Session 31 Recap

General Summary

The session begins at the Velvet Veil Nightclub on the 19th of Hammer. The Peggers wait until the last call to ensure all patrons leave safely. The bartender refuses to serve the heavily intoxicated Rae, and the group opts not to make her a target for the killer. Laylin remains with Luciano while the rest of the crew heads back to the Moonlit Motel for some rest. Come morning, Laylin wakes to discover she has grown horns, a possible indication that her pact with Malcanthet, the Queen of Succubi, is strengthening. After thanking Luciano for the enjoyable night, she rejoins her crew. As they comment on her new horns, Laylin notes scales that have appeared around Rae's eyes, a sign that Rae's pact with Larry the Human is also intensifying. They resolve to visit the city morgue, known as the Midnight Vault, next.
Nestled in the basement of New York General Hospital lies the Midnight Vault. Keira brandishes her counterfeit badge at the hospital's front desk, persuading the nurse that their visit is for official business. The nurse provides directions, and the group descends into the morgue. The morgue is a cold, sterile place, shrouded in an eerie silence, with rows of metal drawers embedded in the walls to house the deceased. Flickering fluorescent lights cast a pallid glow on the stainless steel autopsy tables and medical instruments, as the subtle scent of formaldehyde permeates the air. The mortician, Ezekiel Thorn, is a tall, hairless man with ghostly white skin, starkly contrasted by his deep solid black eyes. He is currently examining the most recent victim reported from the nightclub. The Peggers are denied access to his journal, which he claims has already been reported to the authorities. If they were true investigators, they would have access to this information, he argues. The crew inquires about consistent factors among the bodies and discovers that each victim has a stab wound in the exact same spot on their heart. Additionally, every victim's iris is torn, suggesting exposure to a sudden shift to darkness, causing their eyes to expand too rapidly and tear. Currently, there are seven victims in the morgue; six are in the coolers, and one, a dwarven man, is on the table. Upon examination, they find that body 932, which is not associated with the Velvet Veil Nightclub, is the only one without a fully penetrating stab wound.
Sable decides to cast Speak with Dead, applying it to a Half-Orc's corpse to discover she was murdered while returning home from the Nightclub. The assailant was swift, wielding a long dagger with a golden hilt, and donned a cloak that obscured their face, accompanied by a beard. However, it remains ambiguous whether the individual had a short beard or was short in stature with a beard. When Sable invokes the spell on the remains of 932, it's revealed that he spent the entire day at home, watching over his child. The perpetrator infiltrated the room from a ceiling corner, seeping in like ash or gunpowder, then assumed a nebulous, shapeless form. Throughout, 932 repeatedly emphasized the assailant's eyes: intensely red. Notably, this killer did not employ a dagger. Niklaus taps Ezekiel, questioning why he hadn't reported this to the police. The contact causes the skin on Niklaus's hand to decay rapidly. Ezekiel warns him against trying again and mentions he saw no reason to report such a trivial detail. Of the 37 murders attributed to the Whisper, 6 bodies were not stabbed all the way through. Concluding they have collected all the information they can from the morgue, the group decides to proceed to the library next.
Yew Nork's Historical Library & Arcane Innovation Museum, a towering structure is made of dark stone, with grand marble steps that ascend to massive carved doors. These doors depict intricate scenes of Yew Nork’s founding and its rise as both a center for magical and technological innovation. The crew heads inside to see the library is vast, with rows of towering bookshelves filled with tomes, scrolls, and manuscripts. The museum section of the building displays technological advancements, such as the use of thaumaturgy in radio creation and the development of combustion engines powered by blood from magmin. Spixi is visibly excited to be greeted by the hushed silence of the place, the musty smell of old paper and ancient ink filling the air. She looks for the record system that the library catalogs their inventory, and sees the Librarium Mechanis. A remarkable artificer-created device at the heart of the Yew Nork Historical Library & Arcane Innovation Museum. Standing tall in the center of the library’s vast hall, the device