Session 110 Report

General Summary

Belle Hop's Case File

  Aww gee where do I even begin with this one? The case is getting weirder and weirder by the minute. Spoons, killer robots, and a lot of lives to save. The only concrete lead we had so far was a griffon, a certain Old Bird Baxterson Von Hoffman III. We found his picture in one of the kamera crystals found inside the automatons down at the tavern the picture itself had a note saying "REPORT TO HIM" in big letters. We didn't really know who this guy was or where he lived if it wasn't the help of Noir Et Blanc, a zebra fella, lives one the opposite side of salt square where the tavern was. so there it was! a solid lead! But before heading to Mr.Baxterson's manor, I asked the party to make a quick stop at the tavern one final time, there was something I wanted to try. Unfortunately a bunch of ponies started to pile up around the tavern trying to figure out what happened in there. Luckily with the help of Sarsy and Electra, we managed to sort out that situation. Honestly, i don't fear many things, heights being one of them, but geez, rummaging through those corpses just gave me the creeps, there was something uncanny about the mix between mechanical and organic. Still it needed to be done. Electra's comical attempt at generating a magnetic field gave me an idea. with the components scrapped from one of the mechanical zombies, I managed to craft a nifty little thing I like to call "the Robotron 3000" capable of detecting and locating robotic components with the push of a button. The downside is, it detects anything metallic, so the readings may not be entirely accurate, still, its better than nothing! After a small chat with the jewel lady next door to the tavern, We headed straight for Old Bird's estate. Boy oh boy what a particular fella. For starters the gates are locked no way of entering without breaking in, next thing we know we hear this old vulture yelling at us and pointing a makeshift blunderbuss in our face, we tried to convince him that we were only there to talk, though everyone had their own story to tell him, so that probably didn't help. Old Bird's refusal to cooperate didn't stop Sarsy from lockpicking the gates and entering the property, I just hope we don't get charged for this later. Right off the bat we set off several traps, all of them involving spoons, and surprisingly they hurt... A LOT! nonetheless we all kept moving forward, Electra tried to disarm Mr. Baxterson by casting her funky magnet spell once more, and causing all the traps set by him to fly towards her. This fight moved inside the house where Electra found some weird crystals on a desk, couldn't figure out their purpose honestly, nonetheless we all pushed further into the property until an annoyed Wicker Wind managed to trap Old Bird behind a 1 ft tall stone wall.   This guy, he doesn't seem to come out much... the photo retrieved in one of those automatons only showed his face and his left talon, he looked old but that picture made him look 50 years younger. Most of his body had been replaced with mechanical components, probably Goldenport tech, his brain was literally floating in a jar on the side of his apparatus. Despite all that, we started asking questions, as it turns out he did send the robots to do his business in Kalidai, but his intentions didn't seem very sinister, just mildly annoying. He said he used them to put an end to those "gosh darn SJWs" whatever that means, a group of protesters trying to sabotage the upcoming ball. He also seems to have an undying love for the dragon in charge of this city. Now one would think "Great! You just found the mastermind behind this operation! Case closed!" but nope...It turns out, Old Bird Baxterson found "his" robots down in the attic very recently when he fell down the stairs, and all evidence seems to indicate that he's telling the truth. Given the state of decay of the automatons we've found, I'd say they are about a week or two old, somebody planted them in the basement to frame the old vulture. Don't take me wrong, Mr. Baxterson has some involvement in all of this, he still sent out those robots to do his bidding, and I'm not sure of what he was planning to do with them exactly, but he doesn't seem to be a threat to anybody but himself. Besides the disappearances in this city have been going on for a good while now, way longer than a few weeks. While searching the basement we found a note, a torn page of the current month from this year's calendar. it had the date of the start of the ball, the 30th, circled in red, but nothing else. What's weirder is that Old Bird knew absolutely nothing about this calendar page. Similar to Triple's letter, the calendar page had a concealed message written with invisible ink. Electra managed to heat it up and words started appearing! on the 29th "The Five Cs meeting at 11 pm" and 30th "Get to Work!". Another lead! after thanking Old Bird for answering our questions, and having Wicker Wind deliver all of his unread mail directly to him, we had some free time on our hooves to plan our next move until the meeting. The kirin lady at the hotel was kind enough to give us another discount. What a sweet lady, she seems very fascinated by this case, but I gotta be careful with what I say, can't risk it. Nonetheless she revealed a crucial piece information. The so called SJWs, Old Bird