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Message: <blockquote data-quote="skotothalamos" data-source="post: 6618214" data-attributes="member: 83398">ObConThe combined power of the Arc of Reida and the Navras Opera House went the constables’ minds across the sea to an island off the coast of Crisillyir. Alienor’s connection to her ancestor Amielle Latimer seemed to somehow be involved, as Alienor felt herself still aware of being Amielle’s ghost in present day. Before she could get her bearings, she was pulled away again, this time to inhabit a man by the unlikely name of Bruce McDruid, a pirate of sorts who was on his way to an Obscurati meeting.Together with Bruce were Livia Hatsfield, an Obscurati spy in the Risuri government; Ken Don, a Crisillyiri librarian; Gran Guiscard, a singer who organized entertainers to spread Obscurati propaganda; and Oscan Ligurio, a Family snitch who did unsavory work that is better left unmentioned. Also on the boat were several Clergy members, a pair of unremarkable Obscurati members, and the Steelshaper himself, Leone Quital.IronPeak had been drawn into the mind of Oscan; Summer was Gran; and Cazara was Livia. They traveled by ship and carriage to a run-down old mansion on a seemingly-abandoned island. Outside the mansion, they were met by Han Jierre, who greeted them with the practiced familiarity of a seventeenth-generation politician. Han thanked them all for making the journey, and said there would be a brief security sweep before continuing. Han’s assistant Bert produced a lantern (about the size of a pumpkin), into which he poured some special oil. When lit, the lantern’s purple light pulled everyone partway into the Bleak Gate, where they could see that the mansion was pristine and decorated for a party. Han handed out some rusted iron pendants to allow everyone to finish the transition into the Bleak Gate, and then the shadowlisk arrived.The shadowlisk was a gigantic snake with stubby little legs and eyes that glowed like two miniature suns. As its eyesight passed over each of the travelers, they felt as though they would be burned, but only one of them was. A portly and pale clergy member suddenly became dark-skinned and athletic; the shadowlisk’s sight had burned away his illusory disguise. The snake-like beast grabbed the man and held him up as it burned him away almost entirely, leaving nothing but a twitching silhouette burned into the wall of the mansion.As the other clergy members demanded answers, a quarter of ghosts came through the front door of the mansion. Among them were the ghosts of Reed MacBannin and Amielle Latimer. An ancient ghost named Vicemi introduced himself to the priests and croaked out the answer: the man was a spy; their fellow traveler had probably been killed some time ago. Meanwhile, Reed MacBannin’s ghost poured out a vial of blood on his hands, and then pulled the spy out of the wall by pulli gon his silhouette. Some guards took the man away to a dungeon. Reed MacBannin cheerfully noted that he’d be worried if there weren’t some spies trying to get in. He promised Han that he would find out whatever the man knew, and walked back inside. Amielle Latimer smiled at the door and said “Welcome to the Obscurati!”The travelers moved into the mansion, where they saw faces familiar to the constables and to the people they were inhabiting. Lya Jierre was there, as were her brother Luc and his associate Ottavia Sacredotte. Former RHC Chief Inspector Margaret Saxby was in attendance as well. Livia was recognized by Risuri politician Catherine Romana, who was best known for proposing the “Dream Road” teleportation circuit in Risur. Gran met an excited fan, Ken met with a man who thanked him for letting his men use his library for illicit Obscurati research, and Oscan may or may not have been recruited by a halfling who seemed to be looking for assassins. As the mingled with the dozens of guests, the travelers marveled at the notion of an Obscurati Convention. By the time they were called to the second floor to meet with someone important, the name “ObCon” had been coined.On the second floor, they were guided to the end of one of the long wings of the mansion. A huge room at the end of the hall contained a central fireplace with a lounge to one side of the room and conference table on the other. At the end of the conference table sat a large man who stood to greet them. The man looked for all the world like Mister Mapple’s evil twin. He was clean-shaven and had his white hair styled in a conservative fashion. He wore a tailored suit, complete with gloves.“Welcome,” he said. “Call me Nicodemus. I want to thank you all for everything you have done for the organization. It is time to move to the next phase of the operation, and we feel it’s important that our most important members be given more information on what it is we’re trying to do. Quite simply, we’re going to change the world, and I’m so glad to have you all here to help. Please, sit, have a drink, and have a look at the informational packets provided. We have a chance to change the world to make it more to our liking. There are various ideas of how we could go about this, and this weekend is about sharing those ideas and then voting as a group.”The travelers tore into their small pamphlets, which seemed to describe the plans of the Obscurati in great detail. As they started reading, however, they could feel the memory fading. They tore through the packets as quickly as they could in an effort to retain as much information as possible before them memory faded. It is, unfortunately, not a matter of record how much they retained and how much they forgot, so this report will not attempt to guess at such matters.The constables re-joined their own bodies in the Navras Opera House. They hurriedly discussed all they had seen. They agreed that the Watchmaker’s plan (which seemed to take away free will) was evil. Summer opined that the Miller’s Pyre plan seemed not all that bad: just giving people more empathy couldn’t be that bad. But, of course, they all agreed that no matter what plan the Obscurati decided to go with, they were messing with the structure of the world, and that was too dangerous to allow.This was also the first time the constables had to chat about all the other memories they had just experienced. When Cazara heard about Summer’s experience as Harkover Lee a hundred years prior, they both decided that he must be another dragon in human form. Cazara sent a message to Lee: “So, which dragon were you?” His response: “That’s on a need-to-know basis.”</blockquote>

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