RQG 16 - Collateral Damage

## Content Warnings

Serious injury, scarring (visible), injury to animal

## Summary

The party recover from the trap before returning to Upper London. They take Guy to Haringay, revealing his true identity...

## Synopsis

Zolf runs to the now exploded hut that Sasha was in, failing to find her. He puts the fire out by casting create water. Eventually, he finds an extremely battered Sasha, 40 foot from the door she had slammed shut earlier. He immediately casts stabilise on her to ensure she doesn't die. Channeling positive energy does not have much of an effect, so he attempts to perform 'field triage' and heal her without magic.

Meanwhile, Bertie goes to retrieve Brutor from the crumbled church. The dog then proceeds towards the now crumbled Vicarage which contains Hamid.

Sasha is still unconscious, even after Zolf's help. He feeds her a potion of cure light wounds and she finally regains consciousness. She has a new burn scar on her neck. Bertie, hunting for Hamid, burrows through the rubble of the church. Zolf and Sasha arrive to assist him. Together, the party free the bruised Hamid.

The extremely wounded Guy is crawling away, but Sasha is able to locate him. Zolf ties him up, Bertie picks him up, and they all head off to Upper London. As they leave the devastation the party (minus Bertie) notice a mob of people approaching. The party hides as the mob walk past. One member of the mob notices Zolf's peg leg but Hamid emerges from his hiding place to cast charm person on him, charming him into returning to the mob.

Sasha decides to return to Upper London the way they came, retrieving more jellied eels en route. They avoid the Racket territory, although Sasha notices Ashen following them for a short while, but he is stopped by another person who was also shadowing the party. At the freight elevator, the guard lets them through after Zolf mentions Sergeant Haringay.

In the elevator, Hamid looks at the notebook, casting read magic to read the arcane script. There are 6 broad sections and the technical sketches look quite different between sections, one section mostly having sketches of a nervous system while another has a lot of sketches of different skeletons, and so on. The book mentions Francois Henri a few times, another section talks about Prague, a safety deposit key with a number on it is taped to another page, there is an origami swan which says "For teaching me not to forget my culture", and a shard of metal, made of the same material as The Simulacrum. On the very back page is the phrase "And I guess this is it", along with a strange seed that is the size of an index finger and has a metal-like sheen to it.

They emerge in Upper London. Bertie notices some well dressed gnomes on a balcony above. As the party arrive at the police station, Hamid asks they not mention the notebook. They are sent to Haringay, who asks who saw them bring in Guy. Bertie removes his gag and Sasha notices that the moustache, beard and hair are all wigs. Removing them reveals a woman with short, dirty blonde hair.

## Quotes

**Zolf**: "Look, I know I haven’t gotten you anything recently, but help me out here, and I will get you loads of really good sacrifices, okay? Just do it!"
―Zolf, praying to Poseidon

"That’s such an Other London thing. “I- I- I’m dying.” “Do you have any way of healing yourself?” “Who’s asking?”"
―**Alex**

**Bryn**: "Oh my god, Bertie noticed something!"
**Bertie**: "*(pleased)* Oh! *There’s* Wally!"
―Bertie notices something.

**Bertie**: "A fake *moustache*? A FAKE MOUSTACHE? *You*, young man, you should just wait until your body is ready!"
―Bertie criticises Guy's facial hair.
## Dice rolls and Mechanics

* Zolf makes a Perception check: 14
* Zolf makes another Perception check: 23
* Zolf casts stabilise on Sasha
* Zolf channels positive energy, healing Sasha for 3 hit points
* Zolf makes a Heal check: 20
* Brutor makes a Perception check: 10
* Zolf feeds Sasha a potion of cure light wounds, healing her for 6 hit points
* Zolf rolls a Perception check: 15
* Sasha drinks a potion of cure light wounds, healing for 4 hit points
* Bertie rolls a Strength check: 12
* Bertie rolls a Perception check: 18
* Zolf repeatedly casts create water to set out fires
* Bertie rolls a Strength check: 22
* Hamid casts prestidigitation on himself
* Zolf rolls an Intimidate check: 2
* Everyone makes a Perception check; Bertie gets 1, Zolf gets 23, Hamid gets 23, Sasha gets 16
* Sasha drinks a potion of cure light wounds, healing for 9 hit points
* Party does a collective Stealth roll, Sasha aiding: 10
* Hamid successfully casts charm person
* Sasha rolls Knowledge (local): 26
* Sasha rolls a Perception check: 26
* Hamid casts prestidigitation on himself, Zolf, Sasha, and Brutor
* Hamid casts read magic on the notebook
* Everyone rolls a Perception check; Bertie gets 16, Zolf gets 21, Hamid gets 24, Sasha gets 20
* Bertie rolls a Perception check: 18
* Sasha rolls a Perception check: nat 20

## Plot Notes

Contained in the notebook is the following:

* Diary entries split into six broad sections, mostly technical designs
	+ Drawings of a nervous system.
	+ Drawings of a human skeleton, an orc skeleton, etc.
	+ Sketches to do with The Simulacrum.
* The first section mentions Francois Henri a lot.
* The second section talks about Prague a lot.
* There is a safety deposit key with a number on it taped to a page.
* There is an origami swan which has "for teaching me not to forget my culture" written on it.
* There is a shard of metal, made of the same material as the Simulacrum.
* On the back page is written "and I guess this is it" along with a seed that is the size of an index finger and has a metal-like sheen.

The party eventually investigates all of the clues found in the notebook.

* When investigating Francois Henri, they discover Mr. Ceiling, who was designed using part of the Simulacrum technology.
* Investigating the office at the University of Prague brings them to Isaac Newton's demiplane, where they discover a miniaturised version of the power source used for Mr. Ceiling.
* The safety deposit key leads them to a vault in Cairo, where they find the draft for a Simulacrum kill switch.
* The origami swan swan leads them to the Shoin Institute and Yoshida Shoin, who has been hired by the Cult of Hades to produce fluidic systems for the Simulacrum.
* The shard of metal leads them to Damascus, where they discover a Simulacrum chassis production plant.
* The large seed leads them to the Garden of Yerlik, where they learn of its interplanar properties.