I really need to get in the habit of sharing these Youtube links ahead of time...
That said, Gears and Guns will be streaming tonight at 9pm EST on both Twitch and Youtube! And just in case you need a reminder for what happened last week and don't have time to watch the linked video, here's what went down:
As the party is preparing for bed, with the murderer still on the loose they opt to keep watch in the Hughes Manor. Fiji takes the first watch, but he’s assisted by CHESTR… the two of them walking quietly through the manor as they keep watch. As they’re wandering the large, dark manor, Fiji hears the strange sound of a child giggling in a seemingly empty room. Fiji peeks in to the ballroom, which appears empty at first… CHESTR follows Fiji inside, stepping into the middle of the room. Unable to find anything, but as lightning crashes outside they hear the grand piano in the room suddenly play a few loud notes. CHESTR investigates further, but prodding the piano only has the top of the piano slam shut, followed by that unusual child-like giggle and a rush of cold air. Not sure what to make of that, Fiji decides to check on the Hughes family.
Listening at a few rooms, they don’t hear anything out of the ordinary. However, CHESTR enters an unlocked room, finding a bathroom. CHESTR enters a defensive posture when it sees its own reflection, and Fiji takes some time to explain to CHESTR that it’s “just him”. CHESTR eventually understands, if nothing else, that the mirror is harmless. Once the bathroom is deemed safe, CHESTR continues to check the house room-by-room, entering August’s room. CHESTR’s investigation starts to wake August, and in a panic Fiji tells CHESTR to run, the two of them rushing back to wake up Lucy-Mae, since it’s time for her to take watch. Fiji explains with embarrassment everything that happened with him and August… and almost forgets to mention the potential ghost they saw in the ballroom, since that was a lesser issue to him, but Lucy-Mae is upset, since she was working in the ballroom all day and isn’t eager to have to deal with any ghosts and resolves to avoid the ballroom during her watch.
After hearing about Fiji’s warning, Lucy-Mae makes sure she has her weapons and armor before starting watch with CHESTR. While the construct is patrolling, Lucy-Mae hears tapping sounds in the hallway. She asks who it is and soon recognizes it as August, who was tapping with his walking stick. He appreciates that Lucy-Mae seems concerned for his well-being, and he admits that he likes to walk the grounds at night when no one will object to him… being blind and sickly, he’s given relatively little freedom, although it’s mostly for his own safety. Still, he’s curious why she’s also up this late… Lucy-Mae admits it’s mostly in response to the murderer on the loose, following August on his walk… only to find he has led them right into the ballroom, and the seemingly haunted piano.
Lucy-Mae panics briefly, which is enough for August to ask her what the problem is. She tells him about the voice that Fiji heard, although August thinks that it’s just a little girl who sometimes visits in the dead of night. He notices CHESTR prodding at the piano and seems curious… since he couldn’t see CHESTR, August thinks he’s some kind of metal dog. Lucy-Mae tries to explain what CHESTR is, but she doesn’t actually know how CHESTR works. August asks if CHESTR can make any sounds, and CHESTR helpfully opens up, revealing a small horn-shaped speaker and a switch. Lucy-Mae presses the switch, and CHESTR, tinkered with by Diego, produces the faint sound of Ranchera music.
CHESTR seems curious about the piano and pokes at the keys, much to Lucy-Mae and August’s annoyance, turning off its music and instructing it to not touch the piano. They proceed out to the garden, listening to the sound of the rain… although CHESTR reacts defensively to the sound of thunder. August starts to shiver from the cold and Lucy-Mae insists on returning inside, walking with August and asking him about his music playing, with August explaining that he specializes in the Violin, or the viol. Still, he seems to appreciate the judgment-free company for the night, and thanks Lucy-Mae before going to bed for the night… with Lucy-Mae briefly considering locking his door, but realizing for a sickly young man it might be best that others can easily enter his room. As they pass by the ballroom, Lucy-Mae hears the piano being played followed by the sound of a young girl giggling… which she opts to ignore and hurries to wake up Dali to keep watch, not interested in dealing with a ghost.
