Episode Twenty-four - Broken Society Report

General Summary

On Dec. 14, 1933 Man-Dragon pieced together that Hazelton Labs was trying to control the weather and that their research into other cults wasn't just research. He found a folder called Project River where a team working on the project thought that, within the year, they could place the power to control weather in a woman named River. He decided to find the woman named River but for the day, decided to head home to prepare for the funeral the following day.   As of Dec. 15, 1933 Soldier and Ms. Citizen as Ben and Caroline had been arguing since the death of their colleagues. Caroline had been arguing with Soldier that, after the funeral she wanted to retire from the Society and that she’d never return to serve an ungrateful city. She did say that she wouldn’t impede his return or give him any grief about it as they both developed their lives together. At that point, non of them had seen Iron Maiden, not since she buried her sword in The Atriums’ floor and when called on, there’d been no answer.   The funeral was set for the 15th and out of respect for the dead what remained of the Society had taken a few days for themselves. The police, those that liked the Society, had, in that time, arranged for a heroic procession and a twenty-one gun salute for the fallen heroes; they did so against the the orders of the chief. Each officer was under threat of being terminated by the force in the show of support let alone actually attending. As what was left of the Society arrived at the most prestigious church in the city, St. George's Cathedral, they see only that the whole city had rallied to their cause. The streets were laden with thousands of onlookers. Sarge and Cowboy stood by the door in uniform with swords drawn over the entry next to the a man in a police top, kilt, and playing bagpipes. He played Amazing Grace and the Society exited their limousine. Soldier nodded to Sarge and Cowboy at the entrance of St. George's Cathedral and then turned and looked over the crowd and acknowledged them. Inside, Soldier saluted the caskets before returning to the greeting area. Dawnguard put on a good show for the citizens inside the church and later those that came in, it was a lot of head shaking and somber looks and a bit of touching objects with sentimental thought. Dawnguard thought long and hard about what needed to be show to the citizens and released a tear for them. As the group returned to greet those entering, Vincent's old platoon flowed through and mostly talked to soldier. Then a family came in, Ms. Citizen greeted them first and the rest did as well, they were the family of Dan Werner. His wife, a daughter, and their two boys took seat on the front isle to later be accompanied by the Freedom Society themselves. In greeting Dan's family, Soldier told them that if they needed anything, call. Man-Dragon told them that Yankee had a "damn good heart." After many powerful figures came through, including the Governor; Beaumont came in and Dawnguard mentioned reading his articles and told Beaumont that he appreciated what he did for the city. Fletcher would later quote Dawnguard in the paper in reference to the death of the heroes saying, "there's always an ugly side to war and conflict." Further in the article he wrote that it was nice to hear that Dawnguard appreciated being kept in check and that Dawnguard actually called him one of their own. After the team took their seats the Catholic Archdiocese of Freedom City, the Archbishop, came in to speak.   The Archbishop began, "The men you see before you today were mighty heroes in the eyes of this great city. They were among the first of our Freedom Society. These men did not deserve to die and their lives were taken all to prematurely. Yet in their passing they were noble and heroic facing yet another great threat to our city. In a moment I will invite the Freedom Society on stage to give a few words to these men but in moments like these I am reminded of a scripture, Palsm 23 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” Now before our heroes take the stage, I would ask you to stand and hear a rendition brought to us by the Freedom City Police."   Then, police officers fill the stage and the choir, they fill the lading in front up to the ropes before the first isle all and they stood stoically clad in yellow masks. Two officers wearing kilt lowers took their place just at the top of the isle, one with a bagpipe and the other then began to sing a newly written song known as Sgt. Mackenzie. Then, one officer stepped forward and stood before the team and in a low voice he whispered, "the mayor was ordered not to leave his office by the chief. I know you're mourning your fallen but we're about to march forth and demand the mayor allow us to arrest the chief. We would be honored if you would lead that march." The Society then stood and took their place before the officers, leading the men out. At the rear of the church, the team all saw Cliona Ironwood in plain clothes, she gave them a sad and somber look as they made their exit. The team then marched down Raymond Avenue past Midtown Circle as their thoughts reminisced and the crowd thundered behind them not saying a word. Finally, the team stood upon the steps of city hall as the crowd cheered and as they stood, they took a moment to talk and concern themselves with their situation. Though they would not know it, this a moment that Freedonians would reference for years to come. With a wave to the crowd, the Freedom Society entered Freedom City Hall.   Captain Lewis then ascended the steps and approached the team. He then lead the team to the Mayor's office and Mayor William Falkner gave his blessing to arrest and told the team that there might be a further complication. He told the Society that he'd been told that a group from Anti-Earth had been working with the chief. When asked about the source of the information; the mayor told them that she was the woman Copycat interacted with sometime ago that, as they were able to figure out, she was irradiated by the interaction. Jane Smith, though now deceased from her medical complications, gave information that would allow for further research. Capt. Lewis then went to arrest the chief with Man-Dragon and Soldier guarding the door as Gadget and Dawnguard start decided what step to take next. Soldier and Man-Dragon then escorted the police car with the chief in it to the FCPD, with Man-Dragon walking in front and Soldier walking behind. Dawnguard and Gadget got a police officer to help them search the office of the prior chief under the orders of them mayor. Dawnguard then explained to Gadget that the Liche King Smith mentioned was a powerful necromancer. They found a meeting marked "LK Lantern Hill Dec. 16 8PM" in the office. Captain Lewis, once he reached the station, then got a number to call Freedom Society from Soldier.   After a wagon ride to The Atrium, Ms. Citizen left the side of Soldier and returned home to retire. Soldier stood in the lobby and discussed powers with Man-Dragon as Gadget and Dawnguard returned. The team decide to teleport to the FCPD and got plenty of surprised looks as they appeared in the lobby. They spoke to Capt. Lewis and told him about the meeting and he had the rookie Henderson guard "the cage," where the party stashed Knoll before teleporting to Lantern Hill. Dawnguard also made an amulet to disguise someone as the chief and held onto it. Once in Lantern Hill, the team headed to the cemetery and heard the squeaking of the metal lantern of Lantern Jack.

Rewards Granted

None

Character(s) interacted with

Mayor of Freedom