#session summary

We start off as arriving at the Von Berdusk manor to reunite Lorelai with her mother Karina. Manor was surprisingly not very changed from the way it was a decade ago, before the patriarch had turned his wife and daughter, and the staff is human. At first it was tense as no one knew what their reaction would be but both Lorelai and Karina had quickly gave way to the buried emotion of separated mother and daugther

There is a lot of complicated emotions for Karina, but she just wanted her daughter back - mistakes of the past cannot be undone, and she is the only family she has left.

Karina is a kind, though quiet and solemn woman, and the maids and townsfolk treasure her deeply, despite knowing that she has been turned into a vampire spawn. The manor is responsible for wine production and provides many jobs at fair and good pay. Her vamprisim is an open secret that most don't acknowledge and tend to oust those that do. Von Berdusks in general have been hailed in high regard ever since their humanitarian efforts to rebuild Berdusk after an earthquake 200 years ago, which led to a destruction and partial flooding of a large district (and destruction of the main manor, having it to be rebuilt at a much smaller scale), economical instability and loss of life.

Some believe that the good will of the Von Berdusks is to right the wrongs of a long ancestor, that was responsible for a curse placed upon them.

The night at the Guest house felt a little unsettling after that revelation but still calm. There hasn't been anyone missing in nearly a decade, so it's been reduced to mostly a ghost story. Party was divided into boys and girls, so Raha was with our new party member, Kirim! He is not aware of all the dynamics within the party, but he will surely learn in time.

Giving Lorelai and Karina time to process their reunion, the party decided to venture into town, to explore the city but also maybe glean more information about the "curse". Blythe got a new outfit with a very big hat!

For this part I decided to be a little ambitious and give them a lot of freedom in how to approach the story. I yoinked map of a city and just made different points where they can explore BUT in order to pace things out, I implented a time mechanic, hence the little clock in upper left! Each location will consume a slot (with the exception of the marketplace, as they are allowed to purchase items at any point without progressing time) and there is 2 slots in the day and night time. Different events will happen at the same locations depending on the time, so you have to consider how you wish to progress. At night there is also a random encounter!

Anyway they decided to visit the Witch Atelier and the Pub! The Witch Atelier is a small store created by a Wizard who was absent, but there was still a shop keeper present. At first it appeared to be a simple young lady, but on closer inspection she is actually a warforged automaton, a ball jointed doll named Marlene!

She had an ominous presence and spoke a little stilted. Her nature as an inhuman being was revealed as she knew much more about the party than a normal person would at a glance, such as Arameia being a werewolf.

The Atelier features cursed items completely free of charge. You may also drop off cursed items here without penalty. Examples included a strange portrait of a woman (it feels as though her eyes are following you), ring of clumsiness, a watch but the clock hands are going backwards, armor of attraction, music box that plays a new melody every time, ribbon of strangulation, bracelets of fumbling, boots of dancing and much more! Party decided not to take anything however.

The pub was more informative as to the actual information. They spoke that there has been disappearances outside of the Berdusk manor too, such as a busker from the main plaza, children on occasion or a port worker, though they suspect the latter is the work of the "Lady of the Gulls" - a spirit of a young woman that stands on the pier at night, watching the water.

Since the party has used up their 2 slots it's time for them to return to the manor but it appears one of the maids has gone missing! The party was able to deduce that she has left at night, but her trail goes cold in the foyer where there is no trace of her or where she could have gone.

To be continued...!

The group debates on how to travel; on foot, on horseback, or perhaps a carriage? There is also the possibility of signing on for an escort mission to earn some pocket money on the way. Though there is the matter of them being unlicensed adventurers… Maybe that’s worth asking around about. They start wrapping up their business in Anamdael by visiting their ex-toad friend at the Academy. ‘Funny thing,’ says Xadrynk nervously, as he welcomes them into his rooms. ‘Shortly after our previous conversation, it appears someone pulled a, uh, prank on one of the students in a restricted area. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that?’ ‘Not at all,’ Annori lies. ‘It sounds like pranks happen often around here, what with you being turned into a toad and all.’ ‘Right, right,’ says Xadrynk, seemingly convinced. They tell him they’re about to head out of town. Xadrynk thanks them once again for all their help, and assures them they’re always welcome to seek him out if they ever return to Anamdael. ‘By the way,’ says Raiden, remembering another loose end. ‘Do you by any chance know a Niles Candler? We came across his abandoned belongings on the road a while back and his notebook suggests he was a professor here.’ ‘Candler? Oh yeah, he’s with Cosmology,’ says Xadrynk. ‘Melany Schaffer would be the one to ask, probably.’ ‘Thanks,’ says Raiden. ‘Well, see you around, Xadrynk!’ Annori embraces Xadrynk. ‘If you ever want to be turned back into a toad, let me know.’ ‘She can do that?’ Raiden whispers nervously to Ara.‘Ah, no thank you,’ laughs Xadrynk. ‘I quite like being able to use my hands.’

