Sessions summary:

Session 00

An intro session, mostly world and character discussion. Two vignettes to kick things off:

Tarankov’s people

• Sasha and Pat each get contacted to meet in their usual spot, an art studio in Oddlion Hill used as a safe house.
• Sasha arrives slightly early. Couple other people there.
• Tarankov arrives from some secret entrance, not via street outside. One guard comes in with her, other two stay outside.
• Pat arrives a few minutes later, passes outside guards on the bench.
• Tarankov mentions a job, will be more dangerous than usual, offers people to leave if they aren’t ready. A few do.
• Those that stay (including Sasha and Pat) learn that they’ll be stealing from the Museum. Some special collections items are arriving for the week of celebration, but the museum doesn’t have proper security for them.
• Tells those interested to go to the opening ceremony, look for a tour group banner flying a Rooster Rampant.
• Tarankov ends by mentioning the safehouse should be considered burned from this point on, and everyone should be extra careful.

The Scales

• Jackie, Abbas, and Calliope having drinks in Low Barnet at The Tuppled Fish. Chatting about how to fence more of their stolen statues.
• Felix, Jackie’s uncle, drops by. He’s just returned from months away at sea. He regales them with a story of being sunk in a battle, then drifting for a while, and finally being picked up by a transport coming through the channel.
• On this transport he met some individual with a strange accent “somewhat eastern, but also Teutarch-like (germanic)”. That person clued him in that the Holy Empire warship ahead of them in the waves was carrying some important items that they might be able to steal.
• Felix says that his contact mentioned to go to the opening ceremony, look for a “blue angry cock banner” for a tour group.
• Felix also finds Abbas' lightning scars fascinating, wants to learn more about him.

Session 01

[ Monday July 1st ]

Leading up to the opening ceremony, the player characters do some preparations:

• Pat, Abbas, and Calliope all make sure they have some petty cash on hand for contingencies.
• Abbas and Calliope buy a rickshaw on Sunday evening (the night before the ceremony), planning to make some money charging people for rides to the event while also pickpocketing them. Anyone they find that “looks shady” will get paid off to “avoid banners”. They still aim to arrive early enough to beat the worst crowds.
• Jackie gets her brother to give her a ride from Low Barnet to Hamdonn in a water taxi.
• Sasha wakes up at 2am and walks down from Oddlion Hill. He gets there very early, gets some space on a bench, and waits.
• Eugenia also arrives early. She touches St. Hamish’s boulder, noting its much-discussed warmth. She and Sasha notice each other, but do not converse.
• Pat takes an early morning rickshaw, and also touches the boulder on her way in, then visits some of the altars to the saints lining the square’s periphery.

The ceremony itself is a grand occurrence. The crowds are so thick eventually everyone is forced shoulder to shoulder with no room to sit. The gates to the square are barred to avoid more of a press. The local Justice, Lemuel, gives a speech on their accomplishments from a balcony looking out across the crowd. A short ritual is done for newly appointed blind bishops:

Cover mine eyes so that I may see the world for true. Amen.

Then, Justice Lemuel introduces Sister Yasmin Anwar, of the Nunnery of Saint Fenella. Most locals are familiar—in passing—with the nunnery: it produces many of the Holy Empire’s breakthroughs in artifice. The sister-scholars there are held in great renown across the country. The crowd at the ceremony, however, is not totally pleased with her introduction. Many in the center of the empire view immigrants from its colonies as lesser peoples. Sister Anwar’s name reveals her eastern heritage, and some in the crowd mutter their discontent.

Yasmin starts her speech nervously, clearly not as used to public speaking as the others around her. She says that they have made a great breakthrough, and are closer to walking in the footsteps of the angels.

For centuries we have viewed their creations with awe and reverence. For centuries we have looked to the skies, to their light dancing in storms, and prayed upon its beauty. Truly, our most holy purpose is not only to hold their memory and share their great works but—ourselves—strive to take up their mantle. We are built in their image and we must try to walk the path they have laid for us. And today, I present to you a way in which we have!

At this, she motions to someone standing behind her, who throws a switch on a half-hidden panel. Incandescent light springs forth from posts spaced along the square’s walls, while the air is filled with the crackling noise of high voltage. Many in the crowd gasp, some scream, some swoon. All are awed.

She’ll be sainted for this I’m sure!

Justice Lemuel returns, quieting and comforting the crowd. He explains this is but a small demonstration. A grander one shall follow at the Judgement’s ceremony on Sunday. He closes with a prayer, and dismisses the crowd.

The groups, spread out around the square, mill about until they notice a unique flag, bobbing northeasterly:

They follow it, finding a face familiar to some: Basil, a young burglar often in the employ of The Ragged Prince. The whole group gathers and he leads them out onto the streets. They walk northwest along the canal to Tenpenny Street, then turn eastward to follow it until reaching Fisker Square. At the station there they board the Starling line, Crags-bound. Basil chats with them as they go, passing over Oddlion at Overwater station where Abbass tries (and fails) to point out Sasha’s apartment. Reaching Anunwall Station at The Crags, the final stop of the line, they depart the train.

Leaving the station, Basil leads them east along the high street and into Hannah’s Hens. Abbass complains that he started his morning here, and wasted much time doing this long loop. Inside, Hannah motions them to through to the kitchen, where they step through an unlit hearth’s false back wall and into the neighboring building. From the street this building looks completes uninhabitable, poorly collapsed and unstable. From this secret entrance, however, a narrow flight of intact stairs allows access to a stabilized second story landing, overlooking the Jaddermire.

Occupying much of the center of the landing is a decrepit pool table, its cover torn and moldy, now serving as a map table. Around are few rickety chairs and a couch thickly covered in spores. On three sides, the once-higher building’s walls still extend, preventing onlookers from nearby. The view to the north is open, an expansive view over the Jaddermire and to the next ridge beyond. At this edge a winch system is mounted, its chain descending into the teal-tinted fog below.

When everyone enters, the room is occupied by two men: The Ragged Prince, overlooking maps of the city, and a formally (but out of date) suited man standing at a remove staring north. Once brief small talk is made, The Ragged Prince introduces the other man as Albrecht and invites him to speak. Albrecht talks with a pronounced Tuetarch accent, and stops often to cough wetly into a kerchief. He mentions that the Holy Empire will be moving valuable artifacts “from his people” at the museum and he wishes them to be stolen and returned. For this, he is willing to pay an exorbitant sum of $250,000 per person. This group will be responsible for breaking into the museum, finding the artifacts, removing them, and passing them off to a different team which will get them out of the city.

To do this, they must prepare a few things:

• The museum has a security system that uses arcane artifice to detect aberrant heat within the halls. Albrecht knows a recipe for an alchemical mixture that should reduce their body heat to be undetectable. He provides a shopping list.

• Two kilograms of Brittle Stalks.
• Ten grams of Judgement’s Folly.
• 4 ounces of the liquid skimmed from Dalgren Jad’s “vat 3” experiment. Some should be left in the basement of the ruined tower.

The other vats are dangerous, avoid them if any of their contents have lasted.

—A

• Some of the artifacts will be held in the museum’s safe. They’ll need a safe cracker.
• Some of the museum’s displays are curated by the Conservatory’s Head Gardener. He definitely has a key to the museum, but is not considered essential staff, so he may be easier to get to.
• Once they have passed off the stolen goods, they are to lay low across the street from the museum, at The Viceroy hotel. Their suite will have $100,000 of their payment, with the rest couriered once the artifacts are safely away.

On their way out, the group convinces Albrecht to give them a $1000 advance. He simply takes out his wallet and hands each of them a single paper note worth that much. He seems un-phased by such sudden expenditures. The Ragged Prince, finally looking up from the maps, notices Jackie and gets upset that the Best family has put their noses in this, but realizes its too late to try and remove her from the group.

Session 02

[ Monday July 1st ]

The group leaves the meeting only to stop immediately for a late lunch at Hannah’s Hens. Abbas orders a horrific hot drink in which he cooks a chicken breast while drinking. Jackie orders chicken pot pie, only to be turned off by it being spicey. Upon investigation, the spicey ingredient in the pie appears to be the chicken itself. She does not finish eating it. The group discuss how they are going to approach their task list.

Eugenia convinces everyone to come to her flat for more privacy and edible snacks. They all take the Starling line back south, returning to Fisker Square Station and walking through Asher Green park to one of the quieter streets on the north side. Eugenia takes Jackie through the main entrance, but makes Sasha, Calliope, and Abbas enter via the servant’s stair. She serves tea and small cucumber sandwiches while they make a plan. Eugenia mentions that she can probably hire someone to get the gardener’s key.

As night falls, they leave and board the Wren line, heading southwest to Low Barnet. Once there, Jackie leads them to The Scarlet Siren, her brother Anthony’s brothel-turned-casino. The group spend some time eating dinner there (Sasha cannot survive on small servings of chicken and tiny sandwiches), waiting for Anthony to return “from business ashore”. Eventually he arrives, plopping down a nice open bottle of wine on their table and introducing himself. Jackie mentions their plans, and he tries to dissuade her (“don’t break the truce”).

Their evening mostly concluded, the group begins to go their own ways. Sasha and Eugenia opt to leave first, not tempted by the casino’s offerings. On their way out, they notice two steam carriages hastily arrive swarming with belligerent footmen. Eugenia recognizes the heraldry on their coats (and the carriages) as belonging to the Digby family, nobles of little consequence (but still nobles). The footmen are arguing with the casino’s “door” (gangplank) guards as some nobleman of the family climbs out, yelling at his aide to hastily finish fitting his dueling vest.

Some footmen attempt to stop Sasha from leaving, but he brusquely pushes past them (shoving one of the carriages aside as well). He’s obviously not who they’re looking for, so they don’t provoke him. Eugenia slips past after, stopping to scavenge through the lead carriage as its previous occupants begin to make a scene at the edge of the dock. She steals an ornate dueling pistol case with space for two pistols (and one pistol inside) along with a fancy adorned helmet. When Sasha reaches a main street, he points a pair of constables towards the boat. They seem reluctant to intervene, but head that direction.

Back at the Scarlet Siren, the lordling begins shouting for “that coward Anthony to come out and face him, how dare he impugn his honor” etc etc. Abbas tries to use the confusion to more easily cheat his card game. Calliope makes sure she has a good vantage for whatever happens. Jackie finds Anthony back in his office, nervously suiting up in a dueling vest himself and trying to find his pistol. While he’s digging through his desk, she offers to help him if he’ll agree to not tell James (their brother, and the defacto leader of The Scales) about her heist. He relents, and Jackie reaches past him to take the obviously wall-mounted pistol down from its place above his chair. Sheepishly, he thanks her, and hands her a healing potion from a cabinet.

If I’m to be shot down there, you use this on me. No waiting for dramatic effect or anything.

He makes to head for the door, then reaches back into the cabinet and adds a second healing potion to Jackie’s arms. Before following him out, she breaks a small arcanely linked “panic button” object hidden among tchotchkes on the desk. Elsewhere, in James' office, a glass vial snaps on the wall above a small wooden plaque labelled “Anthony/Office”.

Near the stairs, Lord Digby and Anthony meet. The lord goes on about honor and “how dare he” and more talk, then the two make for the front deck. A crowd assembles all around, watching from on the boat and more along the docks. One of the footmen announce the usual rules for a duel by pistols:

Both men are to start back to back, walk apart 10… hmm, no, this deck is too short. Walk 8 paces, then turn and fire. Gentlemen are not to hasten their stride. Gentlemen are to use the usual smoothbore pistols.

The first pass is tense, but both men miss each other. On the second pass, however, both men strike each other dead-on, and collapse to the deck.

Session 03

[ Monday July 1st—Tuesday July 2nd ]

Anthony has been shot in the sternum, which is broken and bleeding. A ripple of shock spreads through the watching crowd, quickly turning into both horror and excitement. A real duel! Jackie rushes forward, pouring a large amount of her collected healing potion down Anthony’s throat with a practiced calm. Growing up, she had learn quickly how to help take care of her rough-and-tumble family.

Calliope, noting the confusion in Digby’s entourage, activates her eponymous device to sow further chaos. Abbas uses this cover to steal a health potion being prepared by Digby’s attendant and he lays dying on the deck. The attendant protests, but lacks backup, with much of the rest of the entourage distracted by the din. Anthony awakens, but is in rough shape.

