SJE/Session1
Session 1- Concerning the Curious Incident of the Eviscerated Proletariat and the Worrisome Situation of the Prisoner Below
10th Day Descending Fire 768 RY
We had a Kung Fu Kojak (must get a description next week) named Burning Brand played by YerMum who got to be Captain of the Watch. He was assisted by a temp player who created Sgt. Majid a Carteresque rough cop. Together they were the Sweeney meets Big Trouble in Little China.
So, our intrepid duo begin a patrol through the hot and dusty streets of Gem. They soon espy the local villains, the Obsidian Thieves Guild drinking in their tavern of the Dragon¡¦s Rest. Unable to think of a ready reason to persecute the gang leader Quick Fox, they instead met up with their street urchin informant Hal, who offered them damp rags and water and info in return for money. In the first twist of the story, bad cops Majid and Brand then beat up their own informant for info!
Word on the street was that a horrible corpse had been found down near the camel pens of the Hot District; Weyoun the Procurer had suffered a bedroom arson, and the revolutionary speaker Joachim the Dreamer had gone missing. All in all, a quiet days crime for Gem.
So they head down the mountain to the Hot District- the sprawling shanty town at the base of Gems volcano filled with beggars, cattle pens, caravanesaris, hovels, adventurers and the destitute. Locating the corpse is easy enough- a matter of following the vultures and mob to a horrifically eviscerated body, blood spray across the camel pens. Ribs sticking out, heart, liver and kidneys missing, brain pan strangely empty, this is a monstrous death. One likely blood spattered witness later (after the requisite chase and police brutality) they get a wild account of the victim (Drunken Horse) apparently wandering around in a daze before some black, squamous, liquid monstrosity burst from his torso and slithered into the camel pens.
Realising at once that magic is involved, the brave investigaters established that this monster/demon/undead thing now walked on cloven feat and had descended into the camel¡¦s slurry pit into the putrid First Age sewers & lava tubes below the Hot District.
Valour checks were made and Willpower spent to avoid any temptation to chase the monster down the sewer, and instead a runner sent to the Immaculate Temple that an evil spirit was loose down here.
As the midday sun turned the Hot District into a broiling oven, the detectives turned their patrol to the cooler climes of the lower Shades and the arson of Weyoun the Procurer.
The home of this slaver was in some turmoil as creditors gathered and household slaves were led away in coffles. The Head Slave Marta (faded beauty, somewhat bruised) greeted the investigators and showed them Weyouns bedroom where a suspicious 5 ft long oval of soot and ash apparently marked his demise of spontaneous combustion. Curiously only the centre of the bed was burned, the hangings and sheets seemingly faded and bleached. Marta hesistated in saying that no one had heard anything from the Master after he had sent away his harem-slave, demanding an ¡¥early night¡¦. Strong magic had been used here, as a simple Essence-divining crystal wildly span around before breaking from its string and richochetting around the room!
Captain Brand met with Khalid, Weyouns business partner and legal heir who was already seizing Weyouns assets & slaves. Khalid pandered to Brands questions and romised help, while hinting at high connections with the Diamond Palace. Khalid as sole heir had every motive murder Weyoun but was apparently dining with Lord Steward Valtess the previous night and regretted Weyouns death as a business inconvenience. Clearly the 2 slavers had little real love for each other.
After a little subterfuge in which it was revealed that Khalid had already seized the scribe-slave accountant Euphenes (the book-keeper of the Khalid-Weyoun relationship), Brand decided to throw some sand in the works of the Khalid profit machine by declaring a murder investigation. If any slave was complicit in the death of the master then this would mean the execution of all the household slaves. So, as witnesses & suspects, Brand arrested all of Khalids new slaves and sent them to the watch house for interrogation. Khalid was not best pleased by the City Watch¡¦s distractions, evasions and shenangans and left ¡¥for an appointment at the Palace¡¦.
Shift nearly over, Brand & Majid step out for a bite to eat in the early evening, where they are accosted by 4 of the Obsidian Guild Thieves who warn them they have been stepping on the ¡¥wrong toes¡¦. Battle! Commences with thieves clubbing, Watchmen skewering, knives being spent spinning into Majid before he pulls them out to throw pack into the throats of their owners!
With one or two living prisoners, the victorious cops lay the boot in but good. Under threat of ¡¥the Basement¡¦ (from which none return) the mooks spill that Quick Fox¡¦s boys had told them to mug the Watch Captain and Sergeant.
Then said Captain & Sergeant haul their prisoners back to the Granite Tower where they discover the slaves are taking up space in all the usual cells, leaving only the Basement cell.
They head down the cold granite stairs into the depths. Their breath seems to condense and mist as it gets colder and the shadows deepen. The squeaking of rats dims, till they approach a long stone corridor with a single jail cell at the far end. Breath condensing in terrified puffs of air, hearts pounding, goose-bumps on the skin, their Obsidian Theif begging for his life "NOT THE BASEMENT, PLEASE DRAGONS, NOT THERE! NO!!!!!!!!"
An ebony form slids from the darkness in that cursed cell, a tall, slim figure, ivory white skin, crimson-red lips and black as midnight hair whispers sibilantly
"Ah Gentlemen. Time for dinner then....... ?"
Desperately pushing the doomed thief into the cell, both men race back down the corridor, covering their ears from the terrible screams that will ring forever in their nightmares¡K..
So ends Session 1.
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