Next, they stop by at Marcius’ place, where they find him and Bree studying together. Bree reports he’s feeling much better and has had no lingering issues from his possession. ‘I’m just happy to be back to my studies,’ he says, quickly glancing over at Marcius. ‘And, you know, just being around.’ When asked about Candler, Bree also mentions the Cosmology department. They have no personal experience with the guy, however; they only ever took Introduction to Cosmology, which was taught by a different professor.
‘How he managed to make an interesting subject into the most boring class ever is beyond me,’ recalls Bree. ‘It was the worst. Once I passed that class I never pursued Cosmology again.’ They say goodbye. ‘Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do!’ exclaims Annori from the doorway. ‘So that leaves you with a pretty wide range of options,’ Raiden notes. ‘Boat haunting? Still very much on the table.’ Bree and Marcius exchange a confused look. Ara lingers as his companions depart, and approaches Marcius for a quick sidebar. ‘I would like to ask you for some relationship advice,’ Ara says. ‘Oh! Alright, what do you need?’ ‘I have been… on and off with this man for a little while,’ Ara explains. ‘But things went sideways recently and I’m not sure how to proceed.’ ‘So it’s ended? I’m sorry to hear that,’ says Marcius. ‘I think I ended it,’ says Ara. ‘After I spent the night, they were gone, and they’d left money for me on the table.’ ‘That’s not… great,’ sighs Marcius. ‘It was payment for another job I did for them,’ Ara explains. ‘But still. And I don’t understand why they didn’t just wake me when they had to leave, you know? They just left a note saying it was urgent.’ ‘Urgent how?’ ‘Someone died, I don’t know,’ Ara sighs. ‘But not, like, a relative or anything. It was important for their job to go deal with it.’ ‘Oh,’ says Marcius, getting more confused by the second. ‘Wait, this wouldn’t have anything to do with the rumors about the sudden death of the princess of Nospait, would it? Is this Ambassador Talthanryl we’re talking about?’ ‘Of course not,’ says Ara quickly. ‘They’re way out of my league.’ ‘Right,’ Marcius chuckles. ‘I mean that would be highly unlikely. So have you two talked at all since that happened?’ Ara huffs. ‘Yes. I told them to fuck off.’ ‘I get it, you were angry…’ ‘I have been told that a lot,’ Ara remarks. ‘Then the best course of action is probably to cool off a little before reaching out,’ suggests Marcius. ‘But I want them to reach out,’ protests Ara. ‘I don’t want to seem desperate.’ ‘I’m sure they will,’ Marcius reassures him. ‘If anything, this just seems like a pretty clumsy move on their part, but it doesn’t have to mean anything if you don’t want it to. Try to clear your head, if you can, and I’m sure things will work out.’ ‘I appreciate it,’ says Ara. ‘I am new to this social dynamic and I’m unsure of the rules.’ Marcius smiles. ‘It can be challenging to navigate. But with the right person, that’s all worth it.’ As Ara exits, Marcius turns to Bree. ‘You don’t think I’m desperate, do you?’

‘So, Annori – your druid master,’ says Raiden, as they walk through the hallways of the Academy. ‘Was he a boring teacher?’ ‘Mm, he was alright,’ she replies. ‘He knows a lot about magic and I enjoyed learning. The boring part was that he never really talked about much else.’ ‘That sounds a little lonely.’ ‘I mean, I wasn’t alone – there were some swamp elves I got along with pretty well,’ she reminisces. ‘Compared to living on the streets, it was pretty great! He provided food and shelter and everything.’ ‘Food is pretty great,’ Raiden agrees. ‘How did you learn your magic?’ Annori asks. ‘My magic?’ Raiden repeats. ‘If you can even call it that, I guess. Small tricks. I picked them up from my mom’s book.’ ‘I like your tricks,’ she says. ‘You seem to learn pretty quickly.’ Raiden laughs. ‘To be fair, I’ve been pouring over this book for ten years, so I wouldn’t call it quick by any means. But then I guess the book isn’t technically meant to teach this stuff. It’s about complex magical theory that is way beyond my comprehension. But some of the notes my mom left in the margins pertain to smaller illusory stuff, so I managed to scrape something together.’ ‘So was your mom good at magic?’ Annori asks as they head up a big staircase. ‘She was. Is,’ Raiden corrects himself. ‘She never told me much about her job, but everyone treated her like a highly skilled arcanist.’ ‘Hey, maybe when we’re in Osta Asari you could find some more spell books!’ ‘Yeah, maybe.’ Raiden glances inside a classroom full of students as they pass by. ‘I don’t actually remember if my mom knows magic,’ Annori ponders. ‘What do you remember of her?’ ‘I remember… warm,’ she says slowly. ‘The kind of warmth that gets all around you. She had a lovely singing voice. And there was this feeling that when I was with her, everything was good.’ She takes a breath. ‘What if when I see her again, it feels different?’ Raiden nods. ‘I guess most people have the luxury of having that relationship change gradually over time, instead of facing that contrast all at once.’ They round a corner. ‘But that doesn’t mean it’ll be bad. Just different.’ ‘Yeah,’ Annori sighs. She then perks up a bit. ‘I wonder if your mom and my mom would like each other.’ Raiden smiles. ‘I, for one, am excited to meet her.’