The thunder of hoof-beats on cobblestone breaks through between Calliope’s chirps, signalling the arrival of riders on the shoreline. James (the eldest Best brother, and effective head of The Scales) comes striding down the gangway, an air of authority rolling from him. Behind him follow two burly bodyguards. Calliope silences her device, leaving space for him to take control of the situation. He checks on his sister and brother as a carriage arrives behind him, led by his consigliere Jane. He orders her to “take Anthony to the house, have the family physician see to him”. Jackie kicks everyone off the boat, closing down the Scarlet Siren for the evening. Before splitting up, everyone in the group agrees to meet at Hannah’s Hens in the morning, and then to head into the Jaddermire in search of their shopping list of mushrooms.

The next morning, before arriving, a few people do their own preparations:

• Sasha pays off some local urchins to stalk the gardener.
• Eugenia sends Carys to find out where the gardener lives.

The group meets up at Hannah’s (Waypoint 1), all wearing a wild assortment of clothes:

Abbas brings a chicken—Henrietta—along from Hannah’s collection.

The group head west, to the nearest elevator down into the Jaddermire. The valley’s natural walls aren’t particularly steep, and could be climbed if absolutely necessary. Back in the pre-fungal days, when The Crags' valleys were full of industry, a number of city-run elevators were built around the rim. These have been largely abandoned, but so infrequently used (and connected to the city’s steamgrid) that many are still operational. The one in question (Waypoint 2), despite making a few unsettling noises and showering the riders in rust shavings and the chain moved for the first time in years, safely drops the party off in a small clearing. They do, however, ride in two sets: everyone except Sasha, and then Sasha.

Now, 40ish feet lower, in the persistent fog-layer that always fills the Jaddermire, the group find themselves in the remains of a city square (Waypoint 3). The boundaries between green space and walkways have long since dissolved into a mess of happily growing grasses and mushrooms. Every surface is verdant, almost at rainforest levels of growth.

Knowing that they seek something in the ruined tower, the group strikes out northward. Ahead, a cairn has been built, with a hand-written sign carrying only the message “DANGER”. Passing it, they leave the square under aa Art Nouveau styled arch. Its lettering is impossible to read under the layers of accumulated organic growth. They notice that sound and light all feel odd down here, almost as if they are underwater. Light shines lazily through the fog layer and sound is strangely muted, falling away with little echo.

They pass abandoned businesses and warehouses. As they near the square holding the remains of Bilton & Jad tower, the buildings turn into luxury brownstone houses that were built for the company’s brightest employees. Now these buildings rot, their walls covered with more strange crawling mushrooms. Down an alleyway Calliope and Abbas spot a bundle of brittle stalks, and head to carefully collect them.

The group stops short upon hearing a sudden loud howling noise. They notice movement on the roofs, and are being watched by golden howler monkeys, who’s manes are studded with strange fungal growths.

Abbas returns to the street to see what is happening, and is carrying Henrietta. Seeing the chicken as a potential meal, two howlers break from the opposite alley mouth, trying to run around Sasha and Jackie to get at the animal. Jackie shoots one while Sasha takes aim at more on the roof tops. Abbas dives to protect Henrietta, deflecting the other charging monkey into the path of Eugenia, who batters it silly with her parasol before Jackie shoots it, too. Pat moves into the neighboring house through a side door, noticing movement on its upper floors. She hears another monkey running along the floor above her and fires her shotgun through the rotting wooden boards, launching it into the air. It falls towards her, so she fires off the second barrel, splattering the poor creature all over her shoulders.

Outside on the street, the first shot monkey begins to twitch. The gunshot wound in its chest begins to knit closed!

Session 04

[ Tuesday July 2nd ]

Seeing the howler monkey regenerate, the group freaks out. Calliope is curious, but everyone else is too scared of it. Sasha squishes the two they have in the street. The third, from the roof top, retreats, displaying remarkable intelligence by using a piece of scavenged debris as a shield. Calliope finishes collecting the brittle stalks, trying the bag shut and rejoining the group. They decide, scared as they are, that they’ve ventured this far already and should try to finish their task.

Entering the square, the notice many more of the howler monkeys, arranged along many of the rooftops. They stay far back, watching the group. Dominating the center of the overgrown area is the base of Bilton & Jad tower. To their right, southeast, the collapsed segments of the tower carve a path of overgrown destruction amongst the buildings that once stood. The tower base itself is badly damaged, with huge holes blown through its side and roof in the direction of the tower’s fall.

Entering into the building (Waypoint 5), they split up to search the ground floor. Eugenia notices many well-preserved oil paintings depicting the company’s business exploits (Bilton shaking hands with the city’s mayor, both founders at the tower’s ribbon cutting ceremony, etc) and sets to work cutting them out of their frames to carry away. Jackie checks a side door, finding a storage closet holding what must once have been a roll-out gift shop. It is filled with folding tables and crates of strange memorabilia (pewter statues, banners, pamphlets) and samples of healing potions. The banners all read “Your health tomorrow, today”.

On the far side, around a large hole in the floorboards leading into the darkness of the building’s boundations, a locked door bears a plaque noting “Offices of Dalgren Jad — NO ADMITTANCE”. Sasha takes a running start and shoulder-checks the door, attempting to knock the bolt out of its frame. Just moments before bashing it open he sees the mail slot open and another monkey’s eyes peer out. He does not slow down.

The crash shakes the already unstable tower floor, causing a few more boards to split and break. Pat almost falls in, one leg descending into the gloom, but catches herself on other stable boards. Calliope is not so lucky, and the few feet around her all splinter away. Thinking quickly she tosses her Universal Grappling Hook™ (aka a glorified bag of rope and glue) at the nearby wall. She disappears into the blackness, but her back sticks, peeling a painting and large chunk of some mushroom colony off the wall. Abbas makes a dive for the peeling-away pile of debris and mires himself in it, though he does succeed at slowing the fall. Calliope ends up around 8ft off the basement floor. She pulls out a light, unties herself, and starts to look around.

Upstairs, Sasha catches this new monkey and wrings its neck. Jad’s office contains mostly a large (now dented and askew) desk in front of a massive oil painting of a port city in India, a comfortable rolling chair, and a number of bookshelves around the edge of the room. In one corner a spiral stair leads downward.

Pat and Eugenia stay upstairs (keeping watch, and pilfering Jad’s office, respectively) while the others head downward to catch up with Calliope. Downstairs is a large and well equipped lab, in terrible shape. Large mushrooms grow out of every corner and cover every table. Equipment is buried in strange fungal masses. The center of the room holds a room-within-a-room box, from which whatever explosive force ripped the building apart appears to have originated.

In the southwestern corner of the room—in a natural cavern extending outward—lies a set of bubbling vats. Beneath them, their original burners still fire, though they are badly hooked into small-scale fuel pellets meant more for school experiments then industrial alchemy like this. One side of the alcove is dominated by an enormous pile of these spent fuel pellets; a pile that must have accumulated over decades.

Sasha investigates the center room. Inside, he finds a strange freestanding wall of what appears to be steel-clad-onyx. The cladding has been blasted away in the center, though the onyx beneath it has merely cracked. On the opposite side the steel has bubbled, as if super heated once and then left to cool. Below and infront of that wall, a hole in the room’s floor looks down into a pit filled with huge broken spars of the same onyx, jumbled into a messy pile. While he’s looking around he is startled by a thin hoarse voice calling out from below:

Are you come to finally kill me then?

He cries out, bringing the others in the basement running. They talk to this hidden figure, and come to learn that it is none other than Dalgren Jad. He had been experimenting with using the pathfinding capabilities of mycelium for dowsing underground and had discovered a strange structure beneath this section of The Crags. He convinced Bilton to agree to build their headquarters here, and began attempts to excavate the structure. Its onyx exterior proved impervious to being opened, beyond a small already accessible foyer. Jad was trying a more intense alchemical explosive that “reacted far more than it should have” and blew out the lower floors of the building. He had survived, but was buried in the ensuing cave in of onyx. He has no idea how much time has passed, or what befell the populace of the jaddermire.

The group fills him in roughly on what has happened, asking him how he could have survived trapped down here for 75 years. Jad tells them that he had also been experimenting with life-extending and preserving creations based on the mushrooms. These had likely saved him in the explosion and kept him alive. He also revealed that he had purchased a small family of the howler monkeys for experimentation due to some properties of how their physiology reacted to fungi ingestion. This family had apparently survived the fungal clouds, and indeed thrived in their new food-rich environment. Over years he trained them to fetch him food and supplies, and to keep his vats burning.

They ask is Jad might know their employer. He says he had been in correspondence with a number of other scholars across the continent (“the scientific community here in the empire is so conservative!"). He had even sent samples of his substances, but that the quantities were small enough that “anyone who had been taking it would have their body breaking down by now…”. The group theorizes that this may explain Albrecht’s cough and strange smell.

Abbas notices a sliver of luminescent fungus growing in the cracked onyx, and Calliope notices its Judgement’s Folly! She collects a small sample, then goes and collects some of Vat3’s contents (the life extending / torpor inducing potion). Sasha, while under the guise of looking around, takes some of Vat5’s contents. Jad mentioned that vat was an experimental compound enhancing vigor, but was unstable and dangerous.

Upstairs, Eugenia steals Jad’s office painting. Behind it she finds a wall-safe.

Outside, Pat hears some voices carrying on a conversation as they enter the square. “I swear it was shots, a few of them! I can tell a shotgun, I swears it boss.” She sneaks up to the second floor and looks out its windows, seeing a squad of four constables looking through the square. Worrying things would be bad if they stumbled upon the whole group, she slings her weapon and pops outside to meet them.

Session 05

[ Tuesday July 2nd ]

Pat talks to the cops. At first they’re tense, keeping weapons at the ready (two have shotguns, the other two only truncheons). She mentions she came down here alone because of being offered large sums of money to find some mushrooms. She was startled by the monkeys and shot one. The constable in charge mentions that use of a firearm is illegal within city limits. She protests, mentioning the area’s danger. He agrees, but notes that technically the jaddermire was never rezoned after the tragedy and is officially a “mixed use residential commercial area” in which setting off a firearm is still a crime. However, he says, he’ll let her off with a warning if she can produce her permit. She hands him a forged one, but its capable enough to convince him. He offers her an escort out, which she takes to keep the constables away from the rest of the group.

Down below, Jad requests a newspaper and some tea. Having no newspaper, Abbas instead fills him in on the latest random town gossip he’s picked up in taverns. Eugenia takes out her picnic set, and offers Jad some tea and scones. He is effusively thankful, though continues to mumble about being unsure if he’s finally snapped and is imagining them all. Jackie gives him a small enamel pin of a fishhead, tells him to use it to remember they were really here. The group, having collected their ingredients, decide to leave. On their way out, Eugenia and Sasha pry the wall safe from its housing and Sasha carries it out on his back.

They retrace their path outward, and when reaching the rim are accosted by tourists asking if “they really just came up from the famous jaddermire?!”. They push them away with a bit of menacing, and reunite with Pat who has gotten a kebad from a cart in the square while waiting. They decide to get away from crowds, and head to Oddlion Hill and Sasha’s small apartment. No one else is familiar with the area, and they are decidedly confused by the path they take from Overwater Station down to his flat.

Sasha heaves the safe into his tub since it is covered in mold and fungus, then throws a used towel over it for good measure. While discussing their next move, an urchin knocks on the flat’s “balcony” (barely) door. The child mentions that they shadowed the gardener, but only got to the conservatory around 9:30 or 10 and were astonished (in only the way kids can be) that “any adult would bother to be at work by then, ick”. He mentions that the gardener took lunch at the conservatory’s cafeteria and kept looking at a locket while writing a letter in between bites. He “looked like when people have crushes on each other”. Sasha pays in coin and old pierogi.

The group heads to Eugenia’s next. Carys fills them in that she also went to the conservatory, but spent her time asking around about the gardener. She learned his name is Archibald “Archie” Covington and that he lives in Heath Upon Slo “above the Orion theater”, though does not get an exact address. The group splits up:

• Jackie walks to the museum to case the place.
• Eugenia takes the train to Low Barnet to leave word with her safe cracker contact.
• Sasha and Pat take the train to Heath-upon-Slo to have a look for Archie’s house.

They all agree to meet at Jackie’s family house at 10am the next day.

