RQG 8 - Londons All the Way Down

## Content Warnings

Implied trauma, police & police station. Mentions: faeces

## Summary

The party return to Sergeant Haringay, explaining what they've found. He insists that he needs to know what happened to the whole thing.

## Synopsis

Back in the sewer, Hamid casts prestidigitation, revealing the object to be the head of the Simulacrum. Although Bertie attempts to communicate with it, it seems to be damaged beyond repair; one eye is shattered, and the other is dull. The party wonders if the rest of the Simulacrum is at the bottom of the fecal lake and Zolf wonders why it was disposed of. Hamid asks if there’s a way to find out if there are more pieces, and Sasha suggests that that’s a job maybe for the guard. He continues, asking if they should follow the trail or if they should return; they decide to continue on down the sewer. Zolf puts the gauntlet in his backpack and puts his armour back on. Sasha finds a trip wire booby-trapping a nearby door. She disables it successfully, and then listens at the door.

Hamid joins her at the door, and both of them hear some voices coming from the opposite side of the door. It’s clearly very distant, and they can’t make out who is speaking. The party decides to split up, with Hamid and Sasha sneaking down while Zolf and Bertie remain behind. Hamid casts message on the rest of the party and he and Sasha head down the corridor. On the flip side of the door, there are no bolts and they head down a metal staircase, until they’re at the exact range of message. The voices are louder now, and Hamid mentions to the other two that they are going out of range of the message spell. They continue down a few more staircases and come up against another door, with the staircase continuing down for another five floors.

They realise that the staircase leads down into Other London; Sasha hears a few Other Londoners discussing the outrageous price of bread, and can hear about 10 or 12 people on the other side of the door. It’s still quite distant and hard to make out. She pops her head around the corner; the door is once again sheared, and seems to be meant to open from the stairwell instead of the other way around. She opens the door sneakily and realises that she would emerge above a bazaar in a huge steel complex in Other London. She realises that it’s mostly used for food products wholesale, and is close enough to the sewage pipes that a hydroponics system has been set up to use it as manure. Instead of exploring more, the two decide to return to Zolf and Bertie (Sasha points out that Hamid just wants to sleep, which he admits to). Hamid suggests going to chat with the Other Londoners at some point, which Sasha agrees to.

The camera pans back to Zolf and Bertie; Zolf is in the middle of explaining just how grim the dip in the sewage was (the final verdict is in his top 3 grimmest moments). Hamid and Sasha return, explaining what they’ve seen. Zolf isn’t willing to go down into Other London with the Simulacrum in tow, and they decides to return the parts of the Simulacrum to Haringay, as he’d requested. Hamid reminds them that Haringay also asked to have them find the people who are behind it, and Zolf says that Haringay can pay them more if that’s what he wants.

Everyone seems to want to go back to the inn - with Hamid suggesting his apartment as an option, as it will easily house all of them. They will stop by the precinct first to drop off the Simulacrum and potentially get another job from Haringay after collecting their payment.

Returning up the original set of stairs, they find another door at the top of the steps. Sasha picks the lock on the door, and finds a service tunnel filled with pipes. At the end, they find a manhole cover; Sasha attempts to open it, but isn’t strong enough, and Bertie opens it instead. They exit into a upmarket area at night, and realise that they’re not too far from Edison’s. They head toward the police station, and arrive at the Central Precinct (with a Rose and Baton crossed as the sigil); they head to Haringay's office, which is covered in papers. Most of it probably relates to the events of the day.

Bertie puts the head atop one of the piles of paper, and half of them fall onto the floor. Zolf and Hamid explain the events of the day, saying that it looks like people from Other London are involved, although Sasha says that they can’t be sure and that they’re making a lot of assumptions. Haringay is not happy with the news; Zolf says that he can’t confirm that the entire Simulacrum was destroyed, since they’ve only gotten a few people. Sasha continues to try to direct the blame away from Other London; she clearly seems uncomfortable, and then Zolf asks her to step outside with him. Sasha agrees, and they step outside.

He immediately asks her what’s going on, and Sasha says that she doesn’t think they need to go down there. Zolf chews her out a bit because her explanations made it seem like they didn’t explore all the avenues, but Sasha continues to hedge, saying that it’s not likely to be Other London. Frustrated, Zolf asks her what the issue with Other London is, and Sasha says that it’s not a good place, putting extra emphasis on the fact that it isn’t a good place. Zolf says that he knows she has a history there, and promises to protect her if/when they have to go back there. He reminds Sasha that they can find somewhere outside the city to go next, but that they need to finish up this job. Sasha doesn’t seem happy, but doesn’t argue. Zolf says he’ll buy her a drink as well, and then both of them head back in.

Haringay has spread out a map of the sewers of Other London, and Hamid is walking him through where they went and where they found the Simulacrum. Haringay agrees to trawl it, and says that he has enough people up here to work, but doesn’t have resources to cover investigating Other London. He gives them 400 gold in payment and intimates that they can continue the investigation if they’re willing. He asks Sasha if she would be able to be a guide, and then hands them over a bag of money that he says he expects this to also cover the beginnings of the next investigation. He adds that he needs to know what happened to the whole thing and what the people who are after it plan to use it for, and would prefer people brought in alive if possible.

