Adventure 2

**Previous: Adventure 1**

Tremors have been plaguing Flint, which has no history of earthquakes. Docker poets take it as a metaphor of the state of things. Factory workers have been locked in their factories by business owners because they have not filled their quotas - because there is no union, they are unprotected by the King, and are forced to endure this treatment.

Gale is a terrorist who attacks factories and sabotages the machines. She has won the sympathies of those who believe the inclination towards Danoran technology is evil. Many workers see her as just a threat to their livelihood. She is also blamed for theft from wealthy factory owners, as well as an assasination attempt against a tax collector.

She wants to garner support with the common people and recognizes that attacking factories makes her unsympathetic. She asks a friend of hers, Nilassa Hume, to spy on the Danoran Consulate in Flint. She wants her to steal some financial documents and letters to get a better sense of who to target for future attacks. Nilassa is murdered in the attempt, and hands over the documents she stole with her dying breath to an acquaintance, Dr. Wolfgang von Recklinghausen, telling him that he must flee with the documents because they contain information that will determine the fate of the world.

The RHC finds her body speared on a wrought-iron fence exactly between Danoran and Risuri territory.

Nilassa Hume had a criminal history in Flint - she has connections with the Family, essentially the Mafia.

The party connects with her father, Heward Sechim, who adoted Nilassa and tried to convince her to turn to an honest life. He obviously failed, and feels responsible. He asks if the party would connect with his uncle, Nevard Sechim, who he knows associates with Gale. He wants to find out why Nilassa died.

Nevard says that he will help the party connect with Gale, but in return they must accompany him to the top of Cauldron Hill, which is an extremely fucking cursed hill that will kill anyone who stands upon it unprotected. He believes it is the last place left in Flint where he will be able to have a skyseer vision.

The party accompanies him by connecting with Reed McBannin, the mayor of the Nettles and Cauldron Hill, who is a Dark Arts expert. He agrees to send the party up the mountain, but secretly arranges to have them killed, because he arranged for Nilassa's death to protect his secrets. He sends his assassin, Cillian Creed, to murder the party and Nevard. The party escapes, and Nevard has his vision. He says he will reveal everything he saw in public to a Docker's rally.

Now that McBannin knows that the party is investigating him, he also sends dragonborn arsonists to assassinate Heward Sechim so he won't be able to send any other constables after his scent. The party tracks down the arsonists, saves Heward, and discovers that the arsonists have been hired by Reed McBannin. They also discover the existence of witch oil, a substance that uses the souls of those who die near it for powerful fuel.

Because the party fulfilled Nevard's request, Gale meets with the party. She tells them that they have a common enemy, and that she knows there is a secret "Group" operating in the Bleak Gate, which is purgatory. She thinks they have ties to Danor, and thus Gale sent Nilassa to find out what that tie was. She reveals that this group has the ability to teleport to and from the Bleak Gate using Iron rings.

At the docker's rally, the party helps negotiate a union, and prevents the Group from the Bleak Gate from assassinating Nevard - first by breaking all Iron Rings in the square, and then killing the Group members who made it through. Nevard reveals a vision:

“I saw a dark figure, standing atop Cauldron Hill, towering over our city. The sun set, and he cast a shadow across Parity Lake, stretching northwest, into the sea, beyond the horizon. He is born in our city, but his ultimate goal is elsewhere. And also things moved in his shadow—indeed, his shadow moved before he did, for while he was mighty, he was controlled by others.

“I saw smoke hiding his face, for he was made mighty by industry. In my vision, a king chased him out to sea and defeated him by slicing him free from his shadow. But the cauldron had already shattered, and many thousands were drowned and devoured in its roil.

“I saw three birds alight on the peak, the first of black silk, the second of black steel, both weeping blood. But the third was made of stars, and it sang many songs.

“I tell you this: Cauldron Hill is not safe. Twice will danger arise, and twice will we be deceived into thinking it is safe to return, but we must avoid the place and avoid being tricked. I have arranged shelter in the Cloudwood, where people can be safe until the darkness passes.”

Nevard also saw other visions, but he’s less certain what these mean, so he did not plan to tell them to the public.

“A woman sat on a leather couch in a waiting room, surrounded by red curtains. She held a gold coin and rolled it across the back of her fingers. A pick lay against the side of the couch. He asked her what she was waiting for, and she answered in a language he didn’t know, saying,

‘The place I’m going isn’t here yet.’

“A trumpeter carried a lantern onto the stage of a darkened theater, and the people gathered for his performance applauded, then lit lanterns of their own. The theater never got bright enough for him to see their faces.

“One man tore himself in two, and his twin selves fought over a woman, tearing her into three, who ran away. Mice skittered around them, collecting cheese fallen amid the rails of a trainyard. Then a train roared down the track past him, but it had no one driving it. In the distance it derailed, and crushed two of the women, but which of the three survived?

“A man carrying a bronze staff with three keyholes is assailed by swords and arrows and fire, but nothing kills him. He began to take off his robes, while stars fell from the sky all around him. Then the sky was dark, and when the sun should have risen, instead a pale glowing cloud floated in the dark.

“Finally, tyrant and murderer languished in prison, hanging from twelve chains and hooks that pierced her feet, her legs, her thighs, her shoulders, her arms, and her hands. But the thirteenth hook that sealed her mouth swung loose, and it fluttered in the breeze as she whispered a map that led everywhere.”

The party now has sufficient evidence to incriminate McBannin. They arrive to arrest him, but the tremors that have been shaking the city for weeks erupt in a massive earthquake. McBannin begs the party to take him to his laboratory, which is hidden on his property, so he can shut down something called the Eldritch Machine, which will explode and poison Flint for eternity. The party finds a reservoir of witchoil beneath the lab, which seems to be pumping the oil somewhere into the mountain.

The party finds McBannin's assassin, Cillian Creed, there, who also tries to shut off the machine before killing them. Cillian is defeated, and reveals that McBannin had a hand in making a weapon for Risur on behalf of the King which would allow them to stand up against their enemies. Presumably, Danor is also aware of the existence of this machine, because the documents had evidence of this. The party kills Cillian.

The King denies that he contracted McBannin to make a weapon. McBannin is taken to court - before he can testify, he is found dead in his cell, his skull crushed. Spirit Mediums determine his soul is nowhere to be found.

**Next: Adventure 3**