RQG 54 - Paris is Burning

## Content Warnings

Mass panic/rioting, social unrest, hostile police, interrogation, kettling of civilians, arguments, emotional crisis, Bertie being ableist (on top of his usual stuff)

## Summary

Hamid and Bertie foil a pickpocket. Zolf broods. Sasha incites a food riot, and encounters large crowds attempting to flee Eiffel's Folly.

## Synopsis

The next morning, the Rangers, feeling physically spent and emotionally drained, wake up to an extremely quiet Paris. Breakfast arrives late, but with more lobsters than normal. One of the valets mentions that food is starting to spoil.

The valet delivers a note from Oscar Wilde reading simply: "Stay Put".

Bertie continues to speak in perfect French but does not realize it. Hamid checks him to see if he understands any other languages. Sasha uses sign language to insult Bertie, but Bertie misunderstands and believes that Sasha is doing a joyous dance.

Hamid and Bertie head out to fence some treasure and mechanical body parts. There is almost nobody on the streets, and the only things moving are horse drawn. Hamid suggests heading to the district that manufactures the clockwork men. They eventually find the market, but most vendors are closed. They decide to come back another day. They discover that the mechanical men are manufactured outside of the city and sold as luxury bespoke items. They return to La Triomphe in the evening.

Sasha spends the day on the roof, sitting quietly next to the gargoyles. It is quiet and she can hear birdsong. She can see a few groups of people, but it feels more like a weekend than a weekday.

Hamid and Bertie arrive back at the hotel, where Zolf has spent the day watching a bathtub full of water. Sasha writes a postcard to Bi Ming telling him she's doing well, before heading out to find a postbox. Bertie reads "When Passions Collide" and discusses the book with Zolf. During the night, Sasha has bad nightmares of Brock, and Bertie has a realistic dream of the Mr. Ceiling alternate reality Paris.

The next morning, Sasha wakes up early, and discovers that breakfast has not been delivered, so she decides to head out in the direction of Eiffel's Folly. There are quite a lot of people out today. They seem to be upset and argumentative. She sees someone steal something from a store; while the guards are distracted, she decides to steal a bun. She is discovered by the guards, and suddenly about 20 people are stealing what they can and dispersing. She uses her acrobatic skill to escape the store while the guards are otherwise occupied.

Bertie, in full armour, heads out with Hamid to once again try to find somewhere to hock his jewels. They notice that they are being followed by 2 non-descript men. Hamid walks confidently towards one of the men, who immediately backs away and heads off. The other one snatches a bag from someone in front of them. Hamid casts 'Sleep' on the thief, who falls asleep with bag in hand. The woman takes her bag back and flees. They decide to take the man back to the hotel for interrogation. He protests until he is promised a meal.

As Sasha continues to head in the direction of Eiffel's Folly, the situation becomes distinctly worse, with more people in the street and more unrest. She reaches a line of guards that prevents her getting any closer to the Folly. She climbs a roof to bypass the guards. On the far side, there are a lot less people. She sees a fence surrounding Eiffel's Folly, with people near the fencing, guards facing inwards, and people on the other side of the fence pointing out. People are trying to escape over the fence and through manholes. The guards are mostly maintaining the situation, but it is starting to deteriorate. She goes down a manhole and is told La Gourmande, the head of the gang who supplied the brains for Mr Ceiling, is on the warpath and she needs to leave now. She escapes back to La Triomphe via the sewers, after she's discovered by the guards.

Bertie and Hamid return to La Triomphe with the pickpocket. They notice that Zolf has been crying. Sasha arrives back after them, and they share a meal before questioning the thief. Sasha asks about La Gourmande, but the pickpocket claims not to know anything. They decide to let him go.

The Rangers discuss whether to return to Eiffel's Folly to rescue some of the trapped people, and the morality of their prior actions. Outside, there is a huge crowd of rioters angrily cheering and tipping carts over. The concierge knocks at the door, and apologetically explains that the gargoyles have been deployed to disperse the rioters. Sasha heads out into the evening for some vigilante style exploration. Bertie attempts to follow, but the gargoyles block his way.

## Quotes

"Well, *je suis* really very wise, and I probably just picked it up from *le* streets! Y'know I just soak information like a sponge!"
―**Bertie**

"Work... is... going... well... I'm... very... busy... It's... interesting... seeing... new... cities... I... hope... the... shop... is... doing... well..."
―**Sasha, in a postcard**

**Zolf**: "What you reading there, Bertie?"
**Bertie**: "This *When Passions Collide*, Mr Smith. Now, this is truly excellent. A fabulous work of literature—strongly drawn characters, fascinating moral messages—a surprising number of fascinating legal implications! If you read between the lines—"
―Bertie reads the Harrison Cambell novel that he found in Zolf's room.