They arrive at the office of Miss Schaffer, who is a human in her mid twenties and appears to be quite tired. She invites them to sit and prepares some tea and coffee for them. ‘What can I help you with? You’re not students of mine, are you?’ ‘We are adventurers,’ says Raiden. ‘And we happened upon the personal belongings of a coworker of yours, one Niles Candler.’ ‘Candler?’ She turns towards them. ‘What… what happened to him?’ ‘We’re not sure,’ Raiden explains, as he lays out the notebook and the other items on the desk. ‘But he’s been away for long enough that the innkeep doesn’t think he is coming back.’ ‘I see,’ miss Schaffer breathes. Her face betrays an array of emotions, from surprise and sadness to a hint of relief. She moves over to the desk and picks up the notebook. ‘Thank you for letting me know. I have been taking over a bunch of his tasks and classes, I guess that job is less temporary than I thought it’d be.’ She looks up. ‘Professor Candler was my mentor,’ she explains. ‘He taught me everything I know. It’ll be strange without him around here.’ ‘I read some of his notes,’ says Raiden. ‘I don’t know anything about the Feywild, but if that’s what he was studying… Doesn’t time pass differently there? Do you think there’s a chance he just meant to pop his head in for a minute and got stuck?’ ‘Perhaps,’ miss Schaffer muses. ‘Though it would be highly out of character for him to venture into the Feywild without his notes. Plus, he’s very aware of the rules, he wouldn’t be caught unawares by them.’ ‘The inn he disappeared at was at the edge of a forest with a bunch of strange magical activity,’ Annori remembers. ‘Maybe the rules were different there.’ ‘Are there people who would want to harm Professor Candler?’ Raiden asks. Miss Schaffer hesitates. ‘I mean, he wasn’t universally liked by his students – he’s been known to take some, um, creative liberties with their work. I’m sure some folks resent him for that. But enough to harm him…?’ ‘Or maybe someone played a prank on him,’ Annori offers. ‘That seems to happen a lot here. Like when Xadrynk was turned into a toad and abandoned in that temple.’ ‘I’m sorry?’ Schaffer inquires, a little shocked. ‘Oh yeah, that’s what he told us had happened at least,’ Annori explains. ‘Something with potions. He was in there for a while.’ ‘That sounds like more than a prank,’ Schaffer notes in disbelief. ‘Perhaps I should look into that. Xadrynk, you said?’ ‘Oh, he’s fine now,’ Annori adds hastily. ‘We fixed him and now he’s back working on his graduation.’ ‘Right,’ Schaffer mumbles. ‘Either way, thank you for letting me know about Professor Candler. I appreciate you taking the time to drop off his things.’ ‘No problem,’ says Raiden. ‘Thanks for the coffee. Based on how strong it is, I suppose I should wish you luck with the rest of the semester.’ Ara, meanwhile, experiences his first cup of coffee, and is altogether unimpressed.

The next stop on their goodbye-tour is Master Valms apothecary. As soon as he steps foot inside the store, Ara notices some shelves that are poorly stocked. ‘I know, I know,’ says Valm, as he comes to greet them. 'Don’t worry, I’ve put in the orders, there’s just been a delay with the delivery.’ He looks around. ‘You brought your friends this time.’ ‘We’re leaving town soon,’ says Ara. ‘Thought I’d say goodbye.’ ‘I see,’ says Valm. ‘Well, it’s been nice to have someone to talk to about home. Thank you for indulging an old man.’ ‘Could you ever be convinced to return to the swamp?’ asks Ara. Valm brushes away some dried leaves from the counter. ‘It’s complicated. But it’d be nice to have the possibility.’ ‘Yeah,’ sighs Ara wistfully. ‘Well, I’ll make sure to tell my dad about you. That way, if you ever do return, you can get some free stuff from his workshop.’ Valm smiles. ‘I appreciate the gesture.’ He looks at Annori and Raiden, who is browsing shelves in the background. ‘You all stick together now, alright? Trust each other.’ ‘We’ll try our best,’ says Annori. ‘Though one of us already left, and another is… Are you still on friend parole, Raiden?’ ‘Last I checked, yeah!’ Raiden replies. ‘Damn, I really thought we ended that already,’ Annori whispers to Ara. ‘Good luck on your travels,’ says Valm. ‘If you’re ever back in town, do stop by.’ As they leave, Annori lingers behind and places a gold coin on the counter. ‘Thank you again for looking out for Ara,’ she says. ‘If it weren’t for you, I think he’d be much worse off.’ Valm pushes the coin back to her. ‘No need for that. It may be on your shoulders now to keep this group together. It isn’t a fair thing, but I wish you the best all the same.’ Annori smiles awkwardly. ‘Yeah, we’ll try to save the world, I guess.’ ‘It’s not about saving the world, I think,’ says Valm, as he watches Ara walk away. ‘But I hope you all find out what’s been going on. If swamp elves are going to be part of this world again, and I personally very much hope we do, we will need to find a way to exist in it without being swallowed by it.’ ‘We’ll do our best,’ Annori promises. She takes back the coin and hands Valm a granola bar instead, which he is pleased to accept.

At the temple of the Wildmother, Annori updates her deity about everything. When she shares her nerves about reuniting with her mom, she feels embraced by a pleasant warmth – not trying to imitate her mothers memory, but to amplify it.

