Session Recaps

Session 1:

All in Kaffir for various personal reasons, the party was approached at Laurel's tavern, the Leaky Flagon, by a mysterious man calling himself Montblanc. He was looking for specific qualities of people -- someone the king of Kaffir trusts, a doctor, and a naturalist, and so he hired the party for a job and told them to meet him at midnight at an abandoned house by the docks. The party skeptically agreed, though they staked out the house beforehand. They saw King Brubek Kaffir himself, looking sickly and ailing, being led into the house by a nurse, followed quickly by Montblanc. The party entered the house and spoke with King Brubek, who told them that he life was under attack by an unknown party, probably someone who had access to the palace and would be able to poison him. Doctor Norbu Naumenko confirmed that the King was beyond healing, and so Montblanc set them to two tasks. First, they must protect Prince Cole of Kaffir, whose life is also under threat, and second, they must discover who is attacking Kaffir before life as they know it in Kaffir is changed forever. The party decided to handle protecting the prince first, and so prepared an event at Laurel's tavern knowing that the Prince, who always cared more for carousing than leadership and order, would surely be more likely to fall under their protection there than if they told him outright that they were protecting him. As the night went on, the party noticed shady looking people eyeing the prince, and when they went across the market to the Salt Jewel, they were attacked by the bartender as soon as the Prince ordered a drink! After a harrowing fight that almost claimed the lives of both the prince and the party, they were able to drag the prince from the Salt Jewel as it burned down with the assailants still inside. (Thats one less bar for Laurel's Flagon to compete with, they mused.) The only identifying clue they found on the assailants was a tattoo on the the one who seemed to be their leader. A flourished 3 inside of a Red Diamond. Some of the more traveled members of the party knew this to mean one thing -- a guild of assassins known as Erasers. Whoever wanted the king and prince dead had paid a prettty penny indeed to get the job done.

Session 2:

Montblanc returned from the palace with little information on the king's poisoners, but he did find that much documentation regarding the temple of the ancestors, built into the cliffside opposite the palace, had been stolen recently. What was left seemed to imply that there was more to the temple than just a place of worship, and that mining interests in the town had long been trying to gain access to veins of null-magic metal inside the caverns beyond the temple. But it couldn't be that simple, no idiot would think that some ores, no matter how rare, would be worth or even gained by murdering the king and his son in cold blood. The party obviously had more investigation to do, so they decided to follow up on their one lead -- the Erasers. Laurel said that there is a customer who often comes into his bar and (between drunken bouts of screaming about his wife and kids), sometimes brags about working with Erasers. The party waited around a few days until the regular, Mal, came in. They learned after buying Mal a few drinks that though he never *personally* worked with the Erasers, he works for a company called ArcaneLocker Storage, who had run secure storage for the Erasers before. The party thought this was as good a lead as any, so they took the commuter train into Hejo Hejo, and headed to the West Hejo Corporate Park where ArcaneLocker could be found. The party pulled up in a cab to the WHCP, and Montblanc, having revealed that it was a shapeshifter, transformed into Mal and lied to get into the building along with the rest of the party. The building was a WeOrc, a shared workspacing house several different businesses, and ArcaneLocker was on the top floor (6). The party found that 4 WeOrc keys were needed to access ArcaneLocker via the elevator, and began looking around the different floors for the keys. After retrieving two of them, the party set off an alarm on the second floor but wasnt able to hide from the guard in time. They were escorted out but began an altercation with the guards of the building. Unable to subdue the guards peacefully and unwilling to murder the guards in cold blood, the party was forced to leave the corporate park and drive away in a taxi in shame.

Session 3:

PSYCHE. The party decided that they're not done with the West Hejo Corporate Park just yet and so changed their tack, deciding that it is probably more likely that they can just get in from the sixth floor, so they began to scale the building from the back. While they were sneaking around behind the building, and airship landsed on the top of the building, and the party is spotted by guards on the roof. After a conflict with the guards, they were able to sneak into the building and they find that the sixth floor has already been opened, and there are guards inside as well. The party broke in through the roof, (peacefully) incapacitating the guards and working their way through the storage locker's defenses until they found the CEO of ArcaneLocker, Madulin Alexander, desperately shredding and stealing files. He seemed terrified, and revealed to the party that he fears the Erasers have begun taking jobs that are too risky and too high profile for the company, and believes that people (like the party) are after him for information. He reveals that the Erasers have recently taken up some kind of job relating to the new Premier of Valentine, who was elected under suspicious circumstances. There was also evidence that there was some relationship between the Valentine government and the null-magic metal in the mines of Kaffir beyond the Ancestral Temple. As thanks for the information, the party helped Madulin fake his death by crashing his airship and then returned to Kaffir, knowledge in hand that this conspiracy was much bigger than the small kingdom.