Jackie circles the building, noting that the large public doors get barred from within when the museum is closed and have no external means of opening them. There are a scant few employee doors. On a hunch she walks around to the underground portion of Tenpenny Street and noticed a large (cart-scale) door on the museum side of the tunnel. She volunteers to join a group of people cleaning up the area (it is the jubilee’s week of service after all) and uses this cover to investigate the door. The larger door contains a smaller inner door, upon which lies a plaque titled “Museum Receiving Dock”. A “pull cord for service” bell sits beside it. She pulls it and “cleans” near the door until a confused museum staffer opens it and peeks her head out. Jackie apoligizes, mentioning she must have pulled it by mistake. The staffer doesn’t mind, says its nice of them to do this cleanup, and offers tea. Jackie accepts, then sneaks in after her. The staffer too-quickly crosses the underground dock and back through a door in its back wall leading into the museum proper. Jackie gets a good look arond the dock, noting a large number of crates and carts filling the large space. She inspects the door the staffer went through, noting its lock has the inscription “Delance & Sons Securities”.

Eugenia stops off at a bar to leave word for a meeting with “Sparrow Meillure” (actually Robin Best, moonlighting as a french safecracker). She stays to have some wine and enjoy the musical performance, but avoids getting swindled into buying overly expensive “rare vintages”.

Pat, living in Heath-upon-Slo, knows of the Orion theater. Its a small ways from her apartment, along the main theater-row running north-south through the narrow neighborhood. The whole area is packed with tourists, as nearly every local troupe has special performances throughout the jubilee. Tonight, the Orion is performing The Turning of the Screws a farcicle play by famous playwright Bill Wigglestick.

Pat chats with one of the theater’s streetside hawkers. She eventually bribes a deal for out of him for the last available box, and heads in to the lobby with Sasha. Inside, the two hop in the building’s lift, taking it upward past the box level and up to “The Residences at the Orion”. At some point in the past 40 years, the Orion’s owner one Lady Eskier, came upon enough capital to add a 4 story addition to the building and now rents rooms out as a side business.

The duo start at the lowest residential floor, hoping to find some clue as to which room is Archie’s. They first floor contains two rooms. One is obviously let by a performer: a bad bouquet of gifted flowers sits on top of discarded room service near the door. The other door has no clues to its occupant, so Sasha breaks the lock out and heads in. Inside, they find the room must belong to a poor writer. The apartment is mostly unadorned, and smells of smoke. The dining table is stacked high with paper surrouding a typewriter at the only chair. They head back out, and head up to the second residential floor.

Here again, there are two apartments. The leftward one, however, has a very nicely kept fern decorating the doorstep. Pat and Sasha nod at each other, and break this lock too. Inside the find an apartment full of happy plants. The dining table is covered in repotting dirt, but most other surfaces are fastidiously kept. Searching the apartment more thoroughly, they do not find the key, but confirm it is Archie’s by some letters. They also find that he has been trying—and failing—to write a letter to some former fling George Winterhouse who has apparently moved to Dover. Archie is very much out of sorts about this.

To cover their tracks at least a little bit, the two steal a few odds and ends (silverware, for instance) and then do the same back downstairs in the writer’s apartment.

Session 06

[ Wednesday July 3rd ]

The group plans to meet at 10am, at the Best family manor in Low Barnet. Jackie wakes early, and checks in on Anthony, who is still asleep. The house has the quiet of a work day, with a few of the house staff busying themselves preparing for “Jackie’s guests”. A small breakfast spread is set on the long table in the yard. Sasha and Eugenia (separately) both arrive promptly, and are let in by the front gate guard. Sasha, for his part, arrived very early and sat across the street on a bench for some time.

Abbas and Calliope, being long time friends of Jackie’s, make yet another poor attempt—in a long line of poor atttempts—at breaking into the manor. Two of the day shift guards, Jerry and Thomas, catch them scaling the outer wall around near the back alley. They help the would-be cat burglers down off the wall, and thank Calliope for not using glue this time. Abbas reasons that next time they should try at night, because they won’t be spotted from as far off. Thomas mentions that the night guard, Wiley, is pretty sharp, and that he doubts it would work then either.

Patricia shows up around 20 minutes late, but bring fruit to share.

Sasha and Pat share what the learned from Archie’s (the gardener) flat. The group discuss how to trick Archie to leave the area, so they can steal his key to the museum without clueing in anyone. They bring up faking a letter to Archie from George, the man he’s been pining over.

Jackie walks everyone through what she discovered about the museum’s loading dock, and about the engraving on the door: Delance & Sons Securities. The group debates solutions, and settles on pretending to purchase a safe (or other security paraphernalia) from the same company as a means of learning about the security.

During their discussion, Pat breaks off to head inside for the powder room. While passing through the foyer she sees a uniformed special investigator shaking hands with James at the top of the stairs, then retrieving his umbrella on his way out the door. Passing the group (the table is off to the left of the house entrance), he briefly nods in acknowledgement before going on his way. Jackie recognizes him as Spencer Montgomery, a family friend. She had not previously known him in any governmental capacity.

The group wraps up their conversation, and their breakfast, by deciding to split up again:

• Sasha heads to the Royal Conservatory to volunteer (again, it’s the Week of Service) and attempt to befriend Archie.
• Pat, Abbas, and Calliope get on a train to Hess-on-Sea (roughly Dover) in an attempt to spy on George and make the perfect fake love letter.
• Eugenia and Jackie head to Hamdonn to find an office of the Ministry of Business, hoping to get information on Delance & Sons Securities.

The train ride to Hess-on-Sea only takes a couple hours, and the Pigeon line is running more frequently for the duration of the jubilee. By the time they arrive the sky has gone grey, with a sprinkling of rain sending folks in search of dry spots for lunch. The town is small, mostly a suburb of Albioch by now, and has only the one train station. Pat, Abbas, and Calliope disembark and discuss how to find George. Pat knows, from seeing correspondence in Archie’s flat, that he lives at Bethel St 11C and mentions this to the others. In their infinite wisdom, they decide to race to be the first to find his house. Abbas takes off in a random direction immediately, ending up heading towards the piers. Calliope dodges into the crowd, but then waits and follows Patricia. Pat heads eastward, towards Bethel steet.

Abbas ends up at a chip shop, picking up lunch. He asks around for a bit, asking if anyone knows where Bethel street is. Most people in the area are also tourists, visiting for the jubilee. However, one older man finishing up his lunch and closing a notebook, stands up and says he lives up that way and he can show Abbas the way. The man has a slight limp in his walk, but keeps up a solid pace to try and outrun the oncoming worsening rain. While walking the two chat, and Abbas learns the man was once in the Holy Empire navy, but was injured and left to pursue writing. He was a playwright in Albioch for a time, but got tired of the hectic city life and has retired here to write his memoir (he taps his notebook when he says this).

Meanwhile, Pat (tailed by Calliope) has found Bethel street, and followed it up along one of the area’s famous cliffs. The houses spread out and foot traffic lessens. Soon, they find a small cluster of bungalows nested between larger mansions. An old lady is puttering about in the yard bringing potted plants under cover and generally tidying away before the storm hits. The main house (11A) has a bed and breakfast sign hanging over the door, and four freestanding bungalows (B, C, D, E) dot the plot. Pat and Calliope head to the door of C, but find it locked. The landlady calls over to them “Ahh dearies, Mr George popped into town for lunch, I’m sure he’ll be returning soon. Please may I offer you a cup of tea and a place to sit out of this rain?” — inviting them into the main house and putting a pot of tea on.

Nearby, Abbas and the older man reach Bethel street at the next block down the hill (having taken the seaside Appleton street much of the way). The man asks Abbas specifically where he’s looking to go, and is taken aback when hearing his own address in response. Realizing that the man is in fact George Winterhouse, Abbas grabs his notebook out of his hands and takes off. George shouts after him (loud enough that Pat and Calliope hear from up the road) “stop thief!” and tries to chase, but his long-injured leg cannot keep up with Abbas' younger pace.

The Ministry of Business office in Hamdonn is quiet when Eugenia and Jackie arrive, and they quickly learn the address of Delance & Sons Securities:

• A sales office in lower Oddlion.
• A factory/warehouse in Wileden.

They decide to head for Oddlion, despite Jackie’s protestations that she dislikes the neighborhood. Finding the shop isn’t too hard, as it sits along a winding shopping-lane, nested between a dressmaker and an apothecary. One of the sales office’s windows bears an ornately detailed mobile of an exploded safe, each of hundreds of different lock and vault components each hanging on its own. The other window holds a collection of padlocks and keys.

Inside, the two are greeted by Leon Delance. He gives them the sales pitch, but is taken aback at Eugenia’s husbandless lifestyle and does not hold his tongue about it. Saving the pair from the vile old man, a younger woman introduces herself as Constance Delance (“the forgotten daughter”). She apologizes for the old man’s behavior, saying “he’ll probably die soon anyway”. Jackie ends up asking her out, and the two make a plan to meet up after Constance gets done with work at 5pm.

They also learn, from the sales talk, that Delance & Sons locks have “the 3x safety guarantee”:

1. State of the art locksmithing with perfect mechanics.
2. Specialized arcane mechanisms to thwart even the wildest of thieves.
3. A brand new and unique alchemical formula that mires normal picking tools (developed by Lukas Delance, eldest son).

Sasha volunteers at the Royal Conservancy. He becomes popular with the coordinators for his strength and work ethic, and quickly gets referred to harder work. In doing so, he meets Archie, while helping move some trees to new potting holes where the heavy equipment couldn’t fit. During a break the two chat and get along.

Session 07

[ Wednesday July 3rd ]

The gang begins this session still split up:

• Pat, Abbas, and Calliope in Hess-on-Sea.
• Sasha at the conservatory.
• Eugenia on the way to her appointment with Sparrow.
• Jackie headed to her date with Constance.

In Hess-on-Sea, Pat and Calliope take tea with the landlady while awaiting George’s return. During this conversation, Calliope accidentally terrifies the old lady that her steam-powered kettle may explode; the notion that arcane devices may be reliable is relatively foreign to her. The rain arrives in earnest, and they huddle under the big house’s eaves for shelter. Imminently, George returns in a fowl mood, soaked, and limping. Initially he is very suspicious, having already been the target of a strange and sudden attack. After some prodding (and time to dry off and clean himself up), the mention of “found letters” prompts him to cautiously invite the pair in.

Pat introduces them as “Lydia McGrue” (herself) and her niece “Lead” / “Adele” (Calliope). The two pick different names and talk over each other on accident. “Lydia” explains how they found the letters moldering on the street near her home in Heath-upon-Slo, and felt they had to be delivered. Over tea they befriend George, then leave to head back to Albioch. Back at the train station they reunite with Abbas, and expect to arrive back in the city around 7pm.

You’re not going to believe it, but I met George Winterhouse.

That would explain all the yelling.

Eugenia, having been preoccupied longer than she expected in Oddlion, is running late to meet Sparrow. They had planned to meet at the Church of Saint Winnefred (Patron Saint of performances, the theater, flickering shadows, and echoes) at 4pm. 5 minutes after, she finds herself hurrying across Pinken park through the first smatterings of rain. Reaching the Church’s graveyard-wrapping grounds, she sees a rain-poncho’d figure hopping the back fence and skipping between graves, also heading for the front door. It is none other that Sparrow, who hastily (and out of Eugenia’s sight) re-sticks his drooping fake beard and says hello. The two proceed inside, and chat in a small alcove at the side of the church hall.

Eugenia fills him in on the job, and the role they are offering him in it. Sparrow is astonished at the sums involved, dropping his accent briefly to marvel at the amount. He agrees that he’d like to be involved, but mentions it will take him until Saturday to get his affairs in order. He assumes they’ll need to skip town for some time afterward.

With this much, I suppose we can head anywhere. I’ve always wanted to visit Fran—I mean return to my homeland for a time.

They wrap up around 4:30pm, and Eugenia decides to pop by the Royal Conservatory to say hi to Sasha on her way home. She stops at a very popular chip-shop in Fisker Square. It has no name, but is generally regarded among those in-the-know as the best chips in the city (and maybe in the empire). The whole “shop” is really just a freestanding kiosk building, packed tight with a few cooks. While waiting in the fast-moving queue, an obese orange cat takes a liking to her and won’t stop rubbing itself around her legs. When she reaches the window to order it hops up onto the counter with surprising alacrity and mews loudly at the attendant.

Ayy, I see you’ve met Dexter then. He’s always about making new friends.

The man scratches the cat familiarly on the forehead before it hops up higher into the rafters of the shop, whereupon it settles in and watches the scene below with a practiced aura of disinterest. Eugenia orders and is quickly handed a heaping portion wrapped in yesterday’s newspaper. Over the attendant’s shoulder, she takes in the shop’s organization: a central butchering table around witch a few cooks chop the fish and potatoes, the register, some large crates of yet-to-be-cooked vittles, and 3 gurgling arcane-heated deep fryers. Above these, a long banner reads “Proudly Served by the Slapbog Forge Union — Union Power ONLY”. Two of the three fryers bears the complex arcane-grid hookup plates: ornately carved brass linkages (systems of runes) that connect an arcane device to a network of power throughout the city. The third fryer, alternating spitting oil angrily and settling into an overly cooled sheen, has an obviously faked plate: runes drawn over iron with some industrial paint.