‘I think the friend parole thing is over,’ says Ara as he and Raiden pack their travel bags. ‘Oh,’ says Raiden, surprised. ‘You sure?’ ‘Yeah, you did pretty well. With the Candler business, it was clever to follow up on that lead.’ ‘Thanks,’ says Raiden, wrapping up pairs of socks. ‘Well, you told me to make a plan, so I obliged. I feel like that’ll get easier once we’re in Osta Asari – I know that place.’ ‘Does that mean people will know you there?’ asks Ara. ‘Uh, yeah,’ Raiden replies. ‘Maybe. Probably.’ ‘Are you gonna be in trouble?’ ‘No!’ He thinks for a second. ‘Nooo… Hm? No.’ ‘Well, I’m reassured,’ says Ara. ‘I just haven’t given it much thought before,’ Raiden explains. ‘I don’t usually return places. But I don’t believe I’ve done wrong by most people who knew me there. Aside from disappearing on them, I suppose some folks weren’t too pleased with that.’ ‘Who were you back when you lived in Osta Asari?’ Ara asks. ‘Oh, loads of people,’ says Raiden. ‘I worked at a tavern for a pretty long time. Did my first jobs for the Copper Syndicate. And I was a merchants assistant for a bit. It’s a big city, easy to live multiple lives in.’ ‘Do you think “Raiden” will be your adult name?’ Raiden considers this for a second. ‘I think so? It feels right, I think. To stick with something for once.’ ‘You’re lucky – elves only get to pick one new name in their lifetime,’ says Ara. ‘Why?’ Ara sorts his belongings by size on the bed. ‘We choose our name once we learn who we truly are. And we spend the first century of our lives figuring out who that is.’ ‘That’s pretty nice,’ says Raiden. ‘But what’s stopping you from re-learning who you are, in, I don’t know, another couple centuries from now?’ ‘That’s just not how it works,’ states Ara. ‘There’s a whole ritual. My mother chose an archery contest.’ ‘Amazing,’ says Raiden, carefully wrapping up his razor. ‘Did she win?’ ‘Of course, she picked the contestants.’ Raiden laughs. ‘So what was your ritual like?’ ‘I haven’t had mine yet,’ Ara states. ‘Oh,’ says Raiden. He looks up at the swamp elf. ‘Does that bother you?’ Ara takes a second to answer. ‘Not the fact that I’m late. I’m not entirely sure I have figured out who I am yet.’ ‘I can relate,’ exhales Raiden. ‘But the fact that my community deemed me to not be ready… stings. And now I’m away, so who knows how long it’ll be until they can reconsider.’ ‘Hm,’ hums Raiden. ‘Though I guess it gives you time to plan your ritual.’ ‘I would like for it to involve fist-fighting,’ declares Ara. ‘I’d love to get a good punch in on my mother.’ Raiden chortles. ‘That would be very fitting, I’d say.’ ‘What would you want your naming ritual to be like?’ ‘That’s a good question,’ Raiden ponders, stuffing rations into his pack. ‘I guess I’d have to figure out what I like.’ ‘Perhaps we can all give this some thought on the road to Osta Asari.’ Ara looks over at him. ‘We should really focus on the packing, though, cause those rations are mine and you need to give them back.’

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We arrive. The three junkies and the five cops are there. Arquette parks and tells us to get out. He and Fisher are only here to babysit (they have another task to do). So I go talk to the police and the junkies immediately. I don’t want to spend more time here than necessary. I ask them what happened. One of them wonders if they’re allowed to tell us. I don’t know what to do, so I look at our babysitters. Arquette mouths, “Lie”.

This is going terribly already.

Melydice does the talking again. She says we’re back up. Obviously they don’t know who we are, who called us in, and know none of us are locals. But I guess they’re shaken enough to let it slip. He tells us about the call to the apartment. A worm came out of someone’s chest like the “conjuring” (I don’t know what that is). 

After that, Melydice takes charge of the group. She suggests searching the apartment and investigating wounds. Yona checks the junkie’s and officer’s wound: swollen, developed new tissue (Metasised? Metastasized? I don’t know what that is), and static-like. The junkie’s scar is worse than the officer’s. Melydice then says to split the group: two to talk to junkies (Tatsu, Melydice), three to search the apartment (Amaia, Yona, me).

The three of us see the body the worm tore through. Yona inspects the body. She says its nerve channels are scrambled, repurposed by alien signals. The pineal gland also grew a radar organ that broadcasted signals. I don’t understand what any of that means, but it doesn’t sound good.

I use the UV light on my gun to look for the drugs. They weren’t good at hiding them. It’s just in the cupboard: small vials of glowing pink liquid. I give it to Yona. She asks me what drug I think it is. I don’t know why.

Amaia figures out the drug’s taken with a syringe, so I suggest looking for them. I help Yona with my UV light. She finds one syringe easily with equipment to test drug purity. I continue shining normal light on her. Yona reads the test results and says the drug is nootropic (heightens senses). Fisher was right. She is useful.

Then, I search the bag the needle came from. It’s filled with university textbooks and notebooks. A student’s. I take the bag. Amaia checks the body and finds a wallet. His name was Ted, 22. He was just three years older than Hrodwyn. Poor kid.

I check for any signs of other people being here, and then we leave to join Melydice and Tatsu.

Outside, they tell us about their talk with the junkies (Vito, Mike). Vito thinks he needs to go to a hospital. Melydice says he will, after answering her questions. So he does. The flat belonged to Ted. Vito and Mike were there only for a hit. Neither are the suppliers. This was Ted’s third time taking the drug. It’s the first for Vito and Mike.

Vito said the drug was called “Pink”, or “Fuzz”. It lets you see everything, like “mega LSD”. It lets you see everything, and everything sees you. At the crime scene after taking the drug, Ted opened his mouth. Static came out, and then the worm came out and bit Vito.

Melydice asks where Ted got the drug from. He got it at a comic store. He used a sign up sheet for a game room (Magi Nation, Jyhad, some dead game), asked for 30 minutes, and the dealers showed up. Vito and Mike have never gone to the store.

Tatsu gets his turn and asks Vito how he and Mike knew Ted and the drugs (Ted was their university friend). And then he tells him how things aren’t so fun with drugs involved. Vito tells him to fuck off. Even then, Tatsu tries to medicate Vito’s wound, even though he has no idea what to do with it. What a strange man.

Melydice reconfirms if it was Vito and Mike’s first time. Vito confirms. He says they saw other worlds with the drug and refuse to take it again. He also tells us there are other users besides the three of them. They all know to sign up for the dead game.