Session 4:

Upon returning to Kaffir, the party learned of the death of King Brubek, and a citywide funeral took place. After attending the funeral, the party was invited to the wake by Castellan Getz, the acting regent of the Kingdom while Cole recovered from the attempt on his life. They gathered information at the party and noticed the conspicuous absence of the Merchant's Guild Representative Pim Holliday and the Salt Lands Ambassador Vice. They also learned from Getz that security had been pulled off of parts of the city (including the Ancestral Temple), to protect the Prince while he recovered. The party took this as their cue to investigate the Temple, and found that it was far from inadequately guarded. In fact, it looked like security was even more stringent there than usual, but the party noticed that they appeared to be private military rather than city guards. The party snuck into the temple, able to avoid the guards by putting the lights out in the temple and sneaking through the darkness. The guards seemed to be searching for something, upturning the entire temple looking for some secret about the temple itself. They reached the back of the temple where the monuments to fallen kings gave way to natural caverns into the mountainside. Isari found a strange wheelbarrow full of ore and, without touching it directly, pocketed some. Still sneaking, the heard a conversation between two people, one of whom seemed hesitant and nervous, about the death of King Brubek. It seemed that this man, whom they eventually identified as Ambassador Vice, was complicit in the death of the King in order to access the metal in the mines as part of a scheme to ally the Salt Lands with Valentine, creating a superpower that could challenge Avium and Zanthier for world supremacy -- no longer would the Salt Lands be the hapless fourth world, and if they had to pull a few weeds to make the garden bloom, then it was worth the cost. Norbu recorded parts of the conversation, but not enough to nail Vice on the murder of Brubek. After shouting at the mine laborers to hurry up with their sample extraction, the party saw a large crash as a worker fell and spilled the ore, strewing it around himself. With a harrowing scream, the miner began to transform into a beast -- sharp blades grew from his bones and his face and limbs became pained and contorted. He began attacking the other workers and the party decided to leave. While escaping from the temple, they found some encoded documents that they suspected might have been what the guards were looking for, and escaped, warning the castlellan about the vicious monster inside.

Session 5:

The party took some time off, after learning that the monster was subdued by the guards but that Vice and Pim were gravely wounded and unconscious in the hospital. While they were in the Flagon recuperating, they received a summons from Bilkrenk Pebblebone, the acting ambassador from the Salt Lands, asking them to meet him in the ambassador's hospital room. After some reconnaissance, the party decided that it was safe for them to meet with him, and so headed into the hospital and spoke with the acting ambassador. Pebblebone said that he was aware of his superior's malfeasance and could give them hard evidence under one condition -- they escort him safely to a Salt Lands government outpost. Pebblebone suspected that people would be trying to silence Vice, and would likely be after his life while he was still recovering. While waiting for Vice's condition to stabilize, Montblanc looked around the hospital, eventually spotting a suspicious looking man trying to get access to the restricted section of the hospital where the ambassador was being cared for. Montblanc warned the party to escape while he distracted the suspicious man. They jumped out the window, and began to escape as Montblanc joined them, but they were attacked while escaping by a mysterious silent gun. They evaded the attack relatively safely and made their way to the train. The party suspected that the Dwarven Train Lords who operate the train wouldn't risk interruption of their service by allowing the passage of a sick or dying man, so the party did their best to pretend Ambassador Vice was just aging, not mortally wounded. They were allowed onto the train, but also saw that the mysterious man, who Pebblebone suspected was Lucky Eraser, a relatively high ranking member of the Erasers, designated Triple 7 for assassinating two of the other 7s in the Erasers. The party came up with a plan, and Montblanc shifted into the form of the ambassador and got in a wheelchair and the entire party got off at Kingsgrave, two stops before their actual destination, and shoved the ambassador into the train's privy for safe keeping. Lucky Eraser followed them off the train and was stopped by the party before realizing his mistake. Pebblebone and the ambassador continued on their journey while the party fought and defeated Lucky Eraser. After clearing up their situation deftly with the local authorities, the party got back on the train and headed to Salt Canyon South, anxiously awaiting the outcome of their plan.

