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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Echolocation" data-source="post: 8063040" data-attributes="member: 7011911">Session 25Courtesy of Lisandra's playerWe began last session with Team BAD making their escape from the Ancient ziggurat. As the pouring rain doused their acid-seared bodies, the groans of undead filled the air from all directions. From the ground around the structure, the dead were beginning to rise. Decomposing researchers staggered to their feed and decomposing wildlife crawled up from their muddy graves. The violent flashes of light illuminate their advance towards the ziggurat with vicious intent. As the group looks around frantically for an avenue of escape, a terrifying voice is heard. CLIMB.With no better plan in place, the constables scramble up the sides of the structure. As they reach its peak, they look back out to see the landscape shift and writhe, as if the swamp itself is coming to life. Swaths of hungry undead are devoured, pulled beneath the muddy floor of nature from whence they came before a massive head snakes out and rises, cutting off another slew of undead enroute for the structure. It’s rotting skull opened wide, snapping it’s twenty-foot long jaws closed over an army of undead creatures. Team B.A.D watched on in silent horror and awe as the gargantuan serpent cleared the ground, devouring the once-dead and retreating into the drizzling swampland. It turned a single, milky-grey, glowing eye to rest on the tiny living creatures crowded atop the ruins. MY SLUMBER IS DISTURBED.The words sent terror down the spines of all present. The Voice of Rot conveyed the offence, charging Team BAD with tracking one that fled the ziggurat. One with reason, to be hunted down and returned to its home plane to appease the Fey Titan. With players and characters alike, lost for words, Team BAD felt a grip around their throats, like a shackle, that caught their breath for a moment before releasing, and was Angharad who tentatively summoned the ability to speak out to their unexpected saviour, accepting the terms. With a deal struck, the Voice of Rot bestowed the ability to sense the planar energy to the constables, before vanishing into the swamplands completely. Visibly shaken, exhausted and injured, Team BAD sat in the rain and let the shock of the experience abate. A quiet, and shaken Angharad left to check on the boat as the rain began to ease, and Ella and Lisandra took a moment to pull themselves together.In light of that little turn of gargantuan events, it seemed the groups priorities had changed. Using the new ability to track the energy of Apet this ‘creature with reason’ would leave. She discovered a few hints from herself and her fellow, as well as two trails leading back through the swamp towards Granite. One strong, and a lesser one that felt more like a group of people than a single entity. Despite their trepidation, the team set off to follow the trail back. The trip back to Granite was wet and miserable, with little conversation and the many watchful eyes of the swamp creatures silently watching the team make their way back.After a night of whatever sleep our constables could muster, the group woke to a prepared breakfast by Angharad, and eager to get busy, he quickly offered to check on their horses. Ella and Lisandra compared notes on the previous days' insanity at the ziggurat and it came to light that Kell has a bounty on all their heads, though Ella was not so surprised, having learned about the one on her own head in a prior chat with one of Kell’s men. Deciding to dwell on one problem at a time, they decided to head out to find Angharad and see where the trail continued.Their search led them to the boat hire, where the group of energies had come into town, headed out to the swamp, then returned the way they game, leading out of granite. The group was assumed to be a bunch of ‘monster hunters’ by their weapons and equipment, and their boat was rented by a man named Hammerstone, according to the sales record. Short and stubby-fingered, likely Dwarven. The stronger, older trail led in the same direction, and so they geared up and headed back out of town on horseback, following the planar energy to an old ruin by the roadside where they set camp for the night as Ella puzzled over the information gathered over a day of observing various planar energies of Apet and the Bleak Gate on their journey.As the sun rose, they group continued to follow the trail to Granite, returning their horses safely to the stables and eager to pick back up on their trail, which expectedly led to the train station and headed off in the direction of Flint. Ella attempted to question some of the staff, and while Lisandra’s coaxing showed promise, it wasn’t until rush hour had passed that she was able to get more information from the woman who worked the ticket booth. Ella questioned one of the staff monitoring the loading and unloading of a cart and when the constables convened they were able to verify that the group of so-called ‘monster-hunters’ that had passed through Bole and returned here to Granite with the ‘large table sized object’ that they loaded on the train back to Flint. The ticket clerk identified the dwarven man they were searching for, and recounted a few more details about the group including that it appeared to be run by a tiefling woman. With the energy leading right to the station, the group decided to purchase tickets and catch the next train home to Flint.Our constables arrived back in Flint to report to Delft and unload the news of Fey Titans and zombie-filled Ziggurats. They discussed scouting out potential leads with this new magic in the city, focusing on Caius Begeron as a main person of interest. Briefing over, the team returned to their office, checking in to make sure everything was as they left it. Ella detected no strange energies around, and both she and Lisandra were eager to check in on Pete’s team's progress on their current case. They traded their story of the Voice of Rot for a little update into the case on Macbannin and the witchoil, but unfortunately little progress had been made with the head previously found. It was locked up next door still under study. Pete lamented having to wait until opening, unless they were able to borrow keys… and under the weight of two very eager sets of puppy-dog eyes, Lisandra agreed to put her skills to use and ask Sunny if she could help.