By the way, while this was happening, Vito keeps asking Melydice to go to a hospital and to see a doctor. And each time, Melydice tells him she’ll let him only after he answers her questions. It’s good that she’s efficient. That’ll get me home sooner. But I remember he’s just a kid and feel a bit bad for him. In the end, Yona was the one who treated Vito.

Melydice starts questioning the bitten officer. She asks if it was a wild animal report. The officer says yes. And then Melydice insists that it was a wild animal he saw. The officer describes the same thing as the one before and whenever he says monster, Melydice talks over him to say wild animal. I don’t know how convincing she thinks she is…

This is when an officer approaches Arquette and Fisher to ask them questions. So I walk between them, tell Arquette we’re done and we can leave. But the officer still tries asking me who we are. I tell him it’s not his business. He says it is. I don’t know what to say. But Melydice likes to talk and she’s good at talking to people. So I point at Melydice. Ask her. Not me.

That worked. He goes to her. As she says we’re private investigators working under an NDA for a private health firm, I see her slip her wallet out, and she makes sure the officer sees it. I shouldn’t be surprised she’s not above that. And I figure I should be there for extra support, unfortunately, if things go dirty.

I don’t really follow what she says, but standing there seemed to work. The officer asks us to “show credentials” but instead, brings us aside and opens his hand, expecting money. I am not spending a single cent for the job. So it’s good that Melydice is. The officer takes her money.

At this point, it has been 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cops have been here 15 minutes: they’ve been here for 1h and 45 minutes total. In that time, Vito’s wound went from the fresh state of the officer’s to the worse state it is in now. We don’t have much time.

We agree on a plan: Arquette and Fisher will drive the victims to a hospital and will drop us off at Stoneburner Comics (we got the address from one of the junkies). Fisher also changes into his suit, for some reason. It’s a 15 minute drive to the comic store. We just arrived, so I’ll continue writing later.

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The comic store is empty, except for some people. The sign up sheet at the front is easy to find. 20 people have signed up for dead games. 20 people have signed up for death.

Melydice takes a picture of the list and writes down Yona’s name. Hm. The store owner sees us and reaches for his phone. I thought he was onto us. So I walk over and put his phone down. Just in case. I say we’re only here for a good time. He doesn’t say anything. 

I can’t fucking believe what I’m about to do. You would never let me live this down. 

I sling my arm over Melydice’s shoulder to convince him that we’re only here for a good time with friends. That was all for fucking nothing, because he wasn’t convinced. So I try to ask who he was calling, but he’s too scared to answer! Why is he so scared? I don’t understand. I’m trying very hard to be nice, especially with my arm around fucking Melydice. I’m sure you’d agree. Right?

Melydice does calm him down in the end, and the owner says that he was going to call the dealers… until I put the phone down. God. What a sick joke. How was I supposed to know?? He could’ve just told me. At least Melydice has talked sense into the owner and I can leave. But Melydice holds the back of my jacket so I can’t. Bastard. At least I can write all this down before the dealers get here.

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20 minutes later, Arquette calls Melydice from the hospital. He’s posing as a doctor and says the kids’ wounds are growing. Since Melydice has the information on the wounds and drugs, he asks her for help. Melydice calls Yona outside for her to relay what she knows to Henri. She thinks amputation is not a good idea, but remembers the radar organ in the pineal gland. In the living victims, the radar may be sending or receiving signals. She suggests surgery to remove it. Arquette tells Fisher to find out if there is a basement: if there is, put the victims there. If that doesn’t work, trepanation. He speaks French and hangs up.

Then the dealers arrive, and we go into a game room. The dealers are 2 people. First: 7’ man, shit posture, bald patch on neck. He doesn’t have hair. Instead, it’s… long, thin cattails poking out of his head? Second: 5’ woman, all muscle, looks very sunburnt except for the glyph on her head. Strangely, I think I recognise it. Maybe from a book I’ve seen. It’s from another world, so she’s definitely not from this place. Maybe from this planet, but not of this… realm. Maybe you’d known more about it, Lin. Ah, but if you were here, I wouldn’t bring you into this mess.

The man is the one who talks. He asks how many we want. Melydice asks how many they have. The man opens his bag, showing 20 vials. Tatsu asks if they’re the only suppliers, and the man says they are.

I ask how much it is. It’s 4000 Real. God. I’m not spending that much for this job, and I’m especially NOT spending that much for drugs! I say it’s too expensive and leave. The rest follow. The dealers are upset and stare at us, but I don’t care. All I need to do is know their car. I see it, write down the licence plate in this sketchbook, and draw the symbol on the woman’s head. Melydice calls Fisher to pick us up.

When Arquette and Fisher arrive, I show them my sketchbook. Fisher goes to his computer and gets the car’s information. It includes the owner's apartment address. We leave immediately.

Fisher drives fast. Very fast. Arquette quickly gives our breaching order. Tatsu goes in first with his sword (why is he using a sword??). I’m next to throw a flashbang to cover him. Melydice gets the shotgun and goes next. Amaia and Yona are door guards.

We arrive. As Fisher and Arquette wait at separate exits, we don our kevlar vests and scopes and storm up to the fourth floor. Tatsu kicks down the door, and the skull on the table screams like a death whistle.

My gut tightens. Melydice kicks the skull. It shatters and stops screaming. The dealers aren’t here but others will hear it. We need to move fast.

Messy room. Takeout boxes everywhere. There’s a couch with a broken frame. Something heavy broke it, maybe. A pile of laundry behind it. I smell it before seeing it. Oily. Disgusting. There’s also a blue-grey metal gong on the wall. It doesn’t have any symbols on it.