Session 6

Ambassador Vice passed away from his wounds. Bilkrenk Pebblebone rejoined the party and joined them for a meeting with Dutchess Margrave III of Valentine who is stationed in the Salt Canyon South in a town called Berkanin. Margrave gives the party an invoice proving Ambassador Vice's involvement in the hiring of the assassin's guild the Erasers. In exchange she asks that you take the invoice and a letter to Governor Karma Thaye of the Idrisid Kingdom across the Gondwana desert. To cross the dangerous wilderness, the party joins a trading caravan captained by Guild Master Vaalyun, who enlists their help in exchange for getting a ride on his turtle trawler. Along the way the party successfully defends the caravan from numerous threats in the deeper reaches of the Gondwana. During which, they happen upon a stowaway that is traveling along the way that turns out to be none other than an Eraser that had attempted to take Prince Cole's life in Kaffir. The Eraser named Niko begs for his life from the party, and they mercifully keep him alive. Niko gives them the location of his handler within the Erasers, who who is headquartered in a town in Idrisid called Salem. After a long journey they finally arrive at Fort Litch, the capital of Idrisid, and request an audience with Governor Thaye

Session 7:

As the party traveled through the desert Norbu stays behind in Berkanin, which has a minor school in alchemy of some repute - "Elixirs R Us" (it doubles as a store). He figures, "I'll spare myself the shitty travel on some dirty caravan and save up for a nice airship ride whilst getting on the hooch with some old friends". Seeing as Norbu is fairly well acquainted with both Elixirs R Us and Fort Litch he decides that he'll meet up with Montblanc and the crew there in a few days.

The second day of Norbu's studies and *trades* in elixirs is interrupted by an unexpected visit by the first handmaiden of the Duchess, Mistress Whimsy. With his head buried in the books, the news of the assassination of Pebblebone and the Duchess had gone unnoticed. Unconvinced by the handmaiden, Norbu had her produce newspaper clippings, death certificates and a police report. They're dead alright and it seems to be the work of the Erasers, and in particular a changeling - CCTV shows Pebblebone leaving the Duchess's quarters *after* their murder. Whimsy implores Norbu to take his drunken ass on the next airship (free of charge) to Fort Litch to warn the others of what's happened - he is the only one that she can trust.

Isari, Montblanc and Laurel part ways with Guild Master Vaalyun and receive a minor thanks from the skimpy business man who mostly trades in armor and potions. Vaalyun outs Isari as an exiled and claims to have information that may be interesting to him. He lets the party know that they can find him in the city's northern trading district, but the information will have to come at a price. They find the meeting place and shop whilst waiting for Norbu, at this point they are approached by a seemingly well-to-do gentleman who claims to be Inspector Zim. ... Well, it turns out he's not Inspector Zim at all - and the the party enter a battle with the changeling and her crew after Isari is attacked from behind leaving him coughing blood and unconscious on the floor.

Montblanc viciously murders the changeling - who they learn is called Sybil and seems to have the talents of a naturalist. They easily dispatch the rest of the would be assassins, letting the noob Goliath called Standard go, and make a run for it carrying the human assassin (Hans), Niko and Isari off into an alley towards th south-east of the plaza they were in. However, as is if by scrying, the actual Inspector Zim arrives and spots them making their way into the alley. They revive Isari with the near expired Goodberries they received from Vaalyun and Norbu fills them in on what's happened...

Session 8:

The party, reeling and bloody from a battle in the streets, is found by Otto, a Salt Lands lawman who is working for King Cole at the direction of Castellan Getz. He says that Cole needs the party to work for Kaffir as advisors since they are basically the only competent people who didn't leave when the King died. The party, after short deliberation, decide they want to pursue the investigation and deliver the evidence to the Governor of Idrisid, who Otto informs them has been summoned to an emergency meeting at the World Summit, where the great leaders of the Four Worlds meet to discuss policy. They get in his car and stop on the way to interrogate their prisoner, the assassin Hans. Hans gives them some information on the Erasers, telling them whatever they ask after a little hinged/unhinged interrogation from Isari and Otto. Montblanc returns with Hans to Kaffir, where he will hand him over to local authorities.