Lucy-Mae enters Dali’s room to wake her for her watch and inform her about what she saw… in particular, about August’s late-night walks and the haunted piano. Dali is particularly curious about the ghost, but doesn’t seem too worried about it, especially since August implied this was a regular occurrence. Goldie the sand otter starts to follow her at first, but as soon as Dali tells her to get some sleep Goldie happily hurries back to the room. Dali uses the light that Diego had given to her, but finds it a bit frustrating… instead she chooses to Wildshape into a housecat, relying on the cat’s darkvision to continue her investigation. She moves to the ballroom, with CHESTR following. She also hears the piano seem to play itself, followed by a child’s giggle… although she is concerned, she doesn’t detect any malice, and as she watches, the piano begins to play itself. Rather than confront the spirit or question what’s happening, Dali sits and politely listens to the song being played. When lightning flashes, she can briefly see the faint outline of a child at the piano. CHESTR, however, doesn’t seem to react at all to the sudden appearance of this spectral child. Once her song is complete, she disappears, and Dali decides to continue her patrol and notices a light in a window.
Investigating further, they find that the light is on in the kitchen. Mrs. Bonnet steps into the kitchen and panics at the sight of a strange cat in the kitchen, along with Diego’s “Devil Box”, as she refers to CHESTR. She’s trying to shoo out the cat and CHESTR, forcing Dali to return to her true form and explain that she’s keeping watch… although a tiny housecat shifting into an 8 foot tall firbolg only panics her further. Mrs. Bonnet doesn’t care for CHESTR and shoos it out, while Dali volunteers to help with preparing breakfast as an apology for frightening her. Dali asks her about the spirit in the “piano room”, but Mrs. Bonnet doesn’t believe in such things. Still, Dali is helping as best she can, but clearly struggles with the often wasteful manner of cooking of the upperclass. After breakfast is complete, the sun has risen, although it’s still hidden by heavy clouds, with Mrs. Bonnet ringing the bell to invite everyone to breakfast.
August actually manages to arrive at breakfast before anyone else. He asks CHESTR to play some music again, but CHESTR was not told to listen to him and doesn’t respond, but at Dali’s request it opens up again and August can reach over to activate its music playing function. Diego arrives to find Mrs. Bonnet complaining about CHESTR, as she considers it a nuisance that scuffs the floors, with Diego taking this as an opportunity to check on CHESTR… when Fiji mentions that CHESTR is gaining a sense of self Diego seems excited at the thought of CHESTR recognizing its reflection as itself, and hurries to get a mirror to perform tests, so absorbed in his work he doesn’t realize how rude he’s being until Mrs. Bonnet admonishes him, which seems to greatly embarrass him, but he does at least confirm that CHESTR seems to just be copying what Fiji showed it and shows no sign of actually understanding the specifics of how a mirror works.
Everyone eats breakfast and discusses the night. Fiji mentions the ghost again, but August against insists it’s just a little girl named Lucille who has a habit of sneaking into the manor and visiting. He even confirms that he’s had conversations with her… how else would he know her name? Diego accepts this explanation without question beyond concern that the house is so easy to sneak into… Dali, who witnessed the spectral nature of Lucille directly, chooses not to press the issue. However, the discussion of the piano does lead to the revelation that CHESTR was poking and prodding at it, and Diego wants to make sure the piano wasn’t damaged, with Lucy-Mae following to help. Diego explains that he actually became interested in invention thanks to a Player Piano in his family’s home, and he clearly appreciates the Grand Piano in the Hughes manor… according to August, it’s Hesper’s piano and originally belonged to their Mother. With Lucy-Mae’s help he finds only a few minor scuffs that are easily cleared up, and does a quick tune-up to get it into prime condition.