Rooms: living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen. Amaia and Yona stand guard. Melydice checks the bedroom. I cover her. There’s a wardrobe and closet. The bed… is a mess. Medication, handguns, blood and… semen samples, candy, and coloured lamps shaped like a round cartoon cat. Very cute. Hygd might like it. Melydice checks under the bed. There’s nothing. I open one of the candies. Normal candy. I check the sample labels. Only has names and words ‘blood’ or ‘semen’. 

Melydice checks the closet. I watch her back. No clothes. But there’s a body. McDonalds cashier. Opened up. Missing organs. Walls smeared with no-scent incense. No wonder there’s no smell. But I can imagine it. He was just a kid. Really still a kid. He was just Merethel’s age. 17 years old.

Melydice asks Yona to inspect the body while calling her “sweetie”... Meanwhile, I shine UV light on the corpse, the closet (just smears), and the rest of the room. There’s nothing much. Melydice checks the wardrobe. It’s designed to suspend a person (there’s a harness dangling from the top).

Melydice checks on Yona and asks if something is wrong, as if there’s nothing wrong with a teenager being ripped apart. Yona says his chest was crudely opened and it is empty. Heart, lungs, stomach, liver, all gone. Though his pancreas is still there. There are signs of struggle: he was serrated open while alive. I’ve seen all sorts of things before. You know that, Lin. But this… now that the job’s done, my mind keeps going back to Merethel.

Anyway, Melydice thanks her. The kid has no identification on him, so I take a picture of his face and the room. I wonder if his parents know. They should.

Tatsu checks the kitchen: cabinets, oven, a fridge. He opens the fridge. There are sheets and sheets of fatty skin marinating in plastic bags, their colours changing to the light. The oven has wooden boxes. The cabinet has lighters, incense, crystal necklaces. Tatsu goes back to the boxes to open them, and there’s a shit ton of Pink.

In the bedroom, I check for fingerprints on the items on the bed again with my UV light. I ask Yona to record the fingerprints, and we both gather the rest of the evidence. Yona categorises them to bag them. For the 5 handguns, I turn on the safety, unload them, keep one magazine on me and hand one to Yona. She thanks me. I distribute the other magazines to the other agents. Tatsu joins us to help.

Amaia suddenly locks the door and puts a chair under the handle. We stare at her. She says she hears the dealers’ voices echoing up the stairwell. They’re coming. There’s no key. The dealers have it on them. 

I quickly check the bathroom. There are two sets of helmets and “shoulder pads” (I searched it up later: gorget). On the shower curtains are glyphs. They look like computer writing. I tell the other agents. Melydice and Tatsu checks.

Melydice reads the glyphs:

WHEN THE CURTAIN IS DRAWN FROM ONE SIDE TO THE OTHER, THE GATE OPENS.

Tatsu reads more:

SHOULD YOU OPEN IT, THE AIR WILL FREEZE. IT WILL LEAD TO THE FEATURELESS PLANE AND THE MONITOR WILL CARRY YOU TO THE BORDERWORLD. THE WHIPLASH IS FATAL WITHOUT NECK PROTECTION.

Tatsu also tells us about the Pink in the oven. But there’s no time to do anything about it now! We put our backs to the wall: Melydice to one side of the door, Tatsu to the other. We hear them coming, talking in a strange language. Amaia hears the woman fiddle with the keys and twist it. The man says something in a low tone. They speak in hushed voices.

And then the man speaks in English. He stutters. “What-what-what do-do you-you-you want?”

Surprisingly, he seems… genuine. Open to talk. And nervous. Good. I ask if he wants to live. Silence. Then, from the other side of the door, after whispering with the woman, the man says the gong blocks out sound from the room. If we want to negotiate, we open the door.

Melydice removes the chair from the doorknob and opens the door. She tells them to put their hands on their heads and walk in. The outer layer of the woman’s skin looks like it’s made of stone, while the man’s skin is peeling off. Tatsu notices the skin looks like the one in the fridge.

When they see our guns, the man, who’s 2 feet taller than the woman, tries to hide behind her. He’s trembling. Melydice says there’s nothing to be scared of if they follow our instructions. The man grips the woman’s shoulders. She shrugs them off. Tries to. Says she’ll put her hands up because the man’s too much of a bitch to.

We keep the guns on them. Melydice keeps threatening them. The woman says not to do anything funny and threatens us with two stone eggs in her hands…

I notice the man eyes the bathroom. I follow his gaze and look back at him with a raised eyebrow. The woman says to not look at him, to look at her, and to ask her questions. 

Amaia closes the door. Melydice asks where they get the drugs from. The woman asks why, saying we probably already have some. But we don’t care about that. We want to know where they’re from. The woman says ‘Mechanics’.

Melydice asks her to elaborate, but the woman instead comments about how calm we are, as if we’ve seen these things before. (No idea what they’re talking about, but alright.) She explains they’re not from this world, which is obvious at this point. Then she explains where they get the drug from. Pink is fuel they get from mechanics of their world that’s used to fix communication devices. They sell it here because it’s cheap back home. They come here, take human materials (the ones on the bed), and sell them back at their home.

I ask about the skin in the fridge. They’re disguises to look like humans. It’s what the man wears, but it doesn’t look good on him. He’s too stressed for it to work. I ask about the kid in the closet. Organ trafficking. Some things still stay the same across worlds, huh?

