S2 E3: Becoming Luminous
General Summary
- Having successfully gotten away from Tatiana by stabbing her, Liisa once again takes off through the winding streets of the lower section of the Green District near the river, also pursued by a Watchman who has been conditioned to chase after a chase. A large lizard being walked by a cautious elderly elven man snaps his leash as the chase passes by, and joins in, slower but implacably following.
- The lengthy chase leads to a goodly-sized neighborhood church of one of Avetism's most paradoxical gods, Brogas. As the Lord of Farm, Fertility and Wealth, he is the patron of both the hard-working field hand and the lazy landlord, and is as much appeased or bargained with as he is worshipped. Here in the Green District, his love for all growing things and plant life are the main aspects on display on the exterior stone.Â
- Lissa goes into the church while the others resolve the guard and Lizard situation, navigated so nothing comes back on the party, or hide in the bushes. Eventually everyone ends up in the church entryway and after a moment, are greeted standoffishly by a lanky human male who at first mistakes Eldara for her sister. He has a kind face but seems in a great hurry to be rid of them when they can't correctly answer any of his prompts, making excuses for his mistake until they are able to turn the tide of conversation. Lissa also returns from around the corner and comes to account for some of the information that the PCs were missing as well, deeming them trustworthy because they were truly trying to investigate the same things her dead husband was. She feels they may still be spies or infiltrators, however, especially because Tatiana is obviously, by her attire and accoutrement, an Optimate herself.
- She and the pastor, a man named Ellis, revealed themselves as members of a group called the "Luminous". They are fighting an underground fight against the excesses of the Exultant class, the Governor, and the Optimates, as well as what they believe to be a splinter group of the Assassin's Guild called the Veiled Hand - a shadowy group of thugs and killers who move like boogeymen through society, unseen.
- Ellis had assumed Eldara was Adrina at first glance; Adrina they had both suspected to be in the Veiled Hand, but she had only worked with other members of the Luminous, investigating some kind of theft, but they had no other details and hadn't talked to her directly, Eldara knows her sister was in fact, a member of the actual Assassin's guild, or at least, one of them, operating out of the Nest; she knows there are rival groups in a city so large, as well as freelancers, but none of them are as organized as the 'real' assassins.
- Eventually Lissa decides that she will give this group of suspicious investigators a task that they cannot do if they are actually a part of the city guard, or sympathetic to the Exultants; she assigns them to the job of eliminating Dantonio Essi, an optimate that is known to operate illegal dogfighting from his estate, and moreover suspected of stealing pet dogs from Delabi and mistreating them before pitting them against each other in the fighting pit, where one or both will likely be badly injured or killed, all for the pleasure of placing bets on which will last the longest. He is an Optimate, and evidently highly favored by certain Exultants - Lissa admits they aren't all bad but the ones who are bad, are fans of Essi. As such, he's not breaking any laws serious enough for the Delabi to lodge a complaint that will stick; This is fine with the Luminous as they'd rather have him dead anyway. So that's the job, to prove he's the one stealing the dogs, to find the evidence that he's been forcing them to fight to the death, and to eliminate him.
- Lissa gives them the address of his estate, which is in Herron Heights, a part of town they can't legally go into without a pass. They meet with Slonsky and give him enough of the story to get passes, but not enough (they hope) to incriminate Lissa should it turn out Slonsky is unsympathetic. Slonsky prepares their passes (under fake names perhaps? We can decide on that next game). KC is going more or less under a true disguise, as a representative of the Sisters of Regrettable Fortune in pursuit of authentic Optimate recipes; Tatiana, who really does look like an Optimate, is simply given a fake ID (handy as she has no ID at all). The others have believable cover stories that will stand up to minor scrutiny from house guards, but are likely to fail if studied closely by actual Watchmen who can request verification from the local duty house.
- Lissa also provides the details of the layout of the house and other particulars useful for planning the mission, which she leaves entirely up to them, giving them 3 days to complete the mission, after which they'll be considered spies and hunted down themselves.
Character(s) interacted with
- Lissa
- Ellis
- Slonsky
Notes
- Rough map of the Street Level of the Essi Estate showing a number of back doors and a grotesque number of glass windows reflecting the security that comes from wealth and power - but the only way on to the estate appears to be through the main gate, a well-guarded focal point reflecting the paranoia that comes from wealth and power.
Report Date
26 Sep 2023
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Plots
Comments