Returning together, they arrive in time for Mrs. Bonnet to assign tasks for her visitors. Fiji and Lucy-Mae have work to do in the ballroom, while Mrs. Bonnet wants Dali to assist her, and also hopes to teach her some more modern cooking techniques. Diego, of course, continues the installation of the TX2 Cy-Mount Chassis… using a “Birthday Crit” to maximize work on the complicated installation. Fiji and Lucy-Mae are helping prepare the ballroom for an event of some kind when Fiji hears a visitor at the front door. Going to the front door, he finds a fellow tabaxi… an employee of Hermes Delivery, a rival company to the Quicktep Delivery Service. The Hermes Deliveryman recognizes Fiji by name, and the two swap banter… although the Hermes Deliveryman clearly takes the rivalry more seriously than Fiji, who seems to mostly be playing along with the rivalry for fun. He finds that the delivery is actually for Lucy-Mae… a letter from her grandmother that’s been forwarded to her current location, and has clearly been in the postal system for some time.
Lucy-Mae’s grandmother, Delorah Brewmonger, writes to admonish Lucy-Mae for not staying in regular communication. She also asks about Lucy-Mae’s love-life, encouraging her to meet a strapping young man, and warning her to avoid any “dashing rogues”… but also suggests Lucy-Mae send any Dashing Rogues to grandma instead. At this time, Lucy-Mae and Fiji have finished the task assigned to them, and join Dali to help her, finding that she’s been learning to make cookies. She’s happy with their work, and gives them a tray of fresh-baked cookies, asking that they share some with August who is in the study. He appears to be reading a book, but there’s no visible text on the page… instead he’s running his hand along the page. Dali is instantly curious about the book, with August explaining it’s The Grimveil Saga… a historical drama. Dali admits she mostly prefers informational books rather than stories, and August says he has a few books she would probably like, if only she read braille. Dali doesn’t know what that is, so he lets her see that his book actually has a series of raised bumps on the page that he can read by touch.
Fiji recognizes the book series, and asks about August’s favorite character… he cant’ settle on a single one, but he lists a few and Fiji is curious about the character known simply as “Crush”, thinking it would be odd to have just a single name… causing Lucy-Mae to question about his last name. He explains that “Quickstep” isn’t just the company he works for… it’s actually his last name. They sit and discuss books for a bit while eating cookies and drinking tea. Dali asks about why such a large home doesn’t have any pets, with August explaining that Mrs. Bonnet doesn’t allow them, as their fur gets everywhere, they scratch the floor, and poop all over. Fiji explains that he’s potty trained, with August having forgotten momentarily that Fiji is completely covered in fur. Dali explains she also has a light coating of fur all over her body, and August apologizes but asks if he can touch her face to feel. He’s fascinated by her animal-like features and asks her about them… Dali explains that firbolgs have animal-like features… her mother has more deer-like features, and her father has more buffalo-like features, and she has a sort of halfway point between the two. August doesn’t know what a buffalo is, so Dali volunteers to wildshape into one so he can feel what one is like.
August is shocked, but he can’t help but feel her head, amazed at the sheer size of her new form. Feeling a little embarrassed that he was touching her so much, but he appreciates the experience. After she turns back, he asks if anyone else would allow him to feel their face so he could get a better understanding of their appearance. Fiji volunteers first, unbothered by the feeling of having his face groped… and August can’t help but pet him like a cat, which Fiji simply enjoys, seeing nothing wrong with it. Still, August apologizes when he realizes he was being impolite… he then asks Lucy-Mae if she minds. She doesn’t, although she doesn’t think he’ll find her face as interesting as the others, since dwarves are far more common than Tabaxi or firbolgs… but with his secluded lifestyle, August hasn’t met many dwarves. He’s mostly interested in her tightly braided hair, as he’s never felt anything like that before, and although he understands what a tattoo is in theory, he has no way of knowing what hers look like. He asks about their “rambly friend”, but Diego is too busy at the moment. Although Lucy-Mae tells the story of when they met Michael, and how Diego talked at length trying to explain something, and how Fiji had to regularly remind him that he’s talking to an actual child. They all enjoy a good laugh, but Fiji admires that Diego doesn’t talk down to others… even if he does occasionally embarrass himself ranting so much about seemingly unimportant details.