I also ask what the rock eggs do. She asks if we want to find out. Tatsu and I say no. As Melydice reaches to her pocket, the woman’s hands tighten around the eggs. But all Melydice wants to do is to call Arquette.

Some time later, we hear his voice: “Room service.” Amaia opens the door. Arquette and Fisher enter. Fisher’s two fists are held in front of him and when the door closes, a flaming sword appears in his hands. You would’ve loved seeing that. The sword, I mean. It sounds like the story about the sword in the stone you tell me about. The one with Merlin, right?

Arquete gets more information out of the drug dealers. They’re from a city called the Borderworld, made by extinct aliens. It’s filled with refugees from other universes. Traffickers, sorcerers, slavers, awful people. Also slaves. These two go between both worlds through gates like the bathroom, trying to keep low because both worlds hate them. So they do a bad job in both worlds. Money’s tight. They have a hard time keeping it. Besides Pink, they also sell machetes (made out of meteoric iron, intricately engraved, very useful for combat), protective equipment, necklaces (good for defence, guns will be useless with them).

And then, instead of killing them or arresting them, Arquette decides to negotiate with them for some goddamn reason. If they stop selling drugs and stop killing people, Helvetia will keep them alive as payment for their goods. He continues to threaten the woman, cornering her, and intimidates her into dropping the stone eggs, the snake. She complies. Nothing happens.

Arquette tells Melydice to bag the eggs as evidence and to take them away. We can handle the aliens as we please. As we do so, Melydice tells them they’re lucky we were told not to kill them. The woman also spits out an amulet and her skin turns to normal.

I hold Fisher back. Since he’s the computer guy I thought he could, I don’t know, track the kid’s face and find his parents. And I don’t need to use English to talk to him. He says he’ll take care of it. No parent wouldn’t want to know their kid has been torn up like that. It’ll be a closed casket funeral, and he’ll find the kid’s parents.

We’re the last to leave. Fisher tells me that even if it doesn’t look like it, this was a job well done. It sure as hell doesn’t feel like it. It doesn’t feel like anything.

Everyone gets in the van. The woman and man are handcuffed. Arquette fixes the disguise on the man, looks through the evidence bags, and keeps one of the cat lamps. I’m glad I kept one in my bag. Hygd’s going to love it. I hope she will. He also talks about keeping one of the lighters even though Fisher says Arquette doesn’t smoke anymore.

Arquette tells the prisoners that they’ll be kept in a special cell where Melydice can visit them. Melydice interrupts, saying he's making another mistake by keeping them. Arqutte says it’s better to keep them out of others’ hands, even though there are other ways of doing that. The prisoners also have weapons and defences that are good for Helvetia. Melydice leans back into her seat: “Don’t say I didn't warn you, Mr. Arquette.” Arquette trusts her to take care of him when he gets over his head.

I’m writing part of this as we drive back to headquarters. I also take another cat lamp: something for Molly’s birthday. She’s still young. She might like it. Yona takes two of them. Tatsu and Amaia take incense.

We arrive at headquarters. Fucking Arquette had the same idea as me and gave his cat lamp to Molly! Melydice tells her to throw it away because it’s “touched by devils”. I think it’s more important for her to know they were left next to blood and semen samples. I give my second cat lamp to Molly since I don’t know what to do with a spare. I tell her to not listen to Melydice, but that she may want to wash her hands because of the blood and semen samples. I clarify that the samples weren’t on the bed. They were in the tubes. So the lamps are at least that clean.

Arquette and Fisher talk to each other in French as we follow them into an office. Arquette says we did good. And the bastard reveals he made us wear the uniforms to make the mission harder for us! He wants us to make sure we have the right clothes with the right situation. Obviously we already know that. A fucking six year old would know that!

He also reveals the police were under his pay. Apparently, when the cops at the apartment called their office, it also went to Helvetia. This won’t always be the case for our operations, though. Then he talks about the other Helvetia branches (we’re in the South American one). The North American branch was killed off. A prisoner from there either escaped or was broken out. The African branch killed themselves. The Asian branch is dying out. There’s only Europe, Antarctica, South America, and Australia left. Melydice raises an eyebrow at Arquette. I can hear her say “I told you so”.

We’ll get a message in late April to get our clearances, whatever that means. We’re also supposed to get “mandated therapy sessions” as well. I also don’t understand what that means, but I don’t care either. Because of the list of 20 we gathered, we got paid well. Very well. And most importantly, I can finally go home.

My flight home isn’t until tomorrow, so I’m writing this from my hotel room while lying on my bed. To be honest, I don’t know why I wrote this. I thought this would’ve been like those books you like to read. But even if you were here and I was stuck in Helvetia, I would never show this to you. It’s sick. And I’ll get killed for that, too.

I guess I can’t help it. Maybe in another world where all this was just make-believe, you would’ve liked reading these. And it’s always nice to write to you. It’s like you’re still here, listening to me. And I would really like you to be here right now.

---

Amaia, Melydice, Tatsu, and Yona belong to and were played by @daruqin, @katastrofish, @mintrhine, and @inkysatell respectively. Arquette and Fisher belong to and were played by our first game master.

This campaign session was based on the scenario "The Signal Smugglers" by mellonbread.

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- I tried my best to incorporate Jander’s history across all editions into my game’s canon, though there are some areas I homebrewed. My partner and I also collaborated and made his stat block because I didn’t feel that the Vampire stat block reflected his capabilities very well. My lore also has changes to his backstory in regards to Descent into Avernus, but that isn’t super relevant here so I’ll skip that bit.

