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Message: <blockquote data-quote="skotothalamos" data-source="post: 6183402" data-attributes="member: 83398">The constables met in Dawn Square on the morning of Nevard’s planned rally. James had gathered the team, suspicious that Roger Porter had something planned for the big event. A newly deputized constable skyseer named “Summer” joined the crew. In order to quickly hire Summer, Delft had invoked a very old clause in the RHC charter, which technically requires a skyseer to be a member of every squad, and further requires that a certain minimum number of skyseers to be on payroll at any given time. Summer presented as an Elf, but she was actually an Eladrin named Yoku traveling in disguise, a fact known to only some of her fellow constables. The group did some cursory introductions and then got down to business. Both James and Malkie had been out in the Strand the previous night and had talked to people who had similar disturbing stories to tell about an uneasy feeling around Dawn Square, and the smell of burnt oil. It seemed that Roger Porter and friends were up to something nearby, and it probably related to the rally happening at mid-day. Nevard was at the site already, meditating in his tent. He took a break to meet with the constables, thanking them for all their help. He then asked each of them in turn to tell him about their personal vision of the future. Summer only said it was something different from what she had expected. James talked of the unification of man and technology. Malkie told of a time when she would rule over the entire world. Mort would talk of nothing but the expiration of the sun and the icy end of the earth. Cazara’s vision was one word: “justice.” Ironpeak said something vague about everyone being hosed. Nevard tried to syncretize all of these visions into one: an icy future with mechanical men of justice running the world, while ruled over by Malkie. And something about hosing. It was all very different from what one would expect, he said with a smile, before sending the constables away. There were still several hours before the event, so the team went into investigation mode.Cazara picked up the scent right away, tracking it to a warehouse two blocks away from Dawn Square. Malkie recognized the place as a munitions warehouse which normally had a large contingent of military guards posted. This morning, there were no guards present. Cazara had a listen at the door. Inside she heard irregular mechanical sounds and several voices. Mort went to check around the back of the warehouse while Ironpeak boosted Cazara up to a window twenty feet above the street to have a look inside. Mort found the back doors had been blocked by pallets and barrels in an effort to either conceal them or simply prevent use. He began clearing a path so he could make a stealthy entrance into the back of the building. At her window, Cazara saw the source of the noises she had heard: eight men in lab coats and a large steam-powered golem which seemed infused with the power of the Bleak Gate.  They were at the back of the warehouse, seemingly cleaning up after a ritual. Their workshop was inside an area surrounded by chain-link fencing. Inside were several cages and a ten-foot wide circle of rusted iron, inside of which was a hazy distortion. She relayed this information to the others. Malkie tried to climb the bricks, but could not make any headway, so Cazara dropped down a rope for her. After the vampire made her way up, Cazara moved to another window. They both waited for Ironpeak to make her entrance. The big Goliath borrowed James’s musket and pounded on the front door. “Hello?” she shouted, “reporting for guard duty!” There was no response from within and the door was locked. She was about to kick the door down when James intervened. He picked the lock so they could enter more quietly. Ironpeak opened the door, and an alarm began to blare. She gave James his gun back and rushed inside, hacking her way through the chain-link cage that had been set up around the entrance. Mort snuck in the back way and lurked in a pile of crates while he waited for the scene to develop. Cazara leapt to a catwalk twenty feet above the floor of the warehouse. Malkie used her boots of spider climbing to walk along the wall to the catwalk. James followed Ironpeak in, and Summer tentatively brought up the rear. The lab technicians quickly started destroying documents and probable evidence of the ritual they’d been performing. One by one, they stepped into the rusted iron ring and faded away. The golem moved toward the front door. When it spied Ironpeak, it grabbed a crate full of cannonballs and hurled it at her, just missing. James and Summer took to the high ground to shoot at the golem from afar. He climbed some crates; she teleported to the catwalk when no one was looking. Mort started shooting at the technicians with a variety of weapons. Cazara threw her shuriken at the golem from above. Malkie mostly tried to catch up as she was at the far end of the warehouse. As the constables struggled to defeat the golem, witchoil sprayed out of it in all directions, coating them in the stuff. James administered an infusion on Ironpeak to protect her from the corrupting effects of the stuff, while the others tried to keep their distance. Except for Malkie. Malkie climbed the thing as it was falling apart, trying to stuff her coat into its exhaust pipe. Unfortunately for her, it grabbed her and hurled her across the room at James, knocking her unconscious. Mort took advantage of this opening to leap in and stab his sword-pistol deep into the heart of the thing, destroying it. Two of the technicians had been killed, while one lay unconscious from one of Mort’s blowgun darts. The other five had escaped through the rusted ring after destroying a small amount of evidence. While the group recuperated and/or searched through the lab, the unconscious tech disappeared. James drove an iron spike into the technician’s foot in an effort to keep him from leaving, but (other than causing the man to scream out in pain) this had no effect. The constables found instructions and tools used for a ritual to create some sort of awful witchoil-powered jaguar zombie thing. After first tearing apart the destroyed golem to make sure it was not made  from a jaguar, the group put two and two together and suspected that Roger Porter planned to unleash the terrors at Nevard’s rally, which was set to start very soon. The group rushed back to Dawn Square to warn Nevard, who was still in his tent but about to take the stage. Ironpeak told the elderly skyseer that there was a security issue and asked him to wait a few moments while the constables secured the area. The park had over three thousand people waiting for Nevard’s speech. Around a hundred Flint PD officers were on site for crowd control. While Ironpeak warned Nevard, the others searched the crowd and the area surrounding the stage for signs of trouble. Cazara and James had a look at an area behind the stage. A ring of trees stood there, making an attractive backdrop for Nevard, but in the center of the trees was an old fountain. Cazara noticed that the circular fountain was made of iron, and had rusted over the years. Having just run into a rusted iron ring which seemed to serve as a portal two the Bleak Gate, the two were immediately suspicious of the fountain. James starting doing an arcane analysis of the fountain while Cazara met up with Ironpeak. Malkie and Mort worked the crowd, and Summer just took it all in, looking for anything that seemed strange to her. Malkie found Thames Grimsley, whose docker union was well represented amongst the crowd. This included many dockers who were scheduled to work. With no one to load and unload cargo from their ships, a good number of sailors were in attendance as well. Mort got a heavy anti-Danoran vibe from the crowd and sent a courier to warn the Danoran Consulate that there might be trouble after the event. Summer, an outsider to Risur and human society, noticed a key thing that had escaped the attention of the others. Some druids had parked a pair of wagons in front of the stage. These druids were moving in a decidedly unnatural fashion, and were wearing full robes with gloves and masks to conceal their skin. She told Ironpeak and Cazara and the two went to investigate. Then Summer went to talk with Nevard, telling him that zombie jaguars might attack soon and she hoped he wouldn’t die. Cazara and Ironpeak went to investigate the druids. Cazara snooped in the back of a wagon while Ironpeak talked to the first druid she could see. It was a very one-sided conversation that mostly consisted of Ironpeak making demands and the druid shaking his head. Finally Ironpeak pushed past him as Cazara got a look inside the wagon. Inside, she saw what looked like a large, rusty bear trap. When unfolded, the device would make a five-foot-diameter rusted ring. That’s when the druids, who were actually skeletons in disguise, attacked.</blockquote>

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