Knowing this is very illegal, Eugenia mentions to the attendant that they may wish to be a little less obvious about it. In response he winks at her, gives her free malt vinegar for her chips, and yells into the shop:

Danny! Get in front of the fuckin' fryer! No—I don’t care if its spitting you stand there! Danny!

Sasha continues volunteering, helping Archie out with the harder tasks. He’s in the middle of moving some large bags of soil when Eugenia arrives with snacks. Somewhat to her own consternation she has eaten more of the fish and chips than she intended on the way (they’re just that good) but she shuffles them around a bit to make it look like its a whole order. Sasha is thankful for the snack, and introduces Archie and Eugenia (as his aunt). Archie thanks her for offering her nephew up for such useful work, and says she’s more than welcome to come spend time here any time.

Jackie heads deeper into Oddlion immediately after leaving Delance & Sons. As a child, she’d been hazed by her older brothers by being left alone in Oddlion and having to find her own way out. She’s tried to avoid it ever since. She finds the address left by Constance relatively easily (as luck would have it) but its not yet open, so she pops over to a nearby parklet and inspects one of the locks she stole. She discovers the tacky alchemical lining of the keyway is also hydrophobic, and that the lock has a mild arcane energy reading using Calliope’s tri-axis arcanometer.

Eventually, she tires of inspecting the lock and realizes the establishment is probably open. The address bears a door marked with only the wood-branded symbol of a coup glass, wedged between a luthiery and a carpet store. Ascending the stairs, she finds a warmly lit cocktail bar setting up for evening service. Besides a traditional bar, most of the space is set with floor cushions and draped in saffron-colored fabric hangings. An Indian looking man greets her as she steps in, and introduces himself as Sanjay, and that the establishment is his bar, the Taste of Mumbai. He gives her a table and menu. Soon after, Constance arrives and is welcomed warmly by regulars that obviously know her well.

The two have conversation and drinks at the bar, exchanging the usual stories about themselves. Jackie learns that Constance gets very seasick and mostly avoids boats (she got seasick just on a river boat). This worries her, but she continues with her plan of seduction. Things go well, and she gets invited back to the Delance family manor, deeper in Oddlion. Constance assures her that she “has a wing to herself, no one will bother us… I can sneak you in!”.

Later in the evening, leaving a passed out Constance behind, Jackie explores the house. She steals Constance’s journal (and her heart!) and then finds the family’s workshop: its a strange space, obviously used by two talented individuals with little regard for each other’s space. The area is littered with a mix of alchemical experiments and mechanical ones. Jackie steals a bunch of reagents from a locker, and sneaks out of the building.

The fieldtrip group return to Wileden at 7:15pm. Patricia sends theother two to get groceries (“Gin, some food, ham and cheese”), then heads home where she cleans up before moving onward to her shop. There, she finds the other D&S lock left by Eugenia, and begins some experiments. She learns that:

• High molarity acid can be used to peel the tacky coating from the interior of the keyway.
• Heat + solvent applied to the lock just turns gummy, doesn’t help with the coating.
• The lock is mostly constructed of steel.
• Cold hardens the resin coating, making it less tacky initially, though it quickly regains this when worked.

After delivery of her groceries she writes a letter to Eugenia, mentions needing accessories for the lock. Then she turns her efforts into using the gin to make more chemlights to top up her supply (after dropping most of it down into the Jaddermire basement).

After getting groceries, Abbas and Calliope head to Hamdonn to case The Viceroy hotel. They find that its worker-access is in a back alleyway under Fisker Square Station. They discuss leaving a deadrop there, perhaps with fake uniforms, which leads to thinking they should ask for more money to be able to buy fancy clothes as disguises.

The whole group has planned to meet tomorrow (Thursday) in the morning back at their usual spot, Hannah’s Hens.

Session 08

[ Thursday July 4th ]

Jackie leaves the DeLance manor and realizes she has once again found herself deep in Oddlion hill, alone, and without a clear idea of how to return home. Wednesday’s rainstorms ceased overnight, but the extra moisture has caused a thick fog to descend over the city. The sun has not yet risen.

The manor sits at a Y-intersection where one major street splits into two. She could have sworn that she came uphill via the single wider street, but now looking at that street, it appears to be heading upwards… one of the side streets slopes downward, so she takes that one instead. This street winds and narrows, the buildings overhead looming at an absurd angle. Soon, it too turns upward, ending abruptly at a ladder-like stairwell ascending to a perpendicular street ahead.

She hears running water ahead and forges on, ascending to find a larger arterial street sitting in the shadow of one of the few remaining aqueduct support columns. Water pours down its face, burbling across its pocked and worn surface. The rains overnight must have collected in the remains of the channel above and are still draining.

Jackie decides to change her tactic, and heads uphill here, knowing that Overwater station sits at the old aqueduct’s mouth. Her journey continues to meander frustratingly, and eventually bears her away from the columns and (likely) southward around the hill near its crest. She’s passing the darkened hulks of large manors when a lone figure shambles out of the fog ahead. An old man, bundled in a tattered robe and torn vestments, pleads for her to spare a coin. The beggar follows her for a time, hobbling along on a walking stick.

Refusing, and speeding up, Jackie reaches another unclear fork in the road. She tops a long stair to find herself in a dead end cul-de-sac. She turns around, descending the stairs to the intersection, only to find the beggar there. Finally, she offers him a coin to take her to the train station. Mumbling random things he leads her further up Oddlion Hill. At his heels, the twists and turns seem lessened and they quickly reach the hilltop park. Jackie recognized it from passing through to-and-from Sasha’s flat.

She waits at the station until the first trains start running, then heads directly to The Crags.

Abbas is an early riser. Finished dressing, he opens his door (13) at Hannah’s Hens to head downstairs only to find Jackie standing outside about to knock. She sets a milk crate full of chemicals down, mumbles something about needing to rest, and curls up on his cot. Abbas closes the door and goes to get breakfast.

His already unusual morning is further interrupted by the arrival of Basil, followed soon after by The Ragged Prince and a couple other enforcers. The two chat for some time while the others set up the next door meeting room. Calliope comes down for breakfast and joins them briefly, before Basil excuses himself to help setup for their noon meeting.

He’s collecting political theories.

At 10, the rest of the group gathers. They sync up on all the things they did separately and have some breakfast (those that trust the food here). An noon they head through the false fireplace in the kitchen and across to the building next door. The meeting room has obviously been used without them: the fungal couch has been tamped down and many of the collapsed bricks have been turned into makeshift seats around the pool table. The whole space is still damp from last night’s rains.

Albrecht is there, having arrived unseen. He’s in much worse shape: more frequent coughing, blood stains on his sleeves, a slumped posture, and his beard hair is thinning and falling out in spots. He inquires about their shopping list, and expressed surprise about the quality of the skimmed liquid when Calliope passes over the ingredients. The group make excuses to cover Jad’s survival, and ask about the potion’s efficacy. Albrecht says he’ll brew it for them, and it should last 9–10 hours.

Albrecht also gives them the details about what they’ll be stealing from the museum:

• A brass bust of his father, Michael Ströss. He says that he looks enough like his father that they should be able to tell just by likeness. When pressed about why his father would be featured in the exhibit, he offers that the elder Stöss was the mystical advisor to The Tribunal (the council of witches that ruled the Teutarchs). Albrecht also mentions it may be fragile.
• The town bell of Osnaburg, which rang its last notes during the Crown’s invasion of the city. The Holy Empire later stole it during skirmishes and removed it from its homeland.
• A set of striking plates for Teutarch coins.
• A collection of his father’s artistic pursuits, commissioned on behalf of the state in its final days. Art that never got to see proper use. Pushed on this, Albrecht says its a collection of designs for divinatory cards.

The Ragged Prince gives them more info about the operation itself: they are one of three teams. They’ll be stealing from the museum under the cover of The Judgement’s Ceremony, and passing off the stolen items to the extraction team who will be waiting with a small watercraft at the mouth of a nearby canal. Their escape from the city will be covered by the distraction team.

Leaving the meeting, the group decide to take the train back to Fisker Square to case the museum. On their way to Anunwall station they bump into Inspector Spencer Montgomery (family friend of the Best’s, who was leaving the manor during their breakfast). Abbas and Calliope panic and bail out, circling back to Hannah’s Hens and hurriedly packing their things. Spencer exchanges pleasantries with the rest of the group and mentions he was looking for an establishment by the name of “Sarah’s Chickens, or something like that”. They try to dissuade him, telling him about “better food elsewhere” or “good places to see music” to which he replies that he’s had his fill of music lately, being at Robin Best’s concert two nights past. He thanks them for their time and keeps searching.

Abbas climbs into Hannah’s Hens around the back, startling the chickens (one catches fire). In the commotion of Hannah dealing with the situation he grabs the crate of chemicals from his room and some assorted gear, then heads out the back. Around that time Calliope—watching the front door from a hidden perch nearby—watches Spencer head in the front. He stays for around 10-20 minutes before leaving and heading back towards the station. Abbas flees into the upper Jaddermire.

Session 09

[ Thursday July 4th ]

The group reunites after Spencer takes his leave, though it takes some time to get Abbas out of his hiding spot in the Jaddermire. By the time they’re headed back towards the station its already 13:30, and they arrive in Fisker Square around 14:00. The split into a few smaller groups to avoid being noticed, and wait in line for the museum. Entrance is free for all during the Jubilee, so it ends up reasonably crowded with tourists. While in line, Eugenia is found by Dexter (the fat orange cat from the chip shop nearby) and meowed at loudly. She throws some food some distance away, and Dexter ends up chasing a pigeon around for it, leaving Eugenia in peace.

I feel roughly the same way about cats that I Do about orphans: they can be useful but are smelly and inconvient most of the time. — Eugenia

The museum’s outer walls are draped in large banners advertising the special exhibits: “The wondrous arcanistry of Ardakan”, “Teutarch dark magics”, “Animals from across the globe”. The entry hall of the museum is dominated by a few large statues recovered from Egypt, including a looming dog headed Anubis two stories tall behind/over the ticketing desk. Inward from the desk, the crowds spread out upon reaching the central atrium. The space is 3 stories tall and surrounded in micro-exhibits. A taxidermy eagle with 20 foot wingspan hangs from the ceiling, a replica of the first empire steam core churns in a corner, a statue of an angel lofting a shield, etc.

Abbas and Calliope head for the hall of animals, taking a circuitous route to the Teutarch exhibit while Eugenia and Sasha head directly there. It occupies a large space on the second floor in the south eastern wing and begins right at the top of the stairs with an imposing diorama of the 5 tribunal witches among a fake thicket of trees and thorns. The exhibit is split between two halves: “daily life of Osnaburg” and “The dark magics”.

The daily life side is a series of halls made up to look like the city streets of Osnaburg. Fake shops line the walls, small cafe tables offers museum guests a place to rest during their explorations. A central hub room bears detailed exhibits and interactive explorations: a “bakery” serves “traditional” Teutarch breads, there are demonstrations of various classic trades, and a bank display offers visitors a chance to see the dead civilizations coinage. A set of striking plates sit behind a glass case, and the attendant offers Abbas a change to feel one of them to note the hand-etched details in it. He also learns from the attendant that gambling was banned in the Teutarch empire. The center of that hall also holds a partially reassembled copy of the city bell, resting on a plinth behind a fence, its three fractured pieces held together on a wire backing.

Exploring down the “dark magics” section, Eugenia and Sasha find themselves in a room full of busts: one for each of the Tribunal themselves, plus many for their close head’s of state. One bears an extremely striking resemblance to a younger Albrecht, and its plaque bears the inscription “Michael Ströss, Mystical Advisor to the Tribunal”. Furthermore, the busts do not stand up to Eugenia’s expert eyes: they are fakes, every single one of them. They are not nearly old enough, and likely not even fully cast (though she does not have an opportunity to test one’s weight).

