portraits on it. its something i'd like to do when i run my game.