Trouble in Tapatlan

General Summary

Episodes 1 and 2 of Kipilu

Kipilu's all grown up and is a Fox Priest of Olkum now, so heretics watch your back!
Session 1: Kipilu's story has been a hard scrambled one from the day of his birth. From his divine manifestation from the invisible essence of The Hidden One he's been on his own. That's just what life is for a freshly born avatar, a small child alone in the forests of the Ayeto Republic, caught in the crossfire of the cat wars of The Fire Clans. And while he escaped their wars he stumbled right out of the frying pan and into the fire, meeting the young exile Dina. Both were quickly discovered by guards that seemed to be on Dina's trail, and as orphans they were taken to the local outpost for processing.
Kipilu decided to stand by Dina, though he could easily have run. Together they were taken to a bootcamp outside of the town of Tezitkal. Even there Kipilu was always between two worlds, often visiting the nearby warring cat clans: a small stronghold of traditionalist cats under perpetual siege by the Lyra Constellation of the Fire Clans.
Kipilu and Dina graduated training together and joined the Keepers of Olkum. Kipilu learned Bardism, Dina learned wizardry, and together they were reasonably well liked but not exactly popular members of the class of 2017. But after graduating and becoming full fledged members of the Fox Cult, their first real test began: an official assignment.
Episode 2: Armed with their badges and guns (and masks), they ventured into the dusty town of Tapatlan, on the edge of Sunekan civilization, where heretics and criminals are suspected to lurk. The stench of criminal dealing is in the air- snake oil seems a common attraction here and shady characters lurk in the shadows. But the cool cat fast-drawing Kipilu and his cutting-edge squad of mystery cultist detectives are on the case, with backup hiding out in the nearby town.
The only problem for these cult-spies are how many leads they have:

• The snake oil salesmen at Grima's medicine seem shady and are definitely exploiting people
• There's a lot of people afflicted with Gem Plague here, who seem quite poor - likely here for medicine, since they aren't valued by their communities enough to be afforded proper Kilusha
• There is a strange walled-off gated community in the Northern part of town
• Investigating the armory attracted attention: a local laborer tried tailing the group after they were spotted near it, and seemed to be doing so for money
• The temple has strange pamphlets and writings, and the priest at the Waystation seemed to throw around power a lot
• The Northern Foreigner's Inn seems to have a lot of shady characters and wealth changing hands
• An opium den has been discovered in a shop basement in the main square
• There have been clues indicating some kind of secret passages allowing movement between the residential area, the inn, the armory, and the temple at least- maybe more!

If they want to just butcher the town, they have enough evidence already. Kipilu's squadmate Imora has argued they should just hit the obvious targets and head safely back with an easy win; Dina, however, thinks they should try and find the root cause and who might be causing the most suffering and take them out.
As the tiebreaker, its on Kipilu to decide. But taking this to the top might just mean pissing off some real mean characters- do these teens have the raw grit? The guile? The intrigue?
It would take a lot of cats and a lot of guns to pull this one off. Which is to say, Hell Yeah They Can

Rewards Granted

• Expert Sunekan Pistol
• Badges and Masks of Olkum Authority
• Blue Smoke Flare

Missions/Quests Completed

• Become a Keeper of Olkum
• Select Your Squadmates
• Enter the Town of Tapatlan
• Gather Evidence of Corruption

Character(s) interacted with

Significant

Dina: Dina is Kipilu's oldest childhood friend. They've grown up in the same barracks, hell Dina is the first person Kipilu ever met. Dina was exiled from her birth-home, the village-estate of Zeheno, as a politically inconvenient bastard child of the local estate manager. Her parents still work there: one as a servant, the other as the managerial lord. Dina is not their biggest fan, particularly given the unequal conditions at Zeheno estate. Dina's always been an outspoken and moralistic child, driven to befriend and defend and generally play the hero and the martyr. She clashes often with her teacher Suya over perceived hypocrisy in the Sunekan system and values Kipilu as her closest friend. Dina is also plagued with terrible nightmares of events past and future- particularly of the resident gem plague victims since she entered Tapatlan. Dina is a skillful wizard, mastering the art at a comparatively young age.
Imora: Imora is a Kobold-born Chorical of foreign birth, taken as an orphan by the state after her parents abandoned her in Suneka at a young age. Imora has always been suspicious and cynical, preferring the safety of herself and those she cares about to the ideals of some broken system. Imora is a very lonely girl, distant from her fellow priests outside of Kipilu and (to a lesser extent) Dina. Imora is skilled in the areas of stealth, precision marksmanship, and general subterfuge. 
Topin: Topin is a Vesper, born to wanderers and orphaned in infancy. An excited and idealistic soldier, Topin loves the Suneka and everyone in it. A fellow member of Kipilu's original barracks, Topin is excited and cheery- a fan of making others laugh. He chose to be a Keeper of Hokzum - a warrior- rather than a Fox-priest. Topin is an excellent shot and has earned the right to use a specially-modified rifled musket: an unwieldy but unusually accurate sharpshooter's weapon. Topin and the rest of the soldier squad are waiting for either a message or a blue smoke signal from the group to intervene

Insignficant

Suya: Suya is an elder fox priest that teaches the initiates at the Tezetkal School. While a kind and generous woman, Suya has very high expectations of skill from her trainees. She finds Kipilu to be a fine student, Dina to be frustrating but filled with potential, and Imora as talented but in need of guidance. 
Spy: The unnamed spy that no one asked the name of is a dryad laborer that lives in Tapatla. He started following Imora on the third day, but was apprehended and let go by the squad.

Report Date

01 Jul 2020

Primary Location

Ikatlan