They continue on to the World Summit, a peaceful lakeside town beneath the shadow of a mountain, where they find the awe-inspiring Summit building. It seems the party is expected, and they are directed to the offices for the Idrisid Kingdom. They have a conversation there with the Governor, who is thrilled to get the documentation, but while they are talking, a meeting begins in the main hall, which they can see from the offices. The newly-elected Premier of Valentine, Rupert Thorne, is beginning a speech to the audience, which includes Avium Emperor Titus Thrax XIV, Zanthier President Sophe Von Kasse, and Salt Lands Chancellor Annette Li Kang about the recent bout of assassinations throughout the world. He ends the speech with the accusation that Avium and Zanthier are collaborating to destabilize Valentine and the Salt Lands by assassinating those who preach unity and stability. The room explodes with disbelief, and the party hears staunch and offended repudiations of the accusations from Avium and Zanthiri representatives alike.

Meanwhile, the party is approach in the room by a strange man and girl, claiming that something needs to be done before the peace is broken and the world returns to war. They reveal themselves as Jack Sapphire, Jack of Diamonds in the erasers, and Miss Epiphany, 9 of Diamonds in the Erasers. Jack tells them that the Erasers have a hand in the conspiracy and a stake in the outcome, and, to their surprise, he invites them to join the Erasers. They are obviously capable killers and he promises that whatever their dreams are, they will be much easier to accomplish as members of the Erasers. Everyone but Norbu declines, and Jack says that he doesn't have any interest in killing them because, despite everything, their digging into the assassinations is actually causing so much chaos that it's still worth it to the house to keep them around and investigating.

Jack shoots the Governor in the face and disappears, leaving the party alone in a room and telling them that he'll take any outcome of this situation, framing them for the murder. He disappears through the floor and the party decides to surrender to the guards. They try to explain the truth, but it doesn't seem very plausible to the guard. Meanwhile Norbu finds a letter on the ground that says "This is a bomb" and uses to it detonate the office they are in. In the chaos, the party splits up and escapes, Laurel leaving to never return, Otto and Isari making it to Otto's car and returning to Kaffir, and Norbu being slain by armed guards in the chaos.

Session 9:

Gordon's tomb

Session 10:

After retrieving Gordon's rod for King Cole, the party researches the Old Magi artifacts and the nature of Valentine's involvement in them. Their research leads them to Oscar Grey, the chief of the Valentinian Citynet Commission. It turns out the VCC is using its power to forcefully claim territories across the Four Worlds in the name of improving infrastructure. The leading company tasked with building the Citynet is Netizen, and research indicated that they have a headquarters in Idrisid where the old tomb of the Magi Talulah is. Formerly known as Castle Volubilis, it is now a Netizen extrator site. These extractor sites are built wherever underground ley-energy is strongest. From the research at Idrisid's magician's tower, the party believes that the Magi relics are somehow tied to the ley-energy, and perhaps Valentine is aware of it.

The party travels to Castle Volubilis only to find the castle abandoned and overrun with ley-infected beasts. At the center of the castle site, they find the main extractor for Netizen where they think Oscar Grey is holed up. After crossing a river of molten rock caused by overflowing ley-energy they manage to make it to the central extractor. There they find Gaerel, who based on Oscar Grey's journal could be the direct descendant of the legendary Gaerel Plenty who created the first Citynet in the pre-war era. Gaerel Plenty, Oscar believes, placed his brain's data into a mechanical android before his death. According to Oscar, the strange granite exosuit the party encounters is Gaerel Plenty himself in android form, hundreds of years since his death.

The party finds Oscar at his office who responds hostilely. Oscar Grey is killed and the party returns to Kaffir and requests a recon party to further investigate the ruined Castle Volubilis and Netizen headquarters.

Session 11:

King Cole thanks (and pays) the party for their valiant work regarding Oscar Grey and uncovering materials as evidence against Netizen. However, since they've been gone Kaffir and it's people have been turned against Cole - an obvious smear campaign run by Valentine. Cole must once again employ their skills as protection this time in an effort to thwart assassination attempt and crowd control in an upcoming speech. The party employ uncouth strategies of misdirection prior to the security dry-run as suggested by Mont Blanc. As a result Grok and the general reputation of Bugbears in Kaffir is severely damaged. During the dry-run all seams to be going well when a hooded person appears and shouts, "What the fuck!? The job didn't say anything about two Coles". Battle ensued and the hooded person who was revealed to be a formidable goliath and her less-formidable human accomplice were bested. After investigating the fallen corpses it had become obvious that this was yet another Eraser assassination attempt. Both were marked with hearts and the female goliath carried a bag with Standard's severed head inside. Inside the bag she also carried a parchment that read:

"Daughter, this job you have on Cole, when it is done go find the changeling and his party that were responsible for your brothers failing and cowardice. Avenge me and our family honor and you may yet win a seat at the Table. Fail me and you will suffer a worse fate than your brother did. Take this bag as a token that we of the Kalagi clan do not tolerate failure. Unlike with him, I *will* take my time with you.. The armory is yours, take what you want and I will be sending my human *servant* Tamir along with you."

