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| "Theory board" made by Pendleton's player |
The Characters
Pendleton Torst, rogue anatomist
Catarina Redmoor, prioress of an unusual convent
Panthalassa Laurentide, a very weird orphan
Raoul Carathis, necromancer
Daytona Midnight, dhampir gunslinger
Asudem, a drowned antiquarian brought back from the dead
Events
Once the party left Port Omera, the warm, sultry trade winds gave way to a howling tempest that buffeted and rocked the vessel they had booked passage on. Despite the violent gales, which did their best to send their ship to a watery grave, they eventually reached Piskaro. When they disembarked, the weather hadn’t improved. It was now the tail end of winter, and the pounding rain turned the snow and frozen earth to a morass of mud and slush. The group opted for speed over comfort, hiring horses and sleeping rough in the cold to make their way to Creedhall in haste.
The Widow was waiting for them with Viktoria Frankenstein's boat and dry cloaks. After the Widow ferried them to Viktoria's island at the center of Loch Riven, they had a brief encounter with Father Prim, the strange fey creature employed as guardian of the isle. He dragged a metal pail from his cottage because he had something to show Pendleton. After rummaging around in the pail, and tossing out a severed foot and an unidentifiable chunk of meat, Father Prim produced the head of the leader of the Black Rats gang--his mouth still hanging wide open in a silent scream. According to Father Prim, the remaining Black Rats had become desperate to locate and apprehend Pendleton, so they came to the island in search of him. In Father Prim's words, this was "a big mistake."
At Chateau Frankenstein, they were fed and given a place to rest before setting off to investigate the theft of Emily's corpse. The Widow and Serafina offered to accompany the group on this quest, but first Viktoria had her construct servants bring forth a number of belated Khristmas presents for each member of the party. Panthalassa received a maul made from galvanic stone; Catarina was given a number of pretty (and armored) corsets; Daytona was gifted a masterwork pistol and several special bullets; Pendleton was given what appeared to be a sheaf of paperwork; Raoul was presented with a reanimated draft horse to pull his cart; and Asudem was entrusted with a reanimated cat.
Under the cover of night, the group stole into the secret tomb Emily had been taken from within Blackwater Estates. Catarina found a dropped medallion depicting St. Filiona; the medallion was identified as being from a convent known as Our Lady of the Blood Reborn. Asudem examined the secret door and determined that it had not been forced; whoever broke in might have shown some respect for a place of burial. Daytona could tell from the footprints in the dust that six figures wearing military boots were behind the theft; he also knew from the color of the some soil tracked in that the inreuders had recently been in the town of Selvik's Hollow in the Vespermark. Lastly, Raoul noticed that the arcane symbols he had scrawled upon the walls of the chamber had been "defaced" with holy symbols in an act of reconsecration.
Before they left, Raoul held a seance to contact the spirit of Emily Rosaline Daae. The temperature dropped in the chamber and swirls of green and purple eldritch energy lit the room. Emily did not appear as a spectral apparition, but Raoul could feel her presence in the room. She was able to relate that her body was still whole, that she was being kept in a holy space, and that there were eleven bodies in a similar state to her own wherever she was. The party's working theory was that her body had been stolen by religious zealots--quite possibly in league with both Raoul and Emily's families--and taken to the convent to be venerated as an incorruptible saint.
The group left Blackwater and lit out for the territories of the Vespermark. Selvik's Hollow was a small town nestled in a forested valley; they could see the Convent of Our Lady of the Blood Reborn perched on a hill above the town. Their first stop was the local inn and tavern, the Green Cauldron, which was owned by a man named Rogan Sheriday. They party ordered beef and stout stew, as well as ale from the convent. Also within the common room of the Green Cauldron was an acne-scarred young scholar, who had rented one of the inn's rooms, and a teenage girl with pointed ears who was busy scrubbing the dining tables with a rag.
The mention of the incorruptible corpses caught the young girl's attention; she seemed to know something. The group booked four rooms for their use in the inn; they also discovered that besides the scholar, a servant had rented two rooms: one for himself and one for his wealthy master who had yet to arrive.
With lodging acquired, the group explored the town a bit, plying the shrine maiden at the Chapel of St. Vionka, Irena Gravloski (proprietor of the local apothecary shop), and Elusia (the barmaid, who they later found writing poetry in the graveyard). From their various sources, the group managed to put together the following picture:
- The Convent of Our Lady of the Blood Reborn was an obscure ascetic site and sanitarium, until the arrival of Sister Mary Augustina.
- Sister Mary Augustina was afflicted with holy visions, possibly madness, and had been thrown out of her previous convent for delving into forbidden tomes in the convent's archives.
- Irena was able to tell them that one of the tomes kept in the convent archive was the Adeptus Gnostica, a book that contained a ritual known as the Liturgy of the Twelve Radiant Apostles.
- The purpose of the Liturgy of the Twelve Radiant Apostles was to infuse twelve incorruptible corpses with holy entities who would then scourge "evil" from the land.
- Templars had been arriving at the convent over the last few years; the templars were patrolling the woods around the convent.
- Elusia had seen the templars moving casket-shaped boxes on carts from parts unknown to the convent.
It seemed that Emily's body had been stolen to be used as one of the twelve corpses needed for the Liturgy of the Twelve Radiant Apostles.
Irena managed to glean Raoul's plans to resurrect Emily; she asked him if he knew of the Mantle of Iron Tears. He did not. She told the group to return to her shop if they managed to rescue Emily's body.
Speaking of rescuing Emily's body, Catarina, Panthalassa, and Serafina hatched a plan to infiltrate the convent and figure out a way to get the doors open to the rest of the group at night. Meanwhile, the remainder of the group returned to the Green Cauldron. However, the mysterious guest had arrived in their absence was busy directing the porters unloading his carriage. The man, a very tall, muscular man of military bearing, caught Daytona's eye. Daytona recognized the man and felt his heart sink within his chest--their mission in Selvik's Hollow just became infinitely more complicated and dangerous.
We'll find out who this newcomer is next time.