By now the afternoon is moving onward, it is around 15:30. Abbas decides he wants to investigate the private areas of the museum, and strides into the nearest door labelled as such. To his luck, the room is unoccupied. He finds himself in a long thin closet-like space between two of the halls. Its ceilings are still around 20 feet tall, and the already narrow space is further cramped with random bits of stored detritus from previous exhibits. Deeper into the space, a small employee break table has been wedged in, upon which a steaming cup of tea and a wrapped sandwich sit. Abbas tries a sip of the tea; its weak but very hot, indicating he may have a few minute’s before its preparer returns.

Outside, Calliope sees a docent leaving the floors restroom and heading back towards the room Abbas went into. She intercedes, badgering the man for directions and refusing to understand either his answers or his repeat assertions that he is “on break”. When the poor fellow finally begins to break away, Eugenia steps in as well, rambling on about “her nephew” and pointing at Sasha who remains seated no a bench nearby refusing to be drawn into this escapade.

Meanwhile, Abbas has found the storage room contains a hatch-and-ladder at the back, allowing circumnavigation of the museum’s floors privately. He pops open the hatch and heads downward, but not before grabbing a couple naval medals being stored in the room. Below is another storage room, this one pitch dark and much larger. He fumbles around for some time, accidentally dislodging a wire mesh egg, which deforms when it hits the ground. He stuffs it in another pocket and keeps exploring, eventually finding the room’s exit. It leads to a long employee hallway running most of the north/south length of the museum, with a track along the ceiling to aid the transportation of heavy items. He follows the hallway, dodging people working within, and heads northward back towards the center of the museum. Ahead, the hallway curves upward to a break room next to and slightly above the main atrium.

Breaking his cover, Abbas nonchalantly walks over and punches a random time card, then grabs a docent’s uniform from a locker. None of the people in the room pay this any mind. Next to the lockers, he studies a map of the main floor, and locates a service elevator (and neighboring stair) allowing access to the basement. He heads across the hall and down the stairs. The employee area of the basement is far more expansive than on the ground floor. Finding a map down here, he discovers that only about a third of the basement houses public exhibits, and the rest is storage, archives, vault, and cafeteria. He takes a meal at the cafe, then wanders around trying to look busy. He finds the vault itself, mounted into the wall under the entry hall. It bears the family crest of Delance & Sons, and the serial number 0005. Finally, he heads back upstairs to reunite with the rest of the group, who have been exploring the other exhibits.

Together, they all leave just before the museum closes at 18:00. Sasha decides there’s time to potentially get another shift in at the Royal Conservatory and heads south across the green towards it. On the way, he runs into Archie coming the other way carrying a bag of reeds. Archie mentions that some teenagers damaged an exhibit about The Nile and he was on his way to make some repairs. He implores Sasha to take the evening off, and that he’ll see him tomorrow for some final touches.

Session 10

[ Thursday July 4th—Friday July 5th ]

While the rest of the group cased the museum, Jackie and Pat collect the stashed solvents and head to Jad’s lab to do some work. Jackie cleans up the place while Patricia gets to work analyzing the chemical makeup of the solvents and how they affect the resin-lined lock channels. She finds that the solvent—applied repeatedly in small washes—hardens and then starts to dry up the resin in thin sheets. On an initial application, the tacky surface hardens, making use of a pick easier. Further applications eventually remove the resin, thin drying sheet by thin drying sheet.

Pat tried to re-engineer the formula for the solvent, but can’t quite figure it out. She changed tracks, and attempted to concentrate it. Given her understanding of its chemical properties, she’s pretty sure that the fumes generated by boiling would de-laminate the mucosal lining of one’s esophagus, eventually leading to “slippy lung”. She got Jackie to burn-clear one of the old fume hoods (it had long been full of fungus), and worked under that. Eventually, the distilled a whole 1.5 liter bottle of concentrated solvent. In this more powerful form, the solvent stochastically releases its gaseous form. After some observation, she determined that a sealed bottle would have anywhere from around 2 hours to about 3 days before the pressure buildup would rupture the bottle.

Abbas and Calliope joined them towards the end of their experimentation, having brought dinner (and scones from Eugenia) for Jad. Pat ended up supplying Jad with some laudanum as well. He warned them all about “singing mushrooms” after dark, which give a fungal form of toxoplasmosis.

Friday the group splits up to begin their final preparations before the heist moves into high gear:

Eugenia rents a small theater during the early afternoon to audition local orphans for a new ploy. She aims to find a clever and unassuming child to hide in the museum overnight to see if their “arcane life detection system” will find someone staying still rather than wandering around. She aims to determine if Abbas can hide on the inside Saturday evening, to improve the speed at which they can get inside on Sunday (during the Judgement’s Ceremony). The best performing orphan is a young girl named Annabelle. Eugenia offers a bath, a new clean pair of clothes, and some money for payment. Annie counters with the addition of a healing potion “in case she gets beat up again” and more coin ($20 up front, with an additional $20 if she makes it out in the morning without being caught).

Sasha spends his day volunteering at the Royal Observatory, aiming to continue getting closer to Archie.

Jackie goes in search of Felix. In a series of ongoing conversations over the past few days, the group has become increasingly suspicious about his motives in introducing them to this job. Jackie intends to find him and get more information. She starts by asking around his common haunts in Low Barnett (bars). Initially there’s no sign of him, but after a couple places she finds a bartender who mentions that he’d been around a few nights past, and had an argument with James, then stormed off, not to be seen again.

Eventually, Jackie decides to check his usual hideouts elsewhere in Albioch. She charters a water taxi eastward, to Spilsitch, near the old water treatment plant. From there, she heads along the water front until she finds a memorable door: a rickety flop house he’d frequent in her youth. Inside, she barters with the proprietor, eventually learning (through threatening to bother his clientele) that Felix had been there. He complains that Felix trashed the room and bounced without paying, then shows her the room. Inside, the small space has definitely seen better days:

Felix’s coat, still damp and smelling of the river, hands on a peg behind the door. Inside its pockets are tickets for a train ride has far as Hamdonn, an expensive (so likely long distance) rickshaw ride, and then a very cheap / short water taxi. There’s also an empty cash envelope from a bank… the same bank as Albrecht’s checks. The room’s back window has been broken (outwards), and a bottle of booze smashed on the floor. The small bed’s sheets are tangled, and a mix of drying blood and bile covers the pillow. Outside, a short drop leads to a long sluice carving its way through the swamp. Directly below, further blood splatters stain the canal’s walls.

Jackie drops down and follows the tracks northward, deeper into the depths of Spilsitch. After about 3/4s of a mile the tracks end and she climbs up onto a nearby platform housing some shacks. Looks around she finds a hollow in one of their makeshift roofs, with some torn cloth caught on the exposed tin. She explores further and finds Felix, pale, cold and barely breathing, inside. She drags him outward and carries him back to the waterfront, where she pays off a water taxi to take them back to Low Barnett.

In his brief lucid moments, Felix mutters that he “messed it all up” and that she should “leave him to die”. Eventually, she gets him back to the family home and under the care of their doctor.

Patricia spends much of the day working on forging letters from George to Archie, referencing the numerous examples of his handwriting they have accumulated by now. She also arranges a meet with some of Tarankov’s people, to get an arcane load-lessening cart for transportation of the bell. To Pat’s surprise, Tarakov herself attends the meeting. She inquires as to the state of the job, and asks if “the Best girl” has been doing anything suspicious. She mentions that she doesn’t trust the Best family, and suspects they may be up to something with Jackie’s involvement. Finally, she says the cart will be delivered to Pat’s shop tomorrow (Saturday) morning.

Session 11

[ Friday July 5th—Saturday July 6th—Sunday July 7th ]

Calliope and Abbas spend their Friday morning around Fisker Square, getting a better sense of the exterior layout of The Viceory, and familiarizing themselves with the uniforms. They scrabble together a few close-enough fake uniforms, and squirrel them away behind the hotel (under the train station’s supports).

In the early afternoon, after getting Felix “safely” back to the Best Manor and calling the family doctor, Jackie sends out messengers to gather the group. Eventually, across half the city, all are found and summoned. The group assembles downstairs in the dining room around 6pm. Jackie recounts her experience tracking down Felix, and her fears that something more is afoot. They theorize that perhaps the Ragged Prince poisoned Felix. Eventually, they decide its time to question him directly.

They head upstairs, lead by Jackie, and barge into his room at the end of the upper hall. The family doctor scuttles out of the way, sensing the intrafamily tension. Felix is weak, but stable, and struggling to eat a light broth. Under questioning he quickly relents, explaining that he thought the job was a perfect opportunity to “put down that runt The Ragged Prince without it traced back to us”. He’d mentioned the idea to James when the two had dinner out, which had started the fight between them in the bar. Next, frustrated that James was “losing his edge” and had “become businessman than criminal”, Felix sought out Tarankov, thinking that she may also wish to be rid of a rival. When he’d explained his plan to her she laughed it off, then gotten a box out from under her desk and “pointed a funny looking stick” at Felix. He quickly felt ill, and started bleeding from his eyes, nose and ears. He fled, eventually finding himself in Spilsitch where he lay dying for a day before being found by Jackie.

Jackie forces him to promise he won’t interfere further, and berates him for risking the job—and her life! While they wrap up their conversation, they hear the outer gate opening and a carriage arriving at the house. The outer gate is only opened for family, so they rightfully assume it must be James returning. Jackie heads down to the foyer to greet him. They have a tense conversation, with him berating her (and Felix) for being too headstrong and brash. He mentions that Chip (another brother, living in Ballyswan) “has his head on right”.

He’s used our connections to forge a number of extremely profitable legit businesses. There’s little risk there Jacqueline, and much reward. You should look to him as an example, not Felix’s slapdash excuses of plans. Think to the family, to all we have built and all that you put at risk.

He leaves to check on Felix, and the group returns to conversing in the dining room. They argue about the Ragged Prince, and assume word of the attempted betrayal will likely reach him. They decide to plan for his eventual betrayal, but likely one that will come after the heist.

Saturday morning Eugenia is staking out the museum’s entrance. She doesn’t see Annabelle leaving, so after a while she heads to their prearranged meeting spot. The would-by-thief arrives on time, and in a bad mood.

I hood real good! I did everything right! They cheated, they knew exactly where I was! I promise I can do better next time.

Eugenia pushes for details, and learns that Anna had been found a few hours after closing. She’d heard cleaning staff operating around her with no issue for a while, then quiet for another long while, then footsteps that walked right up to her hiding spot. Later, hearing this, the group scraps the idea of Abbas spending Saturday night inside.

Sparrow meets up with the group, and they take him to Sasha’s. He makes pretty quick work of Jad’s safe, opening the relic in a couple of minutes without breaking a sweat. Inside, they find a number of items. Discussing the letter’s found within, a number of folks are convinced that Albrecht is actually Michael Stöss himself, surviving artificially via the samples Jad had sent.

They part ways with Sparrow for the day, planning to meet up at Fisker Square on Sunday at 11.

Calliope and Abbas are worried are Inspector Spencer Montgomery, and so go seeking him out across the city. In Oddlion Hill, they luck out, finding him watching a newly arrived traveling show which has set up in the hilltop square. While figuring out their “angle” to deal with Spencer, Calliope gets into a friendly conversation with some of the carnies, one who brings her backstage to continue their chat. He’s extremely friendly, and mentions that this city life is unsuited to people, and the wilds must call us all back. While looking around, Calliope sees one of the troupe has unusually long and sharp teeth, revealed briefly before they apply a stylized Oni mask. She mentions she must go, and in thanks for her interest and conversation they give her some unusually perfect, potatoes.

Abbas, has spied on Spencer as he drinks his espresso and eats a scone. With Calliope back, the two fake a mugging in hopes of luring Spencer off. He notices, but seems disinterested. The two grouse about “what kind of cop is he anyway?”. They tail him a bit further and follow him around the city, noting that he flips a coin from his pocket to decide which road to walk down at nearly every intersection.

Sasha, worried Tarankov may be less-than-pleased with the group because of Felix, requests a last minute meet. He gets a response to go to a textile mill in Wilden, where he meets he in an empty overseer’s office. She seems understanding, though tells him to continue to keep a close eye on the Best family, worried their schemes run deeper. She also offers the advice not to ride the trains between Oddlion and Hamdonn on Monday.

Finally after days of prep—early in the morning on Sunday—Abbas and Sasha head to Archie’s. Outside in the hall, Abbas roughs up his hair, and then Sasha lifts him bodily by his shirt (and the clever harness they rigged under), then knocks loudly on door. From within they hear the sound of a glass being knocked off a table, a small yelp, and then shuffling to the door. It opens slightly, chain lock still attached, and a nervous Archie in a bathrobe looks out, clutching a revolver.