The group starts to gather for lunch with Hesper, with Diego arriving like clockwork for the noon meeting. Hesper is pleased to learn of the progress Diego has already made, and she offers the names of a few potential investors that she’s interested in wooing to support the production of the TX2 Chassis. Amongst the names is “Sweet Delorah Brewmonger”… although she’s not particularly wealthy herself, she has deep ties to various politicians and other government officials. Diego briefly considers her low-priority, Lucy-Mae hesitates to mention her connection… until Fiji pipes up, recognizing the name from the letter to Lucy-Mae. Not wanting to flaunt her connection, Lucy-Mae admits that she considers Delorah to be her Grandmother (although it seems the two aren’t blood-related), but she can provide a connection with little effort. Grateful for her help, one last person on their list is a Madame Isald Veil… she’s a well-known philanthropist who recently founded her own town, Veiltown. According to Hesper’s publicist, Veil is the most valuable investor she could hope for, but unfortunately she’s far out of town and will require persuasion. Knowing that Diego’s work will soon require downtime while the Cy-Mount is visited by a veterinarian, this seems the ideal time to visit Madame Veil… although Diego is the only one who can install the Cy-Mount Chassis, he’s also the best choice for convincing Madame Veil… between his knowledge of TX2 and his natural charm. He even briefly turns the charm on Hesper, who Fiji and Lucy-Mae are able to insight actually seems a bit taken with the flirtatious tiefling, but manages to maintain her professionalism. She lets the party know that she can provide a motorized boat to get to and from Veiltown in as little time as possible… a boat designed by Sprock himself. Pleased with the progress, she leaves to continue her business while everyone prepares for the upcoming event.
Diego hurries to the barn to complete this stage of installation of the TX2, while Fiji and Lucy-Mae work together to design flyers to advertise the showcase for the TX2… their plan is for the fliers to contain a coded message. Something not too difficult to solve, but enough to make those who do feel special for uncovering the secret. Meanwhile, Dali works on her plan to gather animals in the city to distribute the fliers… thanks to being both a Firbolg and a Shepherd Druid, she can easily communicate with animals. She finds a particularly fluffy and friendly pigeon and asks it to gather some friends, promising cookies in return for their aid. Within minutes she’s swarmed by eager pigeons happy to help and she realizes that these are actually “Hug Pigeons”, friendly, mostly harmless creatures that unfortunately run the risk of smothering others. Fortunately, Lucy-Mae steps out to assist, pulling Dali from the mass of pigeons as Dali explains her request to the pigeons, which actually line up in organized rows to listen to her.
There is some panic from Mrs. Bonnet when she sees the veritable horde of Hug Pigeons, shouting her concerns after “The Smothering of ‘96”. She’s a little apprehensive when she learns she’ll have to bake cookies for all these birds, but otherwise doesn’t mind as long as they stay out of the manor itself. At this point Diego returns, as no further work can be done on the TX2 Cy-Mount until a veterinarian has spent some time with it. He doesn’t recognize the difference between Hug Pigeons and regular pigeons and when he touches one he finds himself swarmed as well, but Lucy-Mae steps in again and throws Diego into the house where Mrs. Bonnet takes his coat… between the grease of his work and all the birds, his coat has become covered in loose feathers. Diego also notices on Hug Pigeon with intense eyes that is clearly watching him through the windows and actually follows him no matter where he goes. Still, their work is completed shortly before dinner, and they decide that they should leave for Veiltown as soon as possible in order to make sure Diego will have time to charm Madame Veil and still complete the installation of the TX2 before the exhibition.