- After the events in the VotM novel Jander was taken by the Mists before he could be fully destroyed and was forced to reform in the misty borders between domains where all the horrorterrors and mistbeast lurk. For almost 200 years!

- Due to the extreme radiant damage his left arm suffered while wielding a holy weapon against Strahd, his arm never fully reformed. He now keeps his injured arm bandaged up. It’s still sensitive and causes him pain every once in a while.

- While reforming in the Mists, some evil entity stole one of his fangs, his long term goal is to get it back. (a post-campaign adventure)

- He still suffers from his Black Thumb curse where plants whither at his touch, so he wears gloves. 

- He was ejected from the Mists in a dreadplane called Forlorn where he was rescued by a group of monster hunters calling themselves The Van Richten Society. They either travel alone or in very small groups, constantly meeting up and parting ways… like ships in the night. 

- He is taken into their team and networks and befriends a multitude of other members of the society across the planes.

- Some members include Van Richten (who did not name the group, believe it or not), His wife Ingrid, Ez, Pavel (current incarnation of Tatyana, and many, many more)

- Jander helped Van Richten write Van Richten’s Guide to Vampires and was not credited.

- He grows romantically close with Pavel

- While in Mordent Pavel falls in battle. Jander gets tangled up in The Apparatus when trying to save them, a machine which is said to be capable of separating the soul from a living body, translocating souls from one body to another, and otherwise manipulating the substance and energy of spirits both living and undead.

- When the contraption was used, Pavel was lost and aspects of Jander were cloned into their own beings, so now there are different manifestations of him running around the dreadplanes.

- One of these manifestations is Savra, the child he’d love to have with the person of his dreams (Pavel/Tatyana) exceeeept Savra the already terrible teenaged Dhampir is like him in all the worst ways. She/They is hot-tempered, hot-headed, and angry. Jander regards Savra as his child rather than a clone.

- Savra Joins the Van Richten Society and the younger generation create the sub group New Dawn. This includes Savra, The Weathermay-Foxgrove twins, Erasmus van Richten, and Ez.and probably more I’m forgetting about.

- Pretty sure Savra has a huge crush on Ez, a huge respect for Boomer van Richten, and a burning hatred for Jander.

- Another post session adventure I want to do involves the party helping him hunt down his different aspects and eliminating them all, except Savra.

- Jander decides to make his way to Barovia after eventually hearing Strahd is still around

- Jander’s disguise is Rathandal, a sickly elven man cursed to rot alive. Ideally, he doesn't want Strahd to know he's in Barovia, but also doesn't want to be mistaken for the Morninglord Lathander. (Something that happened in the novel which kick-started the religion in Barovia. It's still going strong and even led to the formation of a secret vampire hunter's guild)

- He catches a ride with Arabelle’s caravan and rolls through Barovia, stopping in the Vallaki encampment.

- He sneaks into the town to do carpentry and woodworking to earn meager coins to pay Kasimir to stay in one of the hovels while he gathers information and plans his next moves.

- One day while the party was in Vallaki, the Paladin of the party went to investigate the woods outside of town. There he found Rathandal frantically trying to free a hurt child from some thorny vines. 

And that’s where he met the party like… forever ago. They “saved him” from getting harassed by Izek The Biggest Meanest Guard. They were hurt when they found out he lied to them about being undead, and that’s how Jander found out he had friends! He’s been with the party since and they won't let him leave. 

Jander is a jaded grump who softens into a romantic. The party usually has to pry for his personal information, or beg when they have outlandish requests, and he usually doesn’t humor them. He is happy to share with them anything that might help them fight monsters, particularly vampires. He loves gardening, writing poetry, woodworking, playing his flute, or drawing/painting.

- Bonus: Savra is also in Barovia now, has tried to kill Jander at least once, and has now been hired by Strahd to hunt down Jander and trap him in a Crypt in the castle. Jander will never deal lethal damage to Savra.

Mistress Blackburne revealed that our three fledglings all have a connection to the theft; Yulia's sire had attempted to stage an attack on the Archive, and unknown to Jordan, their wife had been to London and caused a scene trying to get into the building as well. It was revealed that Alison's sire had originally been in posses ion of the artifact before being chased out of London. This meant Alison learnt his name, the first piece of information she has of him.

The trio were given three months to figure out where the Amulet has ended up, and parted to see various contacts had throughout the city.

Yulia returned to the university to see its colleague -- and tentative friend, Muhammad Iqbal -- to ask for more information, as well as to try to find its sire to report back. Muhammad knew a little about the amulet, reporting that it was known for giving prophetic gifts to the wielder. Yulia then went to its Archive, and attempted to find more information on the subject.

Meanwhile, Jordan and Alison went to the West End to visit the Toreador domain. Inside they were greeted by Earnest, a new friend of Alison's, and briefly saw Ariel, another Toreador representative. As they waited, Octavius Webb, the Tremere representative on the Primogen Council and Yulia's sire, leaving the Senechal of the Camarilla's office. They were then escorted in to meet with the Lady Victoria Cavaleiri. Alison filled her in on the meeting, and she explained a little more about Alison's sire; Eleazar, a former resident of London who Master Webb forced out a little over a year ago. Jordan was then mildly threatened by Victoria, who warned them not to cause trouble within her domain. As they left, Earnest offered Alison a place to stay, which she accepted.

Octavius then sought out Yulia back at the Chantry, and the pair had a tense conversation in which Yulia tried, and failed, to cover up what happened within the meeting. It stumbled a lot over this conversation, and while Octavius did not push too much on the matter, he is aware that more occurred.