Sasha asks if there are any clues about what the people who wanted it are going to use it for, and Haringay confesses that there’s nothing, and that he really doesn’t have the resources to send people into Other London, but that the only people who seem to know anything are there. He says that he needs to know what the plans are, and that he needs any pieces back, any plans brought to him, and any information they have needs to be brought back to him.

They agree to work on this for him, understanding that they’ll be receiving payment once information is brought. Hamid explains that there’s a guest room and the sofa; Zolf says that he’ll take the floor, and Bertie says that he’ll take Hamid’s bed. Hamid gently tells him that he won’t fit, and Bertie then says that he will take the guest bed instead.

The party heads back to Hamid's expensive apartment to recover. It’s in an upmarket district, and Hamid leads them into his apartment, which is a very fancy bachelor pad. Sasha asks how many people he shares with, and Hamid says that it’s all his, which seems to surprise Sasha. Zolf leans over and reminds her that Hamid is the son of a banker, and Sasha seems to understand. Hamid offers Zolf the first bath, which he thanks him for and takes.

## Quotes

"I flow like a spilled bottle of extra virgin olive oil. Over the back of a silken seal. The seal quivers in delight. Give it a massage."
―**Lydia, about Sasha.**

**Hamid**: "Well, should we head back up and the four of us can work out what to do next? I mean...at this point the trail’s probably gone cold, and maybe we just need to start asking around in Other London anyway."
**Sasha**: "And you want your sleep."
**Hamid**: "Well... yes."
―Hamid advocating for sleep.

**Zolf**: "If anyone’s got any concerns, don’t worry, if we see people being mugged or anything like that, I’m not gonna ask them to pay you before I help."
**Sasha**: "Oh, you’re not?"
―Zolf laying down the ground rules.

**Ben**: "Yeah, we'll just sell this on the black market and retire to Sweden. [...]"
**Lydia**: "That sounds like less trouble than sticking around in London."
**Ben**: "I'm an honest mercenary."
**Lydia**: "Aw."
**Ben**: "You might not be, but I have the arm!"
―The party discusses retiring to Sweden.

**Lydia**: "I flow like a weasel through a hamster city toy set..."
**Alex**: "So, like, really cramped and with great difficulty."
**Lydia**: "No! Weasels are really small! Or like a stoat, they’re the smaller ones, right? Yup. So even smaller like, tiny, and deadly."
**Alex**: "So you go up the ladder like a stoat, that’s what I’m hearing."
―Lydia using one of her incredible metaphors.

**Zolf**: "What is this about? Why are you so..."
**Sasha**: "I just don’t think that there’s any need for us to go down there. It...doesn’t seem like there’s enough evidence."
**Zolf**: "Right. Just because you’re scared of Other London because of whatever’s gone on, don’t, right, jeopardize our reputation. Do you know what you just told him? There were loads of other avenues that could have explored and we didn’t. All right? Do you know how that looks? He’s paying us. Just because you’re scared to go back there. You’re supposed to be a mercenary!"
**Sasha**: "If they came out of that door they would’ve had to carry, like, probably most of the thing..."
**Zolf**: "What is your problem with going back to Other London?"
**Sasha**: "It’s...just...not a good place."
**Zolf**: "It’s our job to go to the not-good places."
**Sasha**: "There’s not-good places and there’s...not...good...places. You know? Some..."
**Zolf**: "I’m assuming, by the way we met you, you have some sort of history with people in Other London. As part of the team we will protect you from those people! Like, as a team, we’ll work as a team. Keep each other safe. But we have to be able to do our job, or  we can’t do our job. Now I said we will try and find somewhere outside of the city. But we have to do the job at hand first. Then we’ll move from the city. Deal?"
―Zolf trying to figure out Sasha's problem with Other London.

**Sasha**: "How many people do you share with, then? Do we need to be worried about them?"
**Hamid**: "No, it’s, it’s just me."
**Sasha**: "Oh. Okay."
**Bertie**: "Bit poky, really, isn’t it. A bit small. Well I suppose to you, though..."
**Zolf to Sasha**: "Son of a banker."
**Sasha**: "Ahhh."
―The party's opinions on Hamid's apartment.
## Dice rolls and Mechanics

* Hamid casts prestidigitation on himself and Zolf to clean them up.
* Sasha makes a Perception check on the door to check for traps: 15
* Sasha makes a Disable Device check on the door: 15
* Sasha and Hamid make Perception checks to listen at the door: Sasha gets 25, Hamid gets 18
* Hamid casts message on the other three members of the party.
* Sasha and Hamid make Stealth checks: Sasha gets 19, Hamid gets 24
* Sasha makes a Knowledge (local) check about Other London: 17
* Sasha rolls a Disable Device check on the door: 15
* Sasha makes a Strength check to lift a manhole cover: 2
* Bertie takes 10 to lift the manhole cover
* Bertie takes 20 to find the drinks cabinet

## Plot Notes

* Hamid tells Haringay about the sewage silo where they think the remaining pieces of the Simulacrum might be. In episode 192, the party learns that the people sent to dredge the silo for parts were the first to be infected with blue veins.