consists of a large, intricate gyroscopic mechanism made up of several rotating brass rings. Each ring is etched with ancient letters, runes, and symbols in every known language, shifting and interlocking with a mesmerizing precision. As a user approaches the device, they focus on the specific tome or subject they wish to locate. The rings begin to spin and overlap, aligning to their vision, and gradually spell out the location of the desired work in an illuminated pathway. The device hums softly with arcane energy as it directs users through the library’s expansive collection, combining both magical precision and a sense of wonder at the library’s immense catalog. The others rush to the device to search for their topics: Tyr for Captain, Fey involvement for Keira, adult content for Laylin, and medical information on torn irises for Niklaus. Spixi meets a librarian who assists her with the various pieces of information she seeks. Subsequently, Spixi heads to the Librarium Mechanis to find data on the last Concord of Faiths, a significant meeting convened by Gods and Archdevils, the details of which are unknown to her. The Librarium Mechanis begins to reveal the information but suddenly halts, displaying 'Restricted' instead. As Spixi searches for the restricted area, she notices a disheveled, nearly ten-foot-tall human tour guide, who is ineffectively explaining the exhibits.
Spixi immediately recognizes that the tour guide is actually Frank in disguise, but she chooses to play along. Approaching him, she inquires about his name, noting his name badge is reversed, to which he responds, "It's F... Tony." Spixi inquires about the location of the restricted section, and F-Tony, with a cheerful demeanor, guides her there after instructing the remainder of the tour group to exit the library. Meanwhile, Frank, masquerading as F-Tony, escorts Spixi to the restricted area where they encounter Laylin outside the door who believes this is where they would keep the adult literature locked up. F-Tony swipes his ID badge and opens the door to the restricted room. Laylin and Spixi notice an unconscious, unclothed man tied up in the corner. Frank discloses that he infiltrated the library by picking the lock on the window of the Restricted Literature room, entering, and knocking the man unconscious. Laylin flips through book after book, searching for something of interest but finds nothing. Spixi also fails to find what she's looking for but discovers a torn page beneath the shelf. The page, written in an ancient Celestial dialect, recounts how 60,000 years ago, the old gods formed a temporary alliance with the Archfey of the Seelie Court and the Archdevils to banish and seal away a threat to all planes of existence. Many details are faded and unreadable. Frank, as F-Tony, suggests they examine a display he noticed earlier that details the city's darkest day in history. Leaving the restricted section, they reach a display showcasing a star chart of the sky above New York on the date of the city's darkest day. Spixi, the Ship's Navigator, uses the chart to deduce that the planet Erstia has an oblong orbit around Solaris with a deviation period of 600 years. This alignment is set to coincide with the same celestial position as the darkest day in just five days, on the 25th of Hammer. As they delve further into the history of the darkest day, they learn that for six minutes, the sky above the city disappeared. Total darkness engulfed the city, resulting in numerous deaths and instances of reality distortion. The event's name, "The Darkest Day," is thus layered with meaning. Niklaus's research uncovers that a torn iris is akin to two sides of the same coin, where a sudden, extreme shift in light absorption—be it darkness or brightness—can cause the eye to contract or dilate too quickly, leading to a tear.
Captain, having gathered substantial evidence, feels the need to release some pent-up tension. He's determined to find the underground fight club operated by the Bratva Brotherhood, which he's heard is near the docks. With no time to waste, Captain bellows, "Where is the fight club?" A passerby responds, pointing to a warehouse not far from where the Peggers are. It's adjacent to the club. As Captain begins to speak, the man silences him with a finger to his lips, urging him to show his resolve through actions rather than words. The man departs, and Captain proceeds to the indicated location. Concealed behind a dilapidated warehouse by the docks, a small, unmarked door blends into the shadows. Inside, the roar of the crowd and the grim sound of fists colliding with flesh reverberate. They knock, prompting a bugbear to