**Bertie**: "There we are, criminal classes—fundamentally lazy."
**Hamid**: "Bertie! Don't kill him and don't say that!"
**Bertie**: "Alright, I'll compromise, I won't kill him... Can't shove the words back in my mouth, can I, Hamid?"
―Hamid and Bertie intercept a pickpocket.

"Aw, Mr Smith ... You, you've got, uh, some tributes to Poseidon just running down your face there ..."
―**Bertie**

**Sasha**: "Seems like you picked up a pretty low class criminal ... he doesn't even know what's going on in the criminal districts."
**Bertie**: "Unless this is an elaborate bluff—a mastermind of deception! Look at the veils! The veils of secrecy! The mystery unpeels itself—like an onion stripping!"
―Bertie and Hamid bring the pickpocket back to L'Triomphe.

"Th-the city's gonna explode in a riot, if we change anything we might just set it off. The last time we tried to help, *this* happened!"
―**Zolf**

**Sasha**: "I'm... just gonna see if I can help some people not get hurt."
**Bertie**: "I'm gonna see if I can help one specific person get hurt!"
―Sasha and Bertie have different plans for how to spend the evening.

**Zolf**: "Yeah, sometimes that happens. Sometimes you knock out... most of the world's logistics, and—sometimes, sometimes you make a terrible, terrible decision, and sometimes—I don't know, millions of people might die because of what you've done!"
**Hamid**: "That doesn't mean it was wrong, Zolf!"
**Zolf**: "But do you not—get—what—we've done... do you not get that? Do you not understand how important what we've just—just—"
―Zolf starts to spiral regarding turning off Mr. Ceiling

"No it wasn't! It actually wasn't! It wasn't doing that! No, no, Le Gourmand was doing that, because criminals exist! Criminals like Gourmand and Barret always exist! They're always going to exist! Murder's going to happen! People are just going to die! They're just gonna keep dying! Th-the computer wasn't doing that, it was just supplied brains—were you listening to it! We spent a *week* with it and you didn't listen to it! We're just—it wasn't evil! It had some bad ideas but it wasn't—it was—"
―**Zolf, about Mr. Ceiling**

**Zolf**: "Did. We. *Fully* understand the ramifications of what we have done. Do you—look out the window. Did you know that that was gonna happen? Do you—"
**Hamid**: "Is there any decision in your life you fully understood the ramifications of—that's not how people live, Zolf! We did what we thought was right, and I still think it was right, and I will *not* let you... change that just by looking at the outcome!"
**Zolf**: "We, *us*—four people... have affected the lives of probably everybody in the world. Yeah, I don't know what I'm doing most of the time—I can't see into the future. But mo- usually, my decisions don't affect *millions of people*!"
―Zolf and Hamid argue about turning off Mr. Ceiling.

"It's not—I don't think I'm powerful, I think I'm powerless! I can't—*do anything* about this, I can't fix the mistakes that I've made! I don't—I can't walk, I can't get out, I can't get out and heal people because *I need help to get down the stairs*!"
―**Zolf**
## Dice rolls and Mechanics

* On the way to the market, Bertie rolls a 16 on Knowledge: Local and Hamid rolls a 14 to find their way around the city.
* In the night, the party rolls Will saves against nightmares: Zolf rolls a 26, Sasha rolls a 7, Hamid rolls a 20 and Bertie rolls an 11.
* Sasha rolls a 1 on a Stealth check to try and steal a bun.
* Out in the city, Bertie rolls a 9 on Perception and Hamid rolls a 12, and notice people tailing them.
* Hamid casts Sleep on one of the purse snatchers, who fails to surpass the required DC of 15, and falls asleep.
* Sasha rolls 20 on a Climb check to be able to bypass the guards.
* Sasha rolls 19 on Perception to survey the situation outside Eiffel's Folly.
* Sasha rolls 15 on Diplomacy to talk to the person emerging from the manhole.
* Zolf rolls a 20 on Perception and notices Bertie and Hamid re-entering the hotel room.
* When talking to Zolf, Hamid rolls 11 on Perception, and Bertie rolls 18. Hamid notices something's up, and Bertie notices that Zolf is upset.
* In the sewers, Sasha rolls 24 on Perception, and listens in on conversations as she passes by other people in the sewers.
* Bertie rolls an 18 on Sense Motive to determine the thief's reason for following Hamid and Bertie.
* After the interrogation, the party rolls for Perception: Bertie rolls a 14, Hamid rolls a 15, Sasha rolls a 20 and Zolf rolls a 22. They all notice cheering outside.
* The party rolls another Perception check: Bertie rolls a 7, Zolf rolls a 14, Hamid rolls a 21 and Sasha rolls a 12. Only Hamid notices the sound of the gargoyles moving outside the room.
* In the midst of the argument, the party rolls for Perception: Bertie rolls an 18, Hamid rolls a 28, Sasha rolls an 18 and Zolf rolls a 22. They all notice a change in the tone of the shouts from the crowd outside.