RB 3-12: Seeking the Circus

Mission Report

Sunday, Dec 31, 2017 ((Jul 21, 2019))
Team: Jane Irwin (Cael), Proud Flame (Aunne), Haelra Vayn (Basil), Cyrus Riggs (Sielic)
Absent: Lyndi Fletcher (Aslene) working a case as a detective; Cadeos (DragoN) participating in an event at the Temple of the Four Dragon Paths

Briefing

• Nails in wheelchair, looking somewhat better
• Max leads
• Lyndi still working a case; camping trip postponed until the case is concluded
• Cadeos at his temple
• Debriefing of the Nigerian Lab (3-9)
• Adintech
  • Mr. Smith or his associates were using adintech to trap the souls of good dragons in bloodstones
  • Such souls could be used to fuel graven hulks or for other evil
  • Dragon souls, like elf souls, are supposed to be in a cycle of life, death, and reincarnation
  • Draco: Burning a soul in a bloodstone would break the cycle of their reincarnation forever, removing a soldier from the forces of Lord Bahamut.
  • Another possible explanation for adintech: a strategic initiative in the war between good and evil, especially at the level of Tiamat and the Celestial Circle
  • Max: >> That's a promising lead: to try to determine the identities of the dragons trapped in the bloodstones.
  • Draco: >> I'm happy to try to help Jane talk with Uhoshi
  • Jane Irwin: Stygi leaps from Jane to Nails, nuzzling him gently and patting his hair as one does when one is a squirrel. He settles there, a warm presence for a moment, comforting.
• Rooting out the necromancy cult
  • At first, didn't seem to have a name for itself
  • Now believe it is part of the Brotherhood of the Shroud
  • The Brotherhood is a secret society (cult) worshiping facets of the Devourer. They have been fighting a shadow war with the Crusaders of the Dawn since at least the 1950's.
  • Great Wheel: Unraveler vs. Devourer
  • Jane: Dol'modeen really Unraveler?
  • Nails talks about Tesseran religion
  • Previous sites: Elysium in Winter; Jake's Electronics; Berrett Airfield Foundry; Fortune's Edge (in Tessera); the Nigerian lab
  • R3M is allied with the Phoenix Group
  • Phoenix Group covert action teams have hit other cult sites; encountered other mechadead; no surviving cultists
  • We're confident we've neutralized all major sites on Earth
  • Haelra: you reported that the mechadead in Nigeria were less advanced than those in the Foundry and in Fortune's Edge. Anything to add?
  • DM: >> H shares her study of microbots
  • In the past, we've found evidence of collaboration, or at least trade, between the Brotherhood of the Shroud and the League of the Rusted Crown
  • Proud: Mr. Smith's dispositions regarding the League?
• The fey connection
  • Haelra and Flame Littleriver
  • Jane wants to tell Granny Bones about Caterina's cult experimenting on fey, like Flame Littleriver
• Other matters related to the lab?
• Updates on past persons of interest
  • Raph Decosta: bargained for power from the demon Taguzoth; stopped short of killing children in a hospital; sent to the Order of the Four Dragon Paths as a novice; he's doing well in his training; he shows particular aptitude for fighting with a staff; his time with the demon did partly catalyze a Change; he is on track to become an Unbound of the Arcane Trickster type; one of the long-term guests of the Chicago temple has taken an interest in Raph, a couatl named Last Light of the Blue Star; the couatl's mentoring has reassured the Order's leadership that Raph is unlikely to regress to the path of a demonic warlock
  • We should ask Cadeos to give us some sense of what training Raph is experiencing
  • Colby Diseth and Lisette Carrell: also involved in the Bella Santiana matter; sent to the Talarin Institute outside Vancouver, BC; both are doing well in their courses; they're finishing an accelerated high school program, then they'll start university courses; Colby's use of the Helm of Liquid Imagination doesn't seem to have catalyzed a Change; Lisette doesn't seem to be likely to experience a Change either
  • Javier "Javi" Denoto is finishing his high school education and working as a mechanic; no signs of a possible Change
  • Francis "Frankie" Regan is finishing his high school education and has received an early admission decision from Northwestern University here in Illinois; he plans to major in Religious Studies; no signs of a possible Change
  • Deanira Taylor and Levell Taylor: mother and son victimized by the Reaver cloaker Gelganag; they're in a new apartment in the East Pilsen neighborhood; Deanira has a new position, using her paralegal degree as an Evidence Tech for the Chicago PD; Levell is receiving counseling from Talarin; there are no further signs of interest by Rational Ascendancy in Levell's case
• Nails to Cyrus: you, Draco, and Bron are incubating dragon souls, given by Lord Bahamut. Does it make sense that you're supposed to be fighting this fight?
  • Jane Irwin: A picture on the chain: Bron, Draco, and Cyrus as little feather mama chickens sitting on shining fancy dragon eggs, cheeping.
  • Max: >> Dragons are notorious for being immune to charm and other mind control
• Nails will request CRA approval for Raptor Blue to travel to Sigil
  • CRA meets Fri, Jan 5, 2018
  • CRA randomly names strategic initiatives; Operation Sand Dollar
• Bron as a strategic asset
  • War spirit
  • Gunship with futuretech
  • Can transform into a two-headed dragon and a humanoid robot
  • Incubating a dragon soul
  • Has a spelljammer helm
  • Has a jumpcore (at least until it's installed in Lyndi's new ship)
  • Tremendous asset; threatening; covetable
• Investigating the Circus Divergia
  • Urged to do so by the ghost of Ordin Zarn
  • Next major clue in unraveling the adintech conspiracy
  • Talarins had a book from Tessera, but it was damaged last year in a malfunction of the fire suppression system
  • Circus Troupe by CoLS
  • See Mission Brief
  • Two strategies: Rixa Galdan at the Night Market; Granny Bones at her shop