We're going live tonight at 8:30pm PST at our usual homes on Twitch and Youtube! It's been about a month since our last session, and if you haven't watched the video above, here's what happened in our last session:
Thanks to one of the cards from Fate’s Verdict, the audience and players learn about something the players themselves don’t… before dawn, it’s a cool morning gradually warming by the rising sun. The outer edges of the city appear peaceful, but soon the sound of gunshots is heard. A rich looking man rushing through the nearby woods, clutching a bundle close as he’s chased by men on horses, firing guns and hooting excitedly. The rich man is wearing his night clothes, and just barely manages to hide behind a tree, the horses rushing past him. Thinking he’s safe, he turns to find a gun in his face… a man wearing a face mask tells him, “End of the Line”, and the sound of a gunshot rings before being followed by cold silence.
For the players, however, it’s at sunset… whether it’s the same day isn’t clear. After Lucy-Mae’s letter from her grandmother, Diego realizes he needs to write to his family as well… composing a letter explaining that he’s in Pennington, and trying to impress them by explaining he’s working with the Hughes Carriage Company, hoping to impress them. Lucy-Mae as well is writing a letter, letting her Grandmother know that she’s in Pennington, but that she’ll be gone for a few days… however, she does try to help Diego by telling her about CHESTR… although she struggles a bit to explain what CHESTR actually is. Meanwhile, Fiji has gotten a delivery forwarded to the Hughes estate… a small package with a letter from his father talking about how proud he is of Fiji, and is hoping he’s eating well… to help him with this, he sent Fiji all the dry ingredients necessary for Dim Sum, along with a handmade bowl and other items.
With their work complete for now, the party decides to ask Hesper if they could leave early to hopefully get a head start on their journey to Veiltown. To Diego’s delight, she pulls out a long range communication device… one of the very first telephones in order to arrange their travel. She also agrees to a per diem for their travel, and shares some more information about Madame Veil… she’s an heiress from the old country, and she’s passionate about issues of Equal Rights, Unfair Wages, or Unemployment. She objects to the use of constructs, as automation has resulted in several people losing their jobs recently.
Before leaving, everyone wants to check in with Mrs. Bonnet and August. They meet Mrs. Bonnet first, and she’s thankful they let her know about their departure before she started on dinner. She also provides them with some cookies to eat on their journey, and when she hears about the motor boat they’ll be taking she warns them to remain seated. Diego reflects that a vehicle built for power at the sacrifice of comfort sounds like something Sprock would invent.
They find August practicing his violin, and they take the time to say farewell to him. They also realize that August didn’t actually know that Diego is a tiefling, and like the others he lets August feel his face so he can tell what Diego looks like. They also get confirmation that, like August, Hesper is a half-elf, but she hides her ears with her hair… explaining that some rich jerks look down on “half breeds”, a pain that Diego can relate to. The group also warns him about the killer, concerned that the Hughes Manor might need more security. However, they learn that August is largely kept out of the loop with local news… he wasn’t even told about the fire that killed Bridget Cammington, although he had basically figured it out on his own… he could easily smell the fire and hear the commotion outside, and he heard his sister crying, even though she refused to explain why. Diego is hesitant to tell August the truth, concerned for his well-being since August is so sickly, but ultimately the group decides it would be cruel to hide this information from him, and although it clearly causes him stress, he suspected as much in the first place and, if anything, seems grateful that they trusted him enough to tell him the truth.
They say their farewells and proceed to a wagon stop to rent a wagon to take them to the docks on the far side of town. With the sun setting, they arrive in a run down part of town and find the Captain of the boat… red skinned Tiefling man with black hair and four horns who is clearly drinking excessively. He introduces himself as Cyril and leads the group to the mechanically enhanced boat with large paddle wheels on its side. Written on the side is “The Voyager”… although it’s been vandalized to say “The Voyeur”, along with some rude words written in Elvish. The ship is clearly of good quality… although it’s filled with empty bottles. Cyril struggles to start the boat, whacking it with a large wrench to get it started.