[SPOILER="RHC Cast"]Constable Pete PottingerA war veteran with an addiction to storytelling and baking. Every in-game equivalent of Friday, he lures constables into his office (the break room) with scents of delicious baked goods to regale them of war stories. Unlike his fellow veteran and team-leader Carloa, Pete's adventurous and mischievous nature ensures the underperforming constable never runs out of stories.Sarsha 'Sunny' WhitestoneThe daughter of an established upper-class merchant. She works night shifts at the RHC HQ reception desk. Typically only working a few shifts a week, the income supplements her studies of astronomy at Pardwright University.Quartermaster Ivan 'Uncle Ivan' RustSon of ex-dragonslave goblins, who escaped to Risur following a recent excavation into a collapsed Ber mine. His tribe lived in fear of the dragon tyrants until the day they were excavated. After knowing generations of ancestors cowered in a mine for centuries after the last tyrant fell, Uncle Ivan swore to never be paralysed by fear. His low impulse control ensures the RHC is always stocked with too many experimental goods with not enough paperwork. Ivan hasn't slept since the Viscount Inspector has come to town.Royal Safeguard Supervisor Sebastion DaleyA deva who manages a royal safehold in a satellite building. Unbeknownst to the party, this is his second reincarnation to work for the RHC. His first incarnation, a professional accountant with a low alcohol tolerance died in a game of Drakan roulette with Uncle Ivan and Avvakir (an ex-player of the campaign). Drakan roulette is like Russian Roulette, typically played with an advanced dwarven revolver. Though, when Uncle Ivan insists on playing it, it is played with a single-chambered firearm, usually after the goblin has lost several rounds of bets. After the gory affair, Uncle Ivan and Avvakir found the reincarnated Sabastion on the outskirts of Flint, reacquainted him with the town, and landed him a new job at the RHC. To this day, Sebastion holds Uncle Ivan and Avvakir in high regard, as neither has had the heart to tell the deva of the circumstances of his death.[/SPOILER]As his fellows were busy organizing sneaky after hours consultations, Angharad had left on his own shady adventure, meeting with the Old Stag and Vekeshi allies. He boarded their ship and the Old Stag greeted him with a terrified mess of a nobleman that he dragged on deck. Tyler Stark, in all his piss-stained glory. Angharad was praised for his work bringing Tyler’s betrayal to light and offered him a blade to end the betrayer's life. Though Tyler attempted one last time to sway Angharad to his cause, the Cipith thought of his initiation, and no doubt crossed his mind as he drove the weapon into Tyler’s body, bleeding the traitor out as the Goddess had been, in a thousands cuts. The Old Stag nudges the blood-soaked noble overboard and scaly hands raise up to claim it, dragging it down beneath the ocean. Business concluded, the boat turns around, and disguises are donned before the Mystics part ways into the night. Meanwhile, at headquarters, the quest for a key was turning out to be as easy as Lisandra expected. Under the protection of a little cloak of secrets, Lisandra explained her mock plight to Sunny, spinning a tale of bashful admittance of a recent visit, of the most personal nature, to Sebastian’s offices next door and the urgent need to discreetly reclaim a few of her personal effects. The young woman, elated by the juicy bit of gossip was all too happy to help, handing over the key and a letter to validate her after hours visit eagerly, and with a huge grin of approval.She met a curious Pete and Ella outside, producing the key and keeping the details light on the how part of it’s procurement, and ushered the pair across to the offices next door. The fake letter got them past the night guard and they made their way to the lab where the head was kept for Ella to inspect. Several minutes of magic and mind-melding Ella reported no solid information on who the man was, or his next of kin. Every time a name was to be heard in a snippet of conversation, the grinding of gears would drown it out and confuse the memory. Slightly disappointed, the trio locked up and took their leave, Lisandra stopping back in HQ to drop back the key. Before Lisandra could finish putting Sunny’s curiosity to rest and bid her goodnight, it became apparent that Uncle Ivan was lurking, and had been privy to the fabricated piece of gossip… Between Ivan, Sunny, and Pete’s eager ear pressed to the glass, Lisandra resigned herself to the fact that the office would have a new tale to chuckle about in the break room soon enough. Their night ended with a parting story from Uncle Ivan about Sebastian’s unfortunate last death at the hands of a rigged drinking game divided by Ivan, including a loaded weapon, naturally.The morning after, the team reconvenes, eager to find a lead to scout on Caius. After revisiting her own paperwork on the case, Lisandra recalled the deeds she took from the Danoran reports and with a bit of delving into ownership and aliases, found that there was a warehouse mentioned in the Strand that was rented out by Caius Begeron, under an alias. Seeming like a good place to start, they set to work. As Ella and Lisandra get a plan together, Angharad stays behind to discuss a quick matter with Delft before they leave. Sitting down with their supervisor, Angharad asks the Assistant Inspector for another surveillance of his memories, and that he may be forgetting things, after which he revealed a letter from Lorcen Kell he received, thanking him for his interference with Kaja, and for disposing of a man he has no memory of, with inclosed payment. Delft regrettably informed Angharad of his duty to report the situation. He rejoined his fellows without a word of the meeting, the possibility of arrest on the horizon weighing on his shoulders.Set to work the constables approached the rented warehouse discreetly, with Ella taking on a magical disguise to get close and snoop around, with the rest of the team waiting for their queue, should their assistance be required. The older, strong trace of Apet energy was found on the premises where some crates were being stored. Will Ella find out what ominous Apet related mysteries are hidden in those crates? Will Lisandra’s imaginary sex life become the talk of the office? Will Angharad get arrested come morning? Find out today in the Adventures of Team BAD!</blockquote>

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