The assassins were armed to the teeth: Flaming tongue shortsword, magical belt, items of protection and a magical shield that looks like it is somehow made of null metal. The extremely rare shield went to Victor who despite having a terrible start to the battle came away unharmed and did most of the damange (everyone else was beaten to near death).

Cole's speech went as would be expected given his possession of the staff retrieved from Gordon's tomb. He quelled the rising clamor against him thus avoiding a rebellion and also managed to restore Grok's reputation. However there still remains some suspicion of Bugbears in general among the citizens of Kaffir.

Session 12

Over the next few weeks, it becomes apparent that the sides forming after Cole’s speech at the the Summit where he presented the evidence have become dug in, and city-states and their militaries have begun to get involved. Of particular note is tensions along the border of Idrissid and Prika. The government of Idrissid strongly believes that Cole himself is behind the murder of their governor, he had been seen consorting with the assassins behind his murder — Norbu Naumenko, Laurel Dirtleaf, Paladin Otto, and an unknown Naturalist Exile. About two weeks after Cole’s speech in Kaffir,  single shot is fired by a soldier from  Idrissid, killing a young Naturalist Doctor from Prika, and tensions begin to spiral. Reports of armed skirmishes become common across the Salt Lands and beyond.

Cole approaches the party in the middle of the night and says that there is military heading toward Kaffir. They seem to be Idrissid troops supported by the Valentine government. Looking to enlist the support of the Avium military, the party sets out to the capital city, Old Imperial Avium, to convince the military to join their cause by any means necessary. They embark under the cover of darkness, and arrive in Avium early in the morning. Following a list of potential leads provided by Montblanc, the party starts at the Jackals Head, a monster-friendly bar run by a Rakshasa named Frank N. Steinatra, after hearing it was harboring a representative from the League of Monsters, the Hag Sevarna. They learn from Sevarna that the monsters in Avium are not well respected, but not as hated as in some places, so long as they abide by the laws of the land. She asks them to shake up the schedule of the Chief Councillor so she can meet with him. The party leaves and visits a casino where they heard some Erasers were hiding out. They learn from the Erasers (8 of Clubs Sieg Staffer and 6 of Spades Saggitarius) during a game of poker that they have orders to only interfere if it seems like the Emperor is planning on going to war, they also imply that a high ranking member of the Erasers is ready to do something drastic if it looks like politics aren't going in their favor.

After leaving, the party disrupts a train lords envoy who was supposed to meet with Chief Councillor Hero Ursus. In the process, Savro is arrested, but they are successful, and Ursus meets with Sevarna, who, as a favor to the party, agrees to pledge monster troops to the Avium army if they assist Kaffir against the Iddrisid/Valentine Army. She also tells the party that there is a League of Monsters spy, a Greater Medusa, working in the Erasers as the Queen of Hearts.

After helping Savro escape, the party goes to the Red Light District where the Chief of Staff, Pius Oculus, is having a midday romp. Pretending to be Valentine Wetworks operatives, they assault him in his room before staging a rescue by Witt and Grok, the party's resident monsters, further advancing the monster agenda in Avium.

The party catalyses riots in the Avium Plaza by dispersing inflammatory anti-Avium propaganda among the militant pro-Valentine counter-protestors, leading to a violent and bloody showdown between the peacekeeping troops and the protestors, which is eventually quelled thanks to the help of the Monsters the party befriended earlier.

With everything in motion, the party went to the palace in Avium, where Witt and Grok met with Oculus and Ursus, who reassured them that, with the monsters help, the Avium army would be moving to action, they could no longer idly sit by. Meanwhile, Savro and Victor returned to the Palace Jail, where they found the prison guards slain and the Erasers waiting calmly outside. After sneaking in and retrieving some inventory from the evidence lockup, they saw the strange man who Savro met in the prison earlier with a knife in his head and they noticed a faint acidity in the air, which quickly became a damaging cloud that expanded from the prison, killing everything in its path.

They ran to the palace, where they convinced some of the court wizards to cast feather fall on all of them and jump out the throne room windows. Their quick thinking saved the emperor and his advisors, but many palace residents were killed by the mysterious attack. After being picked up by Montblanc, the party, the Emperor, his advisors, and some court wizards set off for Kaffir with the might of the Imperial Army behind them.