answer. The Captain begins conversing with the Feyborn, but the dialogue swiftly shifts when the bugbear doorman recognizes Frank. He exclaims that Frank is his cousin, John, and they reconnect as if no time has passed. Frank opts to impersonate John, while the Captain is eager to enter. The real John admits he's not an employee and leads them downstairs to the fight club. There, they encounter a familiar sight: an unconscious man, bound and divested of his clothes. With the true doorman incapacitated, John insists on guarding the door to prevent further mishaps. Frank, now masquerading as John, guides them into the club's central area, permeated with the odors of blood and sweat. The ring is a mere circle, delineated by heavy ropes and watched over by several Bratva enforcers. In the midst of brutal hand-to-hand combat, fighters clash while a few spectators cheer them on. Frank, incognito as John, identifies the apparent leader and guides the captain to him. The man questions why John isn't at the door. Frank, maintaining his guise, feigns an apology and pretends to return to his post, only to shed his disguise, incapacitate the announcer Devin, and hide him under the booth, assuming Devin's role. Viktor, the club manager with an impressively dense mustache, greets them. He offers Captain a solo match in the ring, with full gear permitted. Meanwhile, Rae is perched in the stands, eager for the fray; Keira lingers by a saxophonist, and Sable stays outside. Spixi heads back up to hang out with the real John only to find a note saying: "Door got away, be back soon." She doesn't know what to do with this information. The Captain clashes with a paladin of Talos, known as the Doom Lord of Doom. The fight is evenly matched until the final blow, where the Captain narrowly prevails. The Doom Lord of Doom, taken aback by the might of a follower of Tyr, is on the verge of speaking when a rift appears. From it, a hand of Talos emerges, crushing the paladin into pulp and dragging the remains back through the rift.
Applause erupts for Captain Rolfe's victory; he triumphed over one of the fight club's more formidable opponents. However, as the cheers subside, the clapping of one person resonates above the rest. The crowd in the arena instantly becomes tense, and the members of the Bratva Brotherhood quickly gather around him, kneeling before they clear a path for him to the Captain. As he nears the Captain, the Captain feels the intensity of his stare. It's a cold, merciless gaze, honed like a razor's edge. He presents himself as Don Vladimir Petrov, known as The Wolf to his adversaries. Don Vladimir inquires about the Captain's business in his domain and surveys the Peggers one by one. When the Captain mentions the search for the moon, Don Vladimir retorts, questioning what the Peggers could offer that he would value in exchange. Don Vladimir then clarifies that the Whisper benefits his business and the absence of the moon alters nothing. Consequently, the Captain resolves to depart, recognizing they have nothing of significance to offer Don Vladimir. Yet, as he attempts to leave, he is halted, and a bag of coins is thrust into his hand. The Wolf asserts that he never allows an honest victor to leave unrewarded. Curious about the amount, the Captain inquires, only to witness the room's atmosphere shift to one of fear. Don Vladimir estimates the sum to be between 500 and 600 gold pieces, admitting he did not count them, and extends an invitation for the Captain to return to the club for a fight anytime. Captain thanks the leader of the Bratva Brotherhood and the Peggers leave, and this is where we end our session.
We start our next session on the 20th day of Hammer at 4p.m, 4 and a half days till the Darkest Day.

Notes

"It's like you can't get a femboy pregnant but that shouldn't stop you from trying." - Emerald
"I was feeling really slutty today." - Stephanie
"A good pair of slut boots really put the outfit together." - Misty
"I mean jack's ran down the hall in my underwear with his balls hanging out on one side." - Hannah
"Lets not talk about womens clothes.." - Stephanie
"6... she can't see past her tits." - Niklaus
"I have a lot of experience with little chubs." - Misty
"AAAAHHH" - Rae
"N- well they underestimate F-Tony" - F-Tony (Frank)
"Why you smell like sulfer and berries?" - Spixi
"Gotta get the band back together is what I'm hearin" - Niklaus
"Real sixy up in here" - Sarah
"Gotta keep the energy up buddy." - Devin (Frank)
"h-hey uh frank- uh devin... the door got away." - Spixi
"He's doomed." - Niklaus
"Whip out your dick and start pissin." - Sarah
"Wheres the moon at?" - Captain?

Report Date

09 Nov 2024