Characters
Aria, a paladin struggling with her true nature
Heck, an affable revenant looking for answers
Panthalassa, a necromancer with a missing arm
Daytona, a dhampir gunslinger fresh from Hell
Garazi, up and coming witch with a bird familiar
Genevieve, an alchemist with a secret
Willard Corn and King Beebo, a farmer and his monkey
Events
With their invites in hand, the group was off to the Myrastopol Gala in all their mask'd finery with the purpose of tracking down Viktoria and Serafina. Once inside the seemingly endless house, their invitations were taken by a fop called Sebastian Lee, who checked them for authenticity. Sebastian Lee explained that the party beyond the "Limbo" foyer was taking place in eight rooms, each of which was themed after a different circle of Hell. Additionally, Lee gave each of them a key to a private room upstairs should they wish to pursue more clandestine pleasures.
Nightsong linked the party's minds via telepathy and suggested that they split up to increase their chances of running into Serafina and Viktoria.
Garazi, Heck, and Nightsong went to the Fourth Circle because they had been told that there was a dancefloor in that room and Garazi was dead-set on dancing with a cute boy. This meant that Nightsong was now dead-set on helping Garazi dance with a cute boy. They were in luck; Nightsong spotted someone she knew, though he was surrounded by a knot of women who were clearly tripping over themselves to win his favor. That did not deter Nightsong, who hip-checked and elbowed her way into the circle with Garazi in tow.
The man at the center of the women was Adrian Vergara, whom Garazi and company had released from a bestial curse. After a little small talk, Nightsong accused Adrian of poor manners because there he was, in front of a beautiful woman like Garazi, and he hadn't even asked her to dance. Embarrassed, Adrian was happy to escort Garazi to the dancefloor. They talked while they danced and Garazi learned that Adrian had spoken to Lady Adele Kincaid, a noblewoman of his acquaintance, but her personality seemed drastically different than what he remembered; where Lady Adele was vivacious and bubbly, she was now deadpan and monotone. Since Lady Adele's physical description matched the disguise they believed Serafina to be wearing, Garazi was sure that Serafina was somewhere in the gala. Garazi relayed this information to the rest of the group.
Over in the Fifth Circle, Willard found himself across a chessboard from Nathaniel "Bear" Farrowhawk, the captain of a mercenary band that the group had fought on the beach of Blyman's Cove. With a little help from King Beebo's advice, Willard was able to snatch a win away from Bear Farrowhawk. While they played, Bear mentioned that he had found some "weird machinery" in an unused kitchen pantry. Willard relayed this information as well, and the pantry was marked as a place to be explored later.
In the perpetual feast of the Third Circle, Genevieve encountered dowager Valtina Wosek, who was reclining in a chair with her swollen feet resting on a footstool. Valtina Wosek gestured for her to approach and requested that Genevieve refill her plate from the foods on offer. Genevieve returned with a plate full of decadent delights, which pleased Valtina enough for her to engage in further conversation. Valtina regaled Genevieve with a story about Adele Kincaid; she said that they had made plans to pray in the chapel, but Adele had not shown up. She also mentioned that Adele showed a strange interest in the crypts below the chapel, even going so far to ask Valtina if there was an available map of the crypts. This also sounded like a disguised Serafina, so the crypts were put on the list of places to check out.
In the Second Circle, Aria saw a number of people engaged in carnal acts or watching other people engaging in carnal acts. She made the acquaintance of Cassie Mabcrowe, a professor at the Malcovat, who reclined on a sofa and was attended by a number of shirtless men who were fanning her, feeding her grapes, and rubbing her feet. Cassie offered for Aria to join her on the sofa and happily shared her attendants' services. As they talked, Cassie revealed that she had recognized Viktoria Frankenstein, even though she was wearing an imp costume. This was also shared with the group and filed away.
Daytona and Panthalassa made their way to the Eighth Circle where they had an unfortunate run in with the hated Erasmus Feist and his currently less-hated sister Severina. After tense words were exchanged, Severina disclosed that she had a piece of information they might want, but there was a price: if they wanted her to spill, Panthalassa would have to dance with Erasmus. Daytona, a true friend and gentleman, turned on the charm and made a counteroffer: he proposed to dance with Severina instead. She agreed, and after their dance she told them that they she had found a laboratory in an empty attic room. The lab was added to the growing list of places to explore.
The group reconvened and then reconfigured who was with who so they could follow the leads they had picked up. Genevieve was able to determine that the laboratory had recently been used to concoct a novel sedative poison. The weird machinery seemed like it had been used to craft arcane communication devices that could be hidden in ragdolls. In the crypts, they found one of the steel caskets that Viktoria had stored her replicated bodies in, but this one was already open and empty.
Meanwhile, someone in a green outfit bumped into Panthalassa and pressed a note into her hand before disappearing into the crowd. The note told her to go to a specific room, alone, if she wanted to see Viktoria and Serafina alive. Panthalassa followed the instructions, but their was no answer to her knock on the door. She ventured inside and then felt the cold barrel of a gun pressed to the back of her neck. Luckily, her ambusher recognized her--it was Viktoria Frankenstein, in the flesh. Serafina emerged from where she was hiding under the bed. What followed was a combination of tearful reunion, exchange of recriminations, and a whole lot of concern over Panthalassa's missing arm.
Viktoria also explained that the empty coffin was due to someone releasing her double prematurely. The double, she reported, was now insane and bent on her destruction. The group assembled in Viktoria and Serafina's rooms, so Panthalassa's new friends got to meet her old friends and Nightsong had her reunion with her partner. The group resolved to help Viktoria kill her double. Returning to the gala, they spotted the double and were spotted by her in turn--she ran outside and darted into an ice maze.
The double led them on a merry chase, but they caught up to her at the center of the maze. The False Viktoria promptly shot the Real Viktoria with a dart gun loaded with the novel sedative, rendering her unconscious. False Viktoria barraged the area with arcing electricity. Nightsong punched Viktoria in the jaw, but was knocked unconscious (and was heavily wounded) by the electrical field that surrounded her. Nightsong was brought back from death's door by Genevieve, who also put in a lot of work keeping the group unfazed by the constant electrical shocks arcing about.
The battle became even more complicated when Church assassins associated with Grigori Trask arrived. These agents were all women who belonged to "The Lash," and they were clad green dresses and armed with bladed fans. Heck was able crush False Viktoria's head between his hands, but they weren't out of the woods yet. Complicating things further, Patchwork Jack burst through one of the ice walls, but he was surprised that one of his mighty blows did nothing to Heck. Serafina threw Heck a syringe; Heck plunged it into Patchwork Jack--the drug inside caused Patchwork Jack to "awake" from the Nightside, taking him out of the fight. The rest of the Lash were then cleaned up. The group learned that Genevieve was a dhampir when she healed her wounds by drinking one of the Lash assassins dry. In recognition, Daytona also drained one of the Lash agents.
The fight over, Viktoria was caried back to their chambers to recover and Nightsong got to be nursed a bit by Serafina. When Viktoria was roused, she took samples of flesh from Heck and Aria to help determine a starting point to explain their strange existences; a sample was taken from Panthalassa so Viktoria could begin growing her a new arm. Garazi squeaked in a few more dances and the group began to plan their next move now that the initial task that had brought them together was now completed.