He demands to know who’s there, and then looks shocked when his sleepy brain finally recognizes Sasha. He mutters to give him a minute, a ducks back inside. They hear him limping about and sweeping the mess up, then he reopens the door in pants and a sweater.

What the hell do you want at this hour Sasha? Who is this man?!

They go on to explain that Abbas had stolen the book down in Hess-on-Sea, and found letters inside addressed to Archie. He takes the clever forgeries by Pat, and flips through them while looking increasingly shocked. He mutters to himself:

Oh my… perhaps he really is feeling the same way?

He peppers Abbas with questions about how he got it, and Abbas tells an overwrought story about stealing if from “that man with a limp” and needing to repent his bad behavior for the week of service. Sasha convinces Archie he needs to go see him, and that he can make an early morning train down there if he hurries. The two help him prep as he dresses better and shoves various things into a day-bag, and grab his keys in the chaos of his rush to the station.

Session 12 (The Heist Pt1)

[ Sunday July 7th ]

Sunday morning. Clouds have moved in overnight, and everyone wakes to a persistent cool drizzle and grey skies. A new storm system is coming in off the sea, and the sky continues to darken and threaten worse rain as the Judgement’s Ceremony draws closer. Despite the inclement weather, the city is abuzz with crowds. Hamdonn’s streets are packed wall-to-wall with visitors; every balcony and rooftop nearby is pressed full.

The group all head to Fisker Square by various means, avoiding attempting to pass through Hamdonn on their way. Most are arriving from the north or the southwest, so they meet in the western edge of the square just before 11. Around them crowds continue to move past, and a few local businesses remain open selling last-second essentials. Nearby stores are making a killing selling overpriced umbrellas, and every teashop and restaurant that can sell handhelds is packed.

Sparrow awaits them on southeastern side, waiting under an umbrella and with a gear bag. Jackie, scanning the square from the opposite end, can’t see the detail of his disguise but recognizes her older brother’s mannerisms in the way he leans against the wall and drinks his tea.

Sasha leads the group across the square, acting as a wedge through the crowd with everyone else following easily in his wake. Sparrow waves as he approaches, taking another swig of his tea—and then nearly choking on it as Jackie comes around from behind the big man.

(English accent, hushed) J-Jackie?! What are you doing here?

(French accent, to Eugenia) You said this wasn’t a Best family job!

The two confer incredulously, with some mediation by Eugenia about this not being the time. Sasha leads the group away towards Tenpenny Street’s park underpass. They agree to keep working, but Jackie is quite mad at Robin. Sasha uses Archie’s keys to unlock the loading dock’s outer door (finding it after a couple tries at other keys). As they step inside:

(Jackie) …especially after what happened with Felix

(Robin) Wait, what happened to Felix?!

…but she stops answering, switching to a more focused professional demeanor as they get inside. The loading dock has been significantly cleaned out since she was here last. Very few crates remain, most having been broken down and stacked compactly against the walls. The remainder are all damaged from shipping in some way: potsherds spilling out of a few, a badly gouged one with a torn canvas visible inside, etc. The whole cavern is very dark-the worklights are extinguished and are only supplemented with two small arcane lights over the doors.

Abbas and Calliope—having picked up Albrecht’s potion from Hannah that morning—distribute around named and pre-dosed vials. Abbas takes his first, breaking the wax seal on the little ceramic jar and noting the bad smell of sour nut oils and the contents' cottage-cheese like texture. He downs it quickly. It tastes like curdled nut milk and sulfur, and has some chew to it. Sasha downs his (much larger) serving as well.

The rest of the group waits a little while to see their reactions. Meanwhile, Calliope listens against the door to the museum, and then the closed metal shutters. She can hear the thrum of steam core machinery powered down on the other side, but nothing else.

A minute after Abbas and Sasha take their doses, and comfortable with the symptoms they’ve seen so far, everyone else takes theirs. They wait, letting the potions take full effect, before attempting to delve further into the museum. As the 14min mark approaches, they get concerned, but all end up passing out.

They wake 8 minutes later to find they have sleep-acted. Sasha has his key in the door, and the others are arranged in a wake behind them waiting to enter. Concern spreads through the group at this development, but they press on. Jackie, shaken by the experience, hugs Robin and tells him she’s glad he’s here.

Inside, the basement is much darker and more closed up than Abbas experienced it during recon. All the storage rooms have been closed up, and moving machines parked in corners. Some shop-dust still winds through the space, and in it they notice tracks. Someone must have walked through within an hour ago, the bootprints still hold decent definition.

They split up, Sasha following the tracks and the others headed to the vault.

Sasha finds they cross over themselves at a later junction near the stairs, as if someone came down and patrolled around the basement. He follows the tracks back up the stairs, noting that whoever it was must have taken them at a run. At the top of the stairs, he emerges onto the ground floor. It is surprisingly dark, and he notes that the clouds outside have gotten much worse and the windows are being pelted with heavy rain.

He follow tracks across the main floor towards the security office, and overhears the guards there talking:

…made a mess of Documents B, but there was no one in there!

It stopped recording on the scanner almost immediately, I tried to call you back.

Something must have done it! What about Alex?

The one upstairs also vanished, he hasn’t come back yet.

Through this, Sasha stalks up behind them, only to get unlucky with timing: one reaches back to grab his tea cup and instead notices the big man’s approach. A brief scuffle ensues, and Sasha bashes the two of them with each other until they are bloody and unconscious. He finds them pouring over a security station printing out recordings across paper maps of the building:

Sitting astride each floor map are two arcing metal arms, like those on a lie detector test. They seem to be triangulating sensor readings, and as each pass over the paper the extend and retract while etching a mark across the paper. A number of crossings on the paper have been circled, marking where two time-matching arcs crossed each other.

As he leaves the office to head upstairs and find the last guard, a lightning flash outside illuminates the hallway and is followed very immediately by a loud thunderclap overhead. From the office behind him he hears the scratch of one of the printer-arms digging deeply, and ahead the sound of a bell pealing.

Meanwhile, downstairs, the group has set up at the vault. Robin/Sparrow settles in, taking out a stool and a wide range of tools from his duffle. He asks everyone for relative quiet, and gets to work. Patricia helps with the setup, and providing her concentrated solvent to help him out. Abbas and Calliope scamper off to head upstairs following Sasha. Eugenia mentions she wants to investigate “Documents B” and walks back that direction.

She notes that the footsteps in the dust stopped here, learning that whoever was on patrol specifically went here, and not any of the other storage rooms. This gives her pause, and she calls over to Jackie for backup. Inside, the pair find a tall room full of cabinets and cubbies filled to the brim with papers, books, scrolls, tablets, etc. Cryptic systemic labels cover the surfaces, and a reference binder hangs on a chair by the door. At the far end a bunch of the drawers have spilled out and fallen to the floor. Papers and books lie in a heap—one not covered by dust and therefore recent.

Contemporaneous with the thunderclap upstairs, a burst of energy ripples through the mound, kicking up the papers into the air and scattering them further. Seeing that no one is in the room, Jackie heads back to the vault and Eugenia starts reading the reference binder. She finds the right section for “Northern Reaches 80–90 H.A” (overlapping the Teutarch fall) and realizes its the majority of the contents on the ground. She heads over to the pile just as another wave of darkness washes over everyone.

As he begins to feel faint, Sasha takes out his scavenged vial of Jad’s Vat5 (for “enhanced vigor, but unstable and dangerous”) and takes a tiny swig. His stomach starts to feel very strange, and his vision gets shaky, but does not darken further. He turns the corner into the Daily Life in Osnaburg exhibit and runs right into the last patrolling guard. His stomach takes this moment to finally reject its contents, and he vomits heavily into the guard’s face, then follows up “helping” him quickly to the floor and into unconsciousness. Once taken care of, he moves into the room and starts working on the bell. He finds the mesh substructure is sturdier than expected, and not attached to the plinth, so he moved the whole thing onto the arcane cart he’s been trailing.

Around the time he finishes, everyone else begins to awaken, in their listed places. Calliope continues up the stairs, meeting up with Sasha and then heading back downstairs to get the elevator.

Eugenia comes to just as she’s drawing from a makeshift “deck” of heavy paper cards. Off to her right she has already drawn placeholder cards for 9 of Vandals and 5 of Mazes, which are labelled as such but lack any art. In her hands she finds she has just turned over The Dancers Among The Trees. The card, unlike the others so far, has an ink and watercolor painting on its face. Inked aspen trees fill the scene, flooded with white-grey watercolor with bits of yellow and orange in their leaves. Between the trees, thin red pillars of “flame” are painted in only watercolor, their contents looking fluid on the paper. When she blinks, they are in different places. She turns the card over, then back again, and notes that the number of flames increases.

As she does this, outside, Jackie notices flickering lights back towards their entry point. She moves up to the next corridor intersection and sees, from around the next corner, a humanoid figure made of bubbling watery flames float around the corner. Their “legs” touch the ground, but the do not move by striding. Instead, the flame-wave of their body undulates forward, seeming not to move at all while gaining ground. This one bears the face of The Ragged Prince.

Jackie quickly fires her pistol at it, punching holes through the flame. The rest of the form pools inward, filling the spaces and making the whole thing smaller. She fires all but one round, then looks for other tools. Next to Document B’s door, a fire extinguisher locker is mounted to the wall. She tears it open as another flame-figure steps around a more distant corner, this one bearing Jerry (the house guard) ’s face. Inside, she finds 6 ceramic orbs, meant to be thrown into a fire and filled with suppressant. She throws one into Ragged-Prince-Flame and watches as the expanding foam pushes the flame apart until it all fades, then lobs two towards the other, which gets pushed apart as well.

Session 13 (The Heist Pt2)

[ Sunday July 7th ]

You’re all greedy and some of you are not very bright. —Eugenia

With the immediate threats neutralized, Jackie drops back to check on Robin. He asks if the loud noises are over, then returns to his focused work on the vault. Jackie does another lap around, and sees firelight coming from below the door to the library. She calls Pat over, and the two investigate. Inside, they find a third fire-creature. It appears to be trying to pull books from the shelves to read, but its semi-corporeal form cannot actually hold them, so it has covered a section of the room in spilled volumes. Noticing the pair, it comes out from around the shelves and its head forms two faces, split like a Juno statue: one is James Best, the other Tarankov. Its mouths speak in unison, but its speed is unrecognizable. It sounds almost as if someone is speaking backwards and in harmony. Pat pulls her shotgun and fires both barrels, obliterating most of the creature in a shower of spilling fire waves. Everyone in the immediate area is temporarily deafened, especially Robin, who was wearing hearing enhancement at the time.

Upstairs Abbas, Calliope, and Sasha are hurriedly gathering what they came here for. Sasha takes the bell downstairs via the elevator (brought up by Calliope) while the other pair ransack the striking plates and some of the fake busts. As they prepare to head back to the group, their hear more voices downstairs: another group of guards has arrived and have found their colleagues in the security office. They overhear them complaining that no-one has swapped the sensor sheet and the map has become an unreadable mess of ink. In their collection of items they triggered a few alarms, and 4 of the new guards head upstairs to check out the noise. These are better armed and armored than the initial crew.

Calliope realizes they may need more time, so she activates The Calliope and draws the 4 into an extended chase across the 2nd floor. Abbas flees downstairs to warn the rest of the group. Sasha and Jackie spring into action. Jackie heads for the security office, and gets into a fight with the 4 guards there (2 new, 2 woken). Sasha heads to the 2nd floor, and together he and Calliope take out that group.

Downstairs, Robin has had to switch to using a lockpick held tightly in his teeth and pressed to the vault to “hear” now that his ears are damaged. After some time he succeeds in getting the final vault combination number, and he swings open the large plug-door. Inside they find a number of stored items. Eugenia finds the storage reference binder near the door and finds a note about one of the room’s tables of items:

Staff,

We’re aware of the reports of “weeping blood” from the eyes of the Teutarch busts. I assure you that this effect is simply a byproduct of the metals used in their construction and the moist air of our island home. However, I understand that this effect is unsettling to a degree significantly beyond the scope of the dark magics exhibit. Effective immediately I’ve tasked the props department to produce replacement fakes and we’ll be moving the originals to the vault. No one is to move them without my express written permission.

Head Curator,
Devon Lamb

Identifying the table in question, the group finds it covered in a long cotton sheet, through which a number of crimson splotches have appeared. Removing the sheet they find the set of original busts, each with lines of some viscous crimson liquid pouring down across the faces from their eyes, and pooling below each. Pat takes some samples, and then boils a little bit on the blade of her knife. It bubbles away, leaving a strange pitted surface on the blade of a grey sponge-latticed surface below the steel. They grab the bust of Michael Ströss and add it to the cart by the loading dock door.

