Episode 4 - Grimm Tidings

GM
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## Recurring NPCs

the Silent

The dark alleys of Taylor's Way. Signs of a struggle: debris, blood. A dead body. The trail is fresh. The tracks appear and disappear, but they are clear enough to lead the Professor and Pretty Baby to a large wolf-like creature. The Professor is bitten, yet remains calm enough to temporarily tame it. He identifies it as a Grimm or direwolf, though not quite matching either. Pretty Baby manages to leash it and the two begin slowly leading the creature out of the city, anxious that any moment, anyone might cross their way or a sudden noise or movement could startle the creature. The night fades, the sun rises, and with the first light of day, the wolf disappears without a trace.

Rail Care. Pashmina in awe and disbelief of Vee's non-profit work, is quick to share her dreams of turning Rail Care into a thriving business. Vee, not particularly interested, goes back to work. The people of Five Irons, her patients, are already waiting–more than usual.

The injured Professor and Kasiel return. While the latter does not stay long, the Professor is being treated by Vee and seems more concerned with the creature's nature than his wounds.

Taylor's Way, where the Professor encountered the wolf, where all the sick people are from, is also the seat of the Keepers of the Veil, the church of Sayrem. The Professor and Vee theorize if and how they may all be pieces of the same puzzle.

Pretty Baby has gone to, once again, observe the cannery, the home of the Red Dogs gang. He sees nothing of interest, but finds himself being shadowed. While he is unable to identify who is trailing him, he manages to lose them on his way home.

Meanwhile, Pashmina is working passionately on the details of her grand plan for Rail Care. Once she is done, however, she finds herself at a loss as to what to do with the rest of the day. She decides to pay a visit to the Professor.

Inside the Professor's car, Pashmina finds him half asleep among his many specimen and experiments. Despite his usual lack of sleep and his still fresh injury, the Professor jumps to live realizing that Pashmina is asking for something to do. He intends to collect more samples for his work and has Pashmina prepare his tools before they leave.

Outside, a teen on a bike delivers a message from Pepper to the Professor. It prompts him to abandon his plan and turn back inside. The message is telling him to keep others from getting "it" and to help it. The Professor assumes that the note is referring to the creature–which he has dubbed a „dire Grimm“–and that the other force going after it is the church. He intends to meet with the Quiet Echoes, a secret society interested in gathering knowledge about the Ozar, and informs Vee as well. After sending up a smoke signal to tell Pretty Baby to follow them, they head to the old library that the Quiet Echoes use as their base of operations.

Inside, all four now reunited, the Professor uses his report with the Quiet Echoes–and a gift of two rare Ozar teeth–to allow them all entrance. They meet the Silent and quickly learn from them that the creature is indeed a Grimm, was intentionally released into the district, and that one priest of the church in particular is very interested in it. They clearly seem scared to say more though. Only some "persuasive" actions by the group move them to also reveal their true enemy to be the House of Broken Glass, an extremist cult that believes the remnants of the Veil need to be broken, and all Ozar released into the world. The House has paid the Quiet Echoes to release the manipulated Grimm and is most likely still observing it. Vee is quite certain that the large number of people falling ill in the same district, at the same time, is also related to the House's actions. In an effort to intimidate the Silent to reveal their contact with the House, Pretty Baby throws a knife into the book they are holding. The Silent, though, may not be as easily intimidated and helpless as they had appeared. Their magical power becomes clear as they prepare to retaliate.