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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cypherblade" data-source="post: 9735914" data-attributes="member: 7048389">Session 11[spoiler]Kane, Sarïa, Aileen, and Felix spent the night at RHC headquarters. Dr. von Recklinghausen did as well, since we intended to move him to a safe house in the morning. Sarïa recalled that during her initiation, Harkover Lee had already confided doubts about Mayor Reed Macbannin. We received the arrest and search warrants we needed—ostensibly for Macbannin’s butler.The previous evening, Staf had leaked the list of factories—managed by criminal directors—to Grimsley Thames. Thames confirmed these were indeed the most dangerous plants, with regular fatalities. Evidence suggests Danoran money may be financing them.The B-Team would assist us by establishing a perimeter around the villa and distracting the groundskeepers on this fine spring morning. Together, we set out.At the gates of the estate, Macbannin himself emerged. Kane presented the search warrant. Before we could act further, a sudden earthquake shook the grounds. The rear wing of the villa rose up violently, spewing black oil from multiple fissures. A sinkhole opened beside us.“Creed! Get to the reservoir, you fool! Shut the valve!” Macbannin shouted to someone inside.Felix managed to compel the mayor’s surrender with a Suggestion, but the groundskeepers and even the window washers turned hostile. Sarïa, in lion form, leapt upon them. Staf missed his strike. Kane restrained Macbannin in irons, and Ayleen deftly retrieved keys and a potion from his pockets. Staf shoved one gardener into the sinkhole; his screams ended as he was swallowed by the black sludge. At Macbannin’s command, the other workers ceased their assault.We pushed toward the front door—Sarïa still locked in melee outside. Staf battered at the door, but Ayleen unlocked it with the key. Inside, the household staff directed us to the “cellar” in the raised rear wing. Yet this proved to be nothing more than a kitchen pantry.“Where is Creed?” we demanded. “In the shed, out back.”There we found the body of a woman, half-sunk into the ground inside an iron ring, clutching six medallions. Staf tried breaking the ring, but Ayleen donned one medallion and phased into the Bleak Gate. There, the ring revealed a stairway downward. The shadow-realm was strange, half-formed. Below, we found a lift and two doors.Behind one door: a chamber awash in blood and limbs—haunted by a jaguar that immediately mauled Staf nearly to death. Behind the other: an iron golem. Ayleen concealed the doorway with Minor Illusion to keep the beast at bay, while we focused on the golem. Knowing its vulnerability to radiant energy, Sarïa’s Moonbeam tore through it relentlessly. Though Staf fell again, the beam burned through both the construct and, finally, the jaguar.In the golem’s chamber, a further door opened into a vast machine room—silent, but patrolled by two more jaguars. We sealed the door and descended by lift.The lift opened onto a narrow walkway suspended above a massive reservoir of black oil, with foul liquid gushing from two pipes. As we crossed, Agent X intercepted us.“I gave you a chance to join us,” he sneered, driving a syringe of black ichor toward Staf’s neck. The needle snapped. X struck twice with his claws.Kane passed von Recklinghausen’s rapier to Staf. We unleashed all we had. Black shadow-hands rose from the shadows to seize us, restraining our movement.Staf hurled his maul at X. Felix, with a final Chromatic Orb, erupted in blinding radiance. Though Ayleen herself was blinded, her aim held true: two shots brought X down. His body—skinned and saturated with black oil—was no longer recognizably human.At the end of the walkway, we reached chambers half-submerged in oil. A massive crane marked with glowing red runes stood in the corner, fitted with four settings—slow, medium, fast, off—and a lever. Despite repeated attempts, none of the combinations released pressure in the reservoir. We realized grimly: to vent the system, we may need to reactivate the machine above, with the two jaguars still prowling.[/spoiler]</blockquote>

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