Eugenia, curious to find more, searches the registry for other interesting things and comes away with a few:

• A small sheaf of papers containing illicit poetry (with illustrations!) by a former Judgement.
• Original records of a collection of famous hymns, written by a now-defunct cloister of nuns 300 years ago.

Abbas inspects the busts as he moves the one of Michael, and finds the few he checks are hollow except for Michael’s which contains a great deal of wax with a wick embedded. As they are moving things out of the vault (and the upstairs contingent is finishing their fighting) everyone feels another blackout coming on.

The storm outside still rages, and just before blacking out a number of the group realized they had begun to experience hydrophobia. A trip outside may prove difficult…

Session 14 (The Heist Pt3)

[ Sunday July 7th—Monday July 8th ]

To begin, the crew goes through a brief inventory of their gathered items:

• The real bust from the vault.
• The striking plates.
• The bell.
• The card prototypes. (only Eugenia knows they have these)
• Some tarot cards from the upstairs exhibit.

They bundle all these items onto the wagon they left in the loading dock and pile on. Calliope runs ahead to scout, heading out into the rain with her large poncho. She sees than another ministry of public safety carriage has just pulled up to the museum’s ground floor exterior. She heads back and urges them on, telling them about the extra guards. Everyone, especially those without nice rain gear, feel some trepidation over getting wet (more of the hydrophobia) but they push through. Pat drives the wagon with Eugenia sitting up front. Abbas and Robin are in the back tucked under the tarp with the bell, while Sasha sits out in the rain. Jackie heads across the street to cover them, keeping her gun ready.

They move off carefully, pulling out of the underground portion of Tenpenny Street carefully with other traffic to avoid suspicion. Seeing that the guards must have head into the museum, Pat steers the wagon onto a muddy footpath into the park. The wagon, designed for cobbled streets, slides around and carves deep ruts in the mud. Pat keeps it mostly under control, and they close in on the canals. A figure steps out from behind one of the nearby trees and briefly unhoods a lantern in their direction to flag them down. He’s wearing a long waxed rain poncho, and he sets the lantern down as they slide to a stop nearby.

A couple people recognize the man by reputation. His name is Charlie, and he’s one of the go-to contractors used by the Ragged Prince when his normal crew of upper-floors types refuse to do something on moral grounds. This makes the group uneasy, especially combined with him keeping his right arm hidden under his poncho. In the canal below a dark skiff bounces around in the water, moored hastily to the fences. Upon it, readying himself to climb up to assist, they spot a familiar face: Basil! He cheerily—or, as cheerily is possible when everyone is sodden—greets everyone before rigging a rope to a tree for lowering the bell.

A tense few minutes of unloading later and the transport crew is off, untying and letting the currents carry them silently off towards the Sloadetch. The group gives them a minute to drift away, then push the wagon off the edge and into the ditch where it crashed into a pile of broken wood and twisted metal. Then, they make their way carefully back towards Fisker Square.

Calliope and Abbas don their fake Viceroy uniforms and head around back while the rest of the group goes in the front door. Eugenia checks them in under the pre-arranged fake name of “Mrs. Emily Hampton” while Sasha and Pat head to the bar for a drink. She’s told that her rooms are the Admiral Suite (for 3 nights) and occupy the Northern corner of the 5th floor. Eugenia, Jackie, and Robin head for the elevator and run into the bar-goers returning with a bottle of gin. Upstairs they find Abbas and Calliope scavenging food off carts left outside for gathering.

They head in to find a rather opulent suite awaiting them. A large common room with a pool table, multiple couches for lounging, a writing desk, and a small library stretches out from the door. The suite has two bedrooms, each with small drawing rooms attached. The master has its own full bathroom, and then a larger suite bathroom is shared for the rest.

On the desk of the master drawing room, under a Viceroy branded paperweight, they find a note from Albrecht:

Compatriots,

I hope this letter finds you well. Presumably you are settling into your rooms after a successful trip to the museum. Haste is a close friend of this endeavor and as such I shall already be away upon your receipt of this missive. Fear not, I am a trusting fellow and have preemptively delivered your payment herein. The bottom of the second bedroom’s wardrobe is a false-base, search within.

—Albrecht Ströss

Indeed, beneath a false floor a set of three small weekender bags contain a large amount of cloth bills in widely varying amounts. Once found, everyone passes out pretty quickly.

A deep weariness grips each of you. The beating of your hearts is labored, each step a chore. The lights of the room do not matter, nor does the rumble of the storm against your windows. The sheets here are impossibly smooth, the pillows impossibly soft. You slumber so deeply that you do not dream. Perhaps this is death, the void, oblivion. You could not care. You can not care. You do not care.

Jackie attempts to be careful, and takes the first watch. She cleans her gun, then tries to play solitare to keep herself awake…

…and then your eyes flick open. The peal of a bell you did not hear recedes in your thoughts. Light streams into the room, the bright calm light of morning. Outside in the square a choral sings, their voices streaming through a cracked window. Pigeons coo and scratch in the eaves. The affable murmur of conversations drifts up from the street below.

You are ravenously hungry, but otherwise… feeling fine? You may have expected a hangover of some kind, given your state last night, but no–only hunger. It is hard to think about anything except breakfast. The smell of baking bread and frying bacon wafts up from a kitchen somewhere below.

Everyone blearily wakes up, taking stock of their situation. Jackie briefly panics that no one took watch, but it appears they are all fine and all of their things (including their payout) are right where they left them. Sasha pulls one of the room’s service-pullcords. A couple minutes later a quick triple-knock echoes from the front door. He opens the it, looking out in an ill-fitting bathrobe. A Viceroy attendant greets him cheerily, “reminding” him of their 9:30 breakfast reservation at the hotel restaurant, then asking what he’s in need of. Sasha asks for a larger bathrobe and coffee. The attendant quickly hands him a carafe from the floor outside the door, and mentions that all rooms are provided a tray of coffee and pastries at 8am daily outside their door.

Sasha mentions their reservation to everyone else, who decide they might as well head down for food. Robin and Calliope decide to stay behind in the room. A few minutes later, as folks are getting dressed and taking showers, an attendant shows up with a larger robe, more coffee, and a large set of luggage. He mentions that it was dropped off overnight, but no one in the room responded so they kept it at the desk. Inside they find Eugenia’s extra outfits.

In remarkably different styles of dress, including a couple folks just in their bathrobes, the group makes their way down to their reservation. The host makes a slight face at their attire, but quickly seats them. They order opulently, ranging from a Full English to Eggs Benedict. When their main food arrives so too does an oversized bottle of Champaign. The waiter mentions their reservation said to include it, on account of “the celebration”. He professionally offers “congratulations for whatever occasion brings you all to our establishment”. They saber the top off theatrically, and Jackie asks them to leave the saber at the table in case they order another bottle.

As they eat, they notice someone in the lobby chatting with the front desk that looks suspiciously like a Special Inspector. Pat gets spooked, and gets up to “powder her nose”. On her way to the restroom, when she passes out of view of the dining area, she passed 4 constables (armed and armored) waiting in the hallway. They don’t recognize her (Pat is one of the less distinctively describable group members). They apologize for any distress, and mention they’re just here to make an arrest, while the squeeze to the sides of the hallway to let her pass.

More constables enter through the front door and start to fan out through the hotel’s ground floor, surrounding the restaurant. The waiter awkwardly shuffles by and apologizes to them about the disturbance (other waiters are doing similarly with the other tables) then drops off an envelope. He mentions “the reservation mentioned to drop this in lieu of the bill”. They open it, and find a hastily hand written letter:

Tell Felix to go fuck himself along with the rest of that awful Best family. You can all rot in prison.

They ask their waiter to pass a message up to their room, and write a quick letter on a napkin mentioning they’re about to get arrested and that the Ragged Prince betrayed them (in slightly coded language). The waiter says he will, and passes the note to a hotel attendant.

Pat leaves the bathroom and makes no attempt to return to the table. She runs up the back stairwell, and arrives at the room around the same time as the hotel attendant delivering the note (they took the lift). Once inside the room, she starts to make a hasty plan with Calliope and Robin.

There are too many of them for your usual distractions Calliope, we’d need a bomb to make a difference! —Pat

Well then let’s make a bomb! I’m not just leaving my little sister to get arrested! —Robin

Session 15

[ Monday July 8th ]

Quote of the session:

Me gran' had the lungus.

The constables spiral inward towards the group at the table. Around them, waiters shrink bank towards the kitchen, apologizing to their tables for the interruption or dropping off checks with the worried air of one assuming their chance at a tip had vanished. As the special inspector approaches from around the restaurant’s decorative divider wall, Sasha whispers across the table “when I move, everyone duck”. At this moment, it finally clicks for Abbas that he is actually in danger. He slides down in his chair, slinking underneath the table, before flipping around and grabbing his chair by the front legs and making a run for the wall. Nearby, the constables spring into motion. Two lunge back towards the lobby, aiming to cut him off if he make sit over the wall, while others hurry their approach to the table. Abbas uses the chair as a step to get quickly onto the wall, then heads sideways towards the confused constables.

In the commotion, the rest of the group springs into action. Jackie grabs the saber, left by a waiter, from the table and heads for the nearest constable approaching from back by the bar—while throwing her last fire suppression orb towards Abbas' chasers . Sasha grabs the oversized champaigne bottle and hurls it into one of the men running to cut off Abbas, knocking him off balance and causing his feed to slip out from under him in a bubbly spray. Eugenia pushes away from the table and takes another sip of her tea.

Upstairs, Pat and Calliope hastily assemble a series of explosives: many alchemical, but one a rigged steam core. Pat tosses one firebomb into the next building over (a local equivalent of Saks Fifth Ave) through their open window. The pair then head out onto the terrace. Calliope throws a second firebomb downstairs into the lobby-end of the atrium. Robin, with a third firebomb, takes off southwest, headed for the bar.

Downstairs the special inspector draws a pistol, yelling at the group to stand down. In response, Sasha hurls their dining table at him. Eugenia recovers her tea cup just in time, then slinks away into the crowd of panicking diners while grabbing a nice hat left on a table. Jackie gets into hand-to-hand combat with the closest constable, bathrobe flying open and revealing scandalous detail of the young swashbuckler. Another constable, once rushing to the scene, simply gawkes at the ensuing mayhem. He is quickly greeted with a glue-bag from above (lobbed by Calliope) and flails about in consternation trying to free himself from its clutches.

Abbas, leaping from the divider wall, chair-tackles a constable, miring his straps in the legs; he then proceeds to run for the door. Above, Robin hurls the last firebomb at the bar, igniting a large portion of the atrium in the process. By now the entire hotel is in chaos. Fire alarms ring out, guests crowd the balconies trying to see what’s happening, people panic. Calliope uses her slow-fall belt to drop from the fifth floor to the first, uniting with others near the lobby. She tosses the rigged team core back towards the restaurant and everyone runs as the extricate themselves from various melees they have entered into. Pat sprints for the back stairs, heading for the alley. Before the leave earshot of each other, Abbas shouts:

CHICKEN RUN!!!!

They make it as far as the doors when the containment vessel ruptures, blowing out all the nearby windows. They’re knocked down, as are all of the people nearby. Trees in Fisker Square lose their foliage, birds scatter, crowds shriek. Next door, the department store is fully involved in its blaze and panicked shoppers flee. In front of them, now lacking all windows, are two constable steam-wagons. They hop in one, Sasha and Calliope damaging the other, and speed down the alley between buildings to pick up Pat. Eugenia sneaks away across the park, promising to meet them later. They drive west towards the river, dropping Pat at the bridge to Heath-upon-Slo, then head into Oddlion Hill towards Sasha’s flat.

Pat walks south across the bridge, noting a gathering crowd near the train station. Constables gather, and some fearful excitement grips the scene. She casually asks an onlooker what’s happening, and they confide:

Someone’s hijacked a train! They’d been waving a gun about on the platform, maybe two of em', sent folks a scattering. Then they piled into the Dunnock line train and headed north outta the station!

By this time, the train can be seen headed across the river. Looking beyond, up towards the line’s next stop at Overwater station, a train emerges on the wrong side of the track. The group headed north can see this now too, trains rushing at each other, picking up speed. The boom reverberates across half the city as the trains derail into lower Oddlion flats.