Baxterson got it wrong, its actually SWJ and it stands for Service Workers Justice, a small group of ponies in the service industry fighting for a better treatment. Honestly i don't blame them, i know exactly what it's like to get the short end of the stick in that industry. She also seemed to imply that the party has been using me, not giving me a fair cut of the profits made throughout our adventuring. Not gonna lie, I joined this party out of desperation, i lost my job, and the whole retirement letter business that had to be sorted out... And i don't want to sound ungrateful the group straight up allowed me to tag along, when it would have been easier to just part ways... I just need money to stay afloat, and this type business seems to pay a lot... Emphasis on "seems", although i got paid a bunch of times, the payout didn't seem as great as I imagined it. FOCUS BELLE, don't get distracted, remember what your husband always says "Success is no accident. just hard work". All the weird stuff I've seen, its probably nothing compared to what these guys have to deal with on a daily basis... right?   The next day, she appears again. The mare with the fez, Ivory Drop, casually walking past us trying to reach a mailbox. Weird, she was carrying a crystal similar to the ones found at Old Bird's house, but what's weirder is that she was talking to it. I tried asking her about it but she avoided the topic after hiding the crystal in her fez. I smell something, though Electra assured me that it's typical of her, eh... Fez lady pulled Electra aside and the two started talking about something, not sure what. The rest of the day was spent trying to figure out what the five Cs are, luckily Wicker Wind and Electra figured out that it's a restaurant, it was at the quills and sofa's shop. Balcony Blitz went there to buy a gift for Fireheart, he tried to contact her to figure out how the party was doing but received no response, so now he thinks she's mad at him, personally i think the message just didn't go through, after all it was something concerning the whole party, not a private conversation. Also Sarsparilla bought one of the most expensive couch I've ever seen in my life... was that nice lady at the hotel right? Later, we managed to get a response from Jinx, the others are on their way! The rest of the day went by pretty quick as we waited for 11pm.     And there it was "The Five Cs", the restaurant where a sinister meeting was being held, something was going to happen tomorrow at the ball, and we had to do something. Sarsy forged some documents, invites for the meeting though we didn't end up using them. Wicker wind decided to go for a more direct approach, mail to deliver while the others were hiding. To my shock, it didn't end in tragedy. A really nice pony opened up the door, he and Wicker had a nice conversation about mail, then he wished the deer happy Odyssey and closed the door. Was this the right address? the team decided to investigate further, however, Balcony Blitz decided to stay behind, feeling uncomfortable with us breaking in. After a bit of snooping, it turns out these guys were up to something, but nothing bad. This was a SWJs meeting, and like Old Bird said, they were planning to do something at the ball. This something involved wearing a specific line of fashion to protest against their working conditions. This wasn't worth the effort, we just broke in somepony's property for nothing! Balcony Blitz was right. All of a sudden though, i noticed something... the pictures found in the kamera crystal! All of the ponies at this meeting, they're on these photos, they were gonna be the next targets! We had to do something, we had to warn them! But how? Sarsy had the brilliant idea of forging some documents, from SWJ HQ, a letter warning the group of the imminent danger of going to the party. We got the two deer to deliver it, while the rest stayed behind. The case is not closed but at least these guys will be safe for the time being, I hope. That's when my mind started wandering off. the robots have been programmed to target service ponies, and all because they demand a better treatment? was this Old Bird's doing or is he just a pawn? wait a minute...I AM A SERVICE PONY...A BOT TOOK PICTURES OF US BACK AT THE TAVERN FROM THE WINDOW AND WE LEFT IT THERE! DAMN IT! the party did reassure me nothing is gonna happen to me, but I'm still terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought. Something might still happen at that ball. And the day just arrived! Everyone was there at the gates, not gonna lie the thought of being turned into one of them is keeping me on the edge, but the prospect of finally spending some time with Mr. Hop calmed me down a bit. I gotta find a way to thank Mr. Swift for hooking me up with an invite, balcony blitz mentioned that his birthday is coming up in a few days, I better do some investigating on what he likes. Speaking of which, i wonder when the rest are gonna show up. One final note, while entering the gates, we saw a weird guy coming in with us. This bat pony, he had a smug grin plastered on his face, honestly I don't know how he managed to get in, I thought clown outfit were strictly forbidden at this event. He had a weird walking contraption with him. More robots! Great! Could this be him? Could he be the mastermind behind the disappearances? Gotta keep my eyes open...