The Voyager lives up to its reputation… the launch sends Dali and CHESTR both tumbling backward as it takes off like a shot through the bay as it makes its way to the river. The Voyager only barely managing to avoid colliding with other boats in the bay. Cyril casually picks up near-empty alcohol bottles, drinking what’s left before tossing the bottles over his shoulder, to the intense frustration of Dali, who opposes both drinking while driving and especially polluting the river with garbage. To help ease the tension, Diego offers to have CHESTR help clean up the debris. Despite her argument, Cyril clearly finds Dali attractive and attempts to flirt with her, but only seems to upset her further.
To try and cut the tension, Cyril starts to ask everyone about themselves, hoping to learn more about them. Lucy-Mae explains that her tattoos are ceremonial, and it’s something she learned from her grandmother who practically raised her. Dali has to explain that her name is just “Dali”, as her people don’t use surnames. Diego mostly rambles about the technical specs of the TX2 Cymount he’s installing, while Fiji talks about his family business and ends up revealing the reason he’s been in Rattleridge this whole time was because he was hiding out after ruining his arranged marriage. Everyone is stunned to hear this, but in Fiji’s culture arranged marriages are common… his own parents met through an arranged marriage, and there’s even an official matchmaker who pairs couples together. He doesn’t explain exactly what happened, but one detail he shares is that, whatever happened, at some point he accidentally set the matchmaker on fire. While he’s still embarrassed about everything that’s happened, he’s pleased to learn that his friends support his decision to avoid an arranged marriage.
While traveling, Diego is allowed to open a maintenance panel of the Voyager and examine its inner workings. Investigating it more closely, Diego realizes it’s not simply a fast boat… it’s actually a Construct, similar to CHESTR, although not nearly as autonomou The Voyager still requires a driver, but it’s capable of avoiding obstacles and even mooring itself, explaining somewhat how Cyril can steer it with such precision while clearly drunk. In just a few hours the Voyager is arriving at Penning’s Divide… trip that took the greater part of a day on a regular ferry, now only taking a few hours as night begins to fall and Cyril would rather stay in town to get some drinks and sleep in a proper bed.
On their way into town, Diego recognizes Nancy, the Clerk working the ticket booth for the ferry, a young Triton woman. He eagerly flirts with her, hoping to take her out on a date during his short stay in Penning’s Divide. The rest of the group also decides to visit the local tavern, partly for their own relaxation, but also to keep an eye on Cyril and make sure he doesn’t drink himself into a coma. Fiji even manages to stealthily water down Cyril’s drink a bit, for his own sake. Meanwhile, Diego is joined by Nancy for their date, sharing some food together when they’re joined by a Half-orc woman who works as a guard in Penning’s Divide; Needlesplit, Nancy’s girlfriend. To Diego’s delight, they’re in an open relationship, and he manages to woo both of them into a night of passion as everyone finishes their meals and prepares for a night in Penning’s Divide before continuing their journey to the newly formed settlement of Veiltown.
It's been a while since our last game of Gears and Guns. During our last stream there was actually a problem with our DM's internet, hence why the livestream archive is split into two videos. Luckily, we're finally able to get back and explore the Fantasy Wild West again! It will be a short stream, but you can catch us tonight on Twitch or Youtube at 8PM EST.
As always, if you need a reminder of what happened in our last session, read on:
Diego spends the night with Nancy and Needlesplit, proving himself a generous lover with his critical success on a constitution check. Meanwhile, Cyril is still aggressively hitting on Dali, who is having absolutely none of it. She also opposes Cyril continuing to drink, eventually consenting to let him get just one more drink before heading to bed so he’s able to focus on the drive the next day… which Cyril uses as an excuse to order a pitcher, although Tipsy, who owns the bar, offers him a single tankard, which Cyril accepts. Worried for him, Fiji does a medical check on Cyril and is shocked to realize Cyril shows actually very few signs of drunkenness… despite how much he has been drinking all day, he’s still only a little tipsy. He finishes his drink then leaves to sleep