Elsewhere, just reaching her flat, Eugenia hears the collision as if a gunshot went off nearby. People in the street cower and look about in fear. A dust cloud rises in the distance. She returns to her room and instructs Carys to start shredding everything. A few minutes later, the phone from the doorman rings. Carys picks up, listens, then turns to Eugenia:

A “Constance DeLance” is here to see you?

They let her up, and a teary-eyed Constance bursts in. She babbles about being so worried about Jackie, that she disappeared, she must be in trouble, can Eugenia pretty-pretty please help her be found, etc, etc. She shares that she realized Jackie must be doing something criminal given what she’d stolen after their night together, but was fearful when all the chaos in the city started that it had all gone sideways. Constance offers to hide Jackie in her family house where “the constables wouldn’t dare look—we have connections!”. Eugenia patiently hears her out, roping her into helping with the shredding effort. Eventually, when they’ve finished, they leave (Carys headed for their warehouse to clean up there) and Eugenia offers to give her a ride home in a rented hansom. Constance pleads to be taken to Jackie, but Eugenia stays firm that she’ll pass on word, but not bring them together.

Elsewhere, after leaving the station, Pat heads south to her workshop. She hastily packs, and writes a note to Tarakov:

The Ragged Prince burned us
Not sure how wide the blast radius is
we’re improvising
attached are drops we’ll check
Sasha is mad, but I can direct it

She heads out, leaving a Bunsen burner on such that it will quickly alight most of the building. She takes a circuitous route northward into the Crags with a mix of walking, short cab rides, and other transportation mixed in. Along the way she drops the latter to Tarankov into one of her organizations known drops.

By noon, everyone is headed for the Crags, to meet up and discuss their next options.

Session 16 (The First Loop)

[ Monday July 8th—Monday July 8th (1st loop) ]

Quote of the session:

Arson is good actually. It revitalizes the urban environment. —Abbas

The group converges on The Crags in search of The Ragged Prince. They trickle in from across the city, meeting up in alleyways across from Hannah’s Hens. The building is oddly quiet for lunch time, with its windows drawn and no smoke coming from its kitchens. At 2pm, everyone but Pat and Eugenia have gotten there. At 2:45 Eugenia arrives, dropped down the street in a rickshaw. 10 minutes later a group of the prince’s folks arrive, 3 upper-floors types and 2 bruisers. The head inside, knocking with a distinctive pattern at the front door.

At 3:10, Pat arrives. Sasha convinces everyone that their best option is to attack and take out The Ragged Prince. While they’re planning this siege (at 3:15) they overhear a loud argument and shouting from the upstairs conference room, then a lanky body is shoved hard off the balcony and into the jaddermire. Abbas scrambles down after them, and is spotted briefly by one of the prince’s guards. However, the prince doesn’t believe him, and seems paranoid with his whole staff. Abbas finds the body after it has fallen through a molding roof. Their neck isn’t at the right angle, or rather, their neck is at a right angle.

He retreats back up to the rest of them, and they spring into action. He and Calliope scale the outside of the building and climb in through upper story windows while Jackie, Sasha, and Pat head for the front door. Eugenia watches the street further back. A short, quiet, fight occurs downstairs, ultimately securing Hannah’s Hens without alerting the rest of the gang. Upstairs they find Hannah, tied to her bed and gagged. They regroup, then decide to head in to see the prince.

A few people head straight up the stairs and begin a conversation with him, while others sneak around climbing up the outside. Eugenia and Robin head in closer outside, to secure the lower floor. The Prince seems highly agitated and paranoid, raving about someone named Pyotr and accusing the group of working for him, but also that “he cannot be real”. The group sneaking in from above notices a steaming hole in the floor where floorboards have been pulled up. A gunfight breaks out, with the prince taking a chest full of buckshot. Through a bloody grimace he calls out:

Age might not kill you, but I can!

[ hover to see the explosion ]

A huge explosion rips through the building, vaporizing everyone in the room and throwing rocky shrapnel for blocks. Then, the group wakes up:

…and then your eyes flick open. The peal of a bell you did not hear recedes in your thoughts. Light streams into the room, the bright calm light of morning. Outside in the square a choral sings, their voices streaming through a cracked window. Pigeons coo and scratch in the eaves. The affable murmur of conversations drifts up from the street below.

You are ravenously hungry, but otherwise… feeling fine? You may have expected a hangover of some kind, given your state last night, but no–only hunger. It is hard to think about anything except breakfast. The smell of baking bread and frying bacon wafts up from a kitchen somewhere below.

They awake, back at The Viceroy, in the beds (or tubs, or couches… or tables) that they started their day in. General confusion abounds. A couple minutes later there’s a knock on the door, and a familiar Viceroy concierge cheerily reminds a grumpy Sasha that they have a breakfast reservation coming up. The realization that they are moving through the same day again settles over the group. They argue about what to do.

Glancing out their windows to the square, they notice the group of constables having breakfast at the chip shop, their paddy wagons parked around the side out of sight of the main door. A few climb out the window down to the alley on sheets, others take the back stairs.

Sasha and Pat head towards one of Tarakov’s meeting places, a pirogi shop in Wilden. Abbas, Calliope, and Jackie head for All Saints Square.

Sasha and Pat arrive at the pirogi shop, and use a passphrase to get let into the back. They’re told something is going on and they need to wait. Hours tick by. Sasha eats some frozen pirogi, finding it to be egg-and-lamb filled. Eventually Vasil, Tarankov’s majordomo, comes in to meet them. He tells them she had headed out that morning to oversee setup of “the distraction”, coordinating Michael and Annika’s takeover of the trains. However, she was long supposed to have returned by now and is missing.

Abbas, Calliope, and Jackie (with a very drunk Robin in tow) head to All Saints Square. Jackie goes to St. Oliver, the patron saint of second chances, to pray. A fat orange cat meows at her from behind the statue, nestled into the shrine’s cutout in the rock. The group look quite bedraggled:

• Calliope in a soggy, but finally drying, Viceroy uniform.
• Abbas in a oversized Viceroy bellhop uniform.
• Jackie in a bathrobe with a gear belt cinching it closed.
• Robin sweaty in street clothes reeking of booze.

Jackie approaches one of the Blind Bishops in the square, looking for help with their insane situation. He grows concerned, and calls over another bishop and the guards to “take these folks away to basement 2”…

Session 17

[ Monday July 8th (1st loop)—Monday July 8th (2nd loop) ]

Instead of joining either group, Eugenia decides to return home. She leaves the hotel via the back door, and skirts the edge of Fisker Square before crossing Asher Green and heading back to her flat. She tells Carys to do the same plan as “yesterday” (aka session 15), then grabs more of her available cash and heads to one of Tarankov’s nearby hideouts, a borscht shop in lower Oddlion. She pays an exorbitant amount (~$50k) for a rush job hiring a sniper to take him out. While there, she overhears some of the spreading chaos within the organization, but no direct mention of the leader’s disappearance.

Pat and Sasha leave the pirogi shop in Wileden and head for The Crags via a borrowed pirogi delivery steam wagon. They reach their destination around 11:15, and scope out Hannah’s Hens. The Ragged Prince arrives at 11:45, accompanied by two of his enforcers. They head in, knowing the official knock and confusing the guards (Daniel and Sterns), then confront The Ragged Prince. While conversing, at 11:54, a shot rings out from across the Jaddermire. It firmly hits the prince, who lets go of his dead man’s trigger and detonates the building again.

Back in All Saint’s Square, the group hears the bishop trying to secret them away to some basement and skedaddles. Abbas and Calliope scale the south wall, then head for the other side. Calliope uses her belt, but its grabbed (arcanely) by the bishop, who starts dragging her back. Abbas leaps off the two story wall into a crowd of nobles, then helps catch Calliope as she discards the belt and drops to the crown in the street. Jackie parkours her way out the north gate, aided by her remaining foam fire suppressants. Robin slows her down, however, and the two get ticketed for Robin’s drunken behavior before being let off. The four reunite, and decide to head for The Crags. Around noon their hear an explosion from up ahead, and crowds fleeing the area. At 13:15 they arrive to find the destruction of Hannah’s Hens. While their, the sniper who took out the Prince fires on them (no loose ends). Calliope detonates her steam core in response, killing the group.

Eugenia, on the other hand, has a very relaxing day after paying the hitwomen. She spends her evening in Hamdonn, dining at a very expensive restaurant on the upper floors of a tower overlooking the Sloaditch. At 19:45, she can see lightning crisscross Oddlion hill, followed by spot fires. A few minutes later explosions dot the lower northeast side. She files this away, and retires to sleep normally. This too seems to trigger the loop reset, just like dying.

The group all awake to the now-familiar noises and smells of their Viceroy suite. Sasha steps out to the hall early, catching the attendant before he knocks, and tells him to cancel their reservation. Eugenia admits to everyone that she hired the hitwomen sniper who took them all out yesterday. Sasha tells everyone that the constables don’t really know who they are, and only have very loose descriptions of the group. They discuss all this as they’re making their way out of the hotel.

Pat gives Abbas a far-too-large dose of laudanum, and as he descends into delirium he heads for the chip-shop in the square. There, the orange cat (Dexter) takes notice of him, and mimes throwing up. Abbas does not understand this in the moment, but still tries to have a conversation with the cat. Eventually he collapses in line, drawing the attention of the nearby constables.

The rest of the group heads to Fisker Square Station and boards the 9:37 northbound train. The mill about at Overwater Station (in Oddlion Hill). They find Mirilla, another Tarakov associate, working Oddlion’s switching booth, and unconscious or dead attendant hidden out of view of the window. She mentions that Tarankov was just there, but left on the previous southbound train. The group watches as the two “distraction” trains collide. Annika (on the southbound train) bails out with a parachute, but Michael (on the northbound) has a parachute failure and never makes it out when the trains collide.

Session 18

[ Monday July 8th (2nd loop)—Monday July 8th (3rd loop) ]

After watching the trains collide over lower Oddlion, the group splits up. Eugenia heads to get some food, but accidentally finds herself in a very tourist-trap restaurant. Frustrated, she steals a bottle of wine and leaves, wandering around Oddlion hill aimlessly while getting drunk. Eventually, she stumbles upon a pair of performer’s wagons parked at the side of a small public square. Nearby, some of the troupe are cooking what smells to be a delicious dinner. She drunkenly joins their circle, asking for some food, and gets to talking with the group. Eventually she lets on about her time-loop situation, which catches the attention of a 12 year old boy sitting at the edge reading.

After conversing for some time, she learns that he only looks 12, but is in fact older, likely much older. He has sharpened teeth, and is the performer Calliope saw when behind the tent briefly (session 11). He introduces himself as Pyotr. Eugenia learns that he talked with the Ragged Prince that morning, and “had some bad news for him” about not being the chosen leader of some revolution after all. She tells him that the Abbey is coming for his group, with lightning rifles. He is mostly convinced by her story about the loop, but says that he must still attempt to lead his troupe to safety, and gathers almost everyone to leave. Two guards stay behind to check her story.

Back at Oddlion Hill’s summit, Sasha has been carousing in the square all day. In the early evening, the door of a nearby business bangs open abruptly and an ashy breeze spills out around the feet of a group of heavily armed soldiers and the Justice who emerge.

Session 19

[ Monday July 8th (3rd loop)—Monday July 8th (4th loop) ]

Session 20

[ Monday July 8th (4th loop) ]

Session 21

[ Monday July 8th (4th loop)—Monday July 8th (5th loop) ]

Session 22

[ Monday July 8th (5th loop) ]

Session 23

[ Monday July 8th (5th loop)—Monday July 8th (6th loop) ]

Bill maunders on sadly, developing a deflating case of hiccups that he doesn’t seem to notice. His eyes stop firmly focusing, and roll about randomly.

“O' course that’ll be me hic done then with’n all the ‘vestigatin’ hic they’ll be having after all this. Can’t be o’er lookin' ol' Bill’s tran– transsgruh– hic ‘istakes. ‘Stop selling Abbey secrets Bill’ hic ‘Abmiralty don’t take hic kindly to their keys going missing Bill’ ugh I’s hic done for sure…”

In short order the hiccups begin to wind him. His speech slows and takes on a staccato pattern, words spaced with breaths. They are not labored, however, and his droopy eyelids show no distress.

“Marly did says ‘The hic proud shall die as hic them lived, ridin’ a sword of hic their words…’ err somethin' like hic that…”

His head evidently becomes too heavy to lift, and he lays it down upon the table. Quiet snoring almost immediately follows.

Session 24

[ Monday July 8th (6th loop) ]

Session 25

[ Monday July 8th (6th loop)—Monday July 8th (7th loop) ]