Prologue Summary

## Character Introductions

Sasha, a very stealthy antiques appraiser who favours dark, fitted, practical clothing, tries and fails to lose some pursuers in a crowd.

Bertie, a man brimming with upper-class self-assurance bedecked in incredibly vulgar plate armour covered in images of falcons, belegs a table. He’s attempting to demonstrate his skills to Zolf, the dour, peg-legged, dwarven cleric of Poseidon who leads a small mercenary company. The only other member of the mercenary company, Figgis, is also present.

On their way to a crowd-control job, the company encounter Sasha in an alley. They end up knocking Sasha’s pursuers unconscious.

Hamid is a playboy halfling mage and son of banking magnates. Having just lost an immense sum in a casino he stumbles across the fight and recognises his old university pal, Bertie.

## Plot

Zolf fires Figgis for not participating in the fight.

Sasha is revealed to have some connection to Other London, the London below London.

Thanks to Bertie’s upper class contacts, the party witness the presentation and auction by Lord Edison of an incredible mechanical servant called the Simulacrum, capable of building copies of itself. British and Japanese delegations each bid a phenomenal amount of money to obtain the Simulacrum. An explosion wreaks destruction and kills Edison. The perpetrators are found to be from Other London. Sargent Richard Harringay, who contracted Zolf for crowd control, now contracts the party to recover the perpetrators and/or the Simulacrum.

The party find bits of the Simulacrum and signs of an explosion in a sewer.

In an expedition to Other London the party are captured by a group led by a man called Ashen. He takes the party to Barret Racket, presumably Sasha’s uncle. Barret wants Sasha to give him The Will. Convinced that she does not have it, Barret reveals that Brock (obviously someone important to Sasha) is in Paris. He also convinces Hamid to put on a magical ring. He then directs the party to the perpetrators they are seeking.

During these events, Hamid discovers that his hands can transform into claws.

The party finds and defeats the perpetrators. In the process they capture guards who Zolf intends to sacrifice to Poseidon for their crimes. Hamid demands that Zolf spare the guards. Zolf agrees but feels that in doing so he has failed to do his duty as a cleric and will have weakened his bond with Poseidon.

The leader of the perpetrators is captured by the party and is later revealed to be Lord Byron’s half-sister in disguise. They also recover Edison’s sketch book, which contains a metal sample, an origami swan, a safe-deposit key, a seed, and mentions of Francois Henri and Prague. They learn that someone called Jeremy escaped with the plans for the Simulacrum. Bertie and one of the guard dogs form a bond. The dog, Brutor, now accompanies the party.

Back in London, Lady Starling, the new head of the Meritocratic Forces, leaves the sketchbook in the party’s possession and contracts them to recover the plans for the Simulacrum.

Multiple times during the prologue, a pair of identical-looking gnomes are seen. They each wear a dark suit and carry a briefcase. They make eye contact with Bertie and acknowledge him with a nod but don't engage in conversation.