Codename: Sleeping Alley, Report the Thirteenth

General Summary

We met the Alley Sleepers in the blustery garage of danger, as our heroes plotting their next moves in Operation:ArcFall, which is designed to gain access to the list of The Crescent operatives by any means necessary (preferably going through The Decree). As Hama vu Farlight, Svo'Kool, Rieta, and Grex the Indomitable discussed a possible "heist" of something--maybe a person?--Aletha of the Flintclaw rejoined her colleagues after her own personal sojourn in the mountains and filled them in on what she has seen.
A troubling dream sent Aletha toward a place she knows very well--The Break. She saw an entire mining village being destroyed, burned to nothingness on the orders of a very nonchalant man with a gleaming black uniform and a dangerous looking rifle. Hurrying at speed toward Copperfelling, the aforementioned village, Aletha felt that eerie presence watching her the entire time, along with the standard eyeless crows, naturally. She arrived on the scene too late to save anyone, as that figure, decked in in a resplendent uniform that she hadn't seen before, but was assuredly part of the Alerki Ascendency, mounted a horse along with twenty Rectifiers, and told the surviving inhabitants of the village that "the lesson is now concluded." Aletha rendered what aid she could to the struggling survivors, as it was clear this was now the aftermath of a Tutelage and that often destroys a piece of land for generations. Aletha then became more firm in her resolve to save her people--all the people of the Break--and to seek vengeance upon those who would harm them.
It seems that Xun also agrees with this course of action, as she took that moment to have her eyeless crows reveal a weapon of great usefulness to Aletha--a powerful glaive that can summon a murder of crows to wreak vengeance upon her targeted foe. Nice!
After Aletha recounted her tale--and was made aware of the Thricedead--the crew had a little bit of downtime. Svo'Kool planted some smash potatoes and Hama did some druid magic to ensure their steady growth. Grex did his level best to continue to dig that moat, to mixed success really. Aletha looking inward, thinking about her people, vengeance, and Xun. Rieta read a story in her Tomb of Dreams that just did not sit well with her--a music box's discordant tune haunts her still. Hama, after helping Svo, rode quickly out to Curragan's Shame to see what the hell was going on there. He decided to do some druid stuff and speak to the plants. What he got in reply was choked voices, seemingly muffled by that same strange soil that was in Gravick. Hmmm! A correlation perhaps? Grex will be pleased to hear he's got someone else interested in whatever the hell is happening in that hole.
There wasn't much time to consider that, though, as Yoni Yellowcrane appeared at the gates of The Ivory Bee, looking to buy some mead and honey. This wasn't strictly a commercial call, though, as she also brought a message from "Smallcastle", telling our heroes that if they want to meet another cell and dispatch them upon whatever mission they deem appropriate, they should get to the Void Market up in Pullkirk.  Great! This other cell might be useful in whatever grand scheme is being hatched about the Decree and the Crescent. Our adventurers decided to go the post-haste and asked Yoni to tell Smallcastle et al. that they would appreciate any information they can give them about Gravick or what is happening there.
So, time to go to Pullkirk. The Sleepers loaded up a wagon with goods to sell (honey, really, as Yoni cleaned them out of mead) and went out on the road. It was decided that rather than risk exposure to the increased Alerki Ascendency patrols along the main roads, our heroes would take a shortcut through the Shame. They are, of course, the self-proclaimed Champions of the Shame. That moniker might need to be revisited, as things quickly got out of hand in this trip.
First, that eerie presence that was following Aletha made itself known. Tolse Honorarrow appeared in the form of a revenant, a particular form of undead that seeks vengeance upon those that have done wrong. The wrong in this case is a broken promise to make sure that no harm comes to Tolse or, more importantly, her boy Stolvan. Well, both were very much harmed, so Tolse is here to extract her revenge, along with some ghasts that are also bad news. Our companions survived this fight, but it seems that perhaps it won't be the last we see of Tolse, as something along the lines of "see you soon, fuckers" was heard as the revenant's body turned to dust.

Next, the promise of a good night's sleep was thwarted by another group swearing vengeance against our heroes--Bearsmasher and Mince of The Tulip Host have caught up with their swindlers and they've brought friends. Hama--apparently a true, blue capitalist--can't really understand what the big deal is because they bought the cannon fair and square (minus all the mind-altering charming that went on to get said cannon). But this was A Fight. Svo'Kool went down twice, and most of our brave explorers were on their last legs. Remarkably, they survived. Hopefully that's the last we'll see of that particular brand of vengeance. I guess the Sleepers just gotta stop pissing people off.
Finally, they arrived at the Void Market--a weeklong market festival in Pullkirk. They wasted no time in heading out to the market square to see what was happening. A curious water genasi asked Svo'Kool "what do you do with your hands?" Svo replied with some horndog remark, which was apparently not the answer she was looking for so she turned her attention elsewhere. Oh man, could this have been somebody involved with the Brass Lamb? Hard to say! 
And that's where we left it. We'll see how the Sleepers do at the market during our next session.

Character(s) interacted with

Tolse Honorarrow, a revenant 
Bearsmasher of The Tulip Host 
Mince of the Tulip Host

Report Date

13 Dec 2020

Primary Location

Curragan's Shame

Secondary Location

Pullkirk