Investigating the Circus Divergia

• Draco: >> I'm more able to give my attention to technology when I'm not in a corporeal form.
• Granny Bones Bookshop
  • Lex
  • Jane Irwin: (txt to Nails) Take care of yourself Boss, ok? I've got some home made honey-mint-lemon tincture in a little mason jar in the kitchen, if your throat is sore. Just add a spoonful to tea or whatever, ok?
  • Haelra Vayn: Haelra's elvish ears look like those weird pointy ear cuffs when she uses her ring of alter self and her magic scars look like body glitter
  • Haelra Vayn: Basically, she looks like the pixie from the new Charmed in my mind but gothish
  • Proud Flame goes back to his 'urban cowboy' look, that horrid yellow duster trailing. Somehow he still manages to fit in.
  • Haelra Vayn: Haelra likes blackberry white tea
  • Proud Flame: Chain: Man. That's some good bailiki music.
  • Haelra Vayn: Ellison is hidden in the inside of Haelra's "cardigan"
  • Jane Irwin: Jane has something labled SMORES COFFEE, xxL sized, and a cookie in her mouth; she eats and looks around, interested in the books and the people around. She looks human.
  • Proud Flame: Chain: We didn't sneak in. So there ya go. See the tall guy with the bandanna, the girl with the green eyes and the 'Elf' sweater - they marked us.
  • Haelra Vayn: Haelra has a distinct memory of an ashhat imp hurting her friend
  • bumblebasil (Haelra Vayn): not imp it was fae i cant remember
  • DM: >> Lex smells of patchouli
  • Loaned a book to an erratic customer: Wether Wakeman
  • Find her at the Chrome Anubis Club
  • DM: Book: The Silver Kiss of Dawn
  • DM: >> Jane gives Cyrus' number to Lex
• Chrome Anubis Club
  • East Hyde Park, east of the University of Chicago
  • Overlooking Lake Shore Drive and Lake Michigan itself
  • Sign: Midwest Commodities Boutique
  • Five-story office tower
  • Owned in trust by the Council
  • Neutral ground; all RA members pledged to enforce this
  • Two sub-basements of parking
  • First floor is two front companies and a small food court
  • Floors 2-3 are office space that RA members and observers can lease
  • Floor 4 is the Council's regional office (HQ is in Washington)
  • Floor 5 is the Chrome Anubis Club
• Restaurant
  • Spectacular view of Lake Michigan
  • Interior architecture
    • Light gray plaster with subtle texture
    • Brushed aluminum and glass
    • Scattered throughout: Egyptian pillars, sculpture, and papyrus art
  • Table tops are smoked glass (opaque), chairs are brushed aluminum with reed backs and sky blue cushions
• Wether Wakeman
  • Gynosphinx
  • Roll 1d4, times 2: 4 riddles to solve
    • Riddle Truth
    • What do these have in common? A dime, The planet Mercury, Rhode Island (smallest)
    • Tests out Riddle Water
    • What do these have in common? A child who makes a bad choice, An icy airplane, An electrical wire (grounded)
    • A riddle proper: Two bodies have I, Though both joined in one. The stiller I stand, The faster I run. My work begins, When bottom becomes top. An army of thousands, Tells you to stop. (hourglass)
  • DM: >> Jane puts riddle scrap into her medicine bag
• Night Market
  • Vince's shop
  • DM: >> Vince has an invisible guard dog named Elvis outside his office
  • Vince and Rixa in Vince's office, drinking cocoa with marshmallows
  • Rixa Galdan
  • Wants the blood and tongue of a hydra dwelling in the storm drains near Indiana Harbor
  • There's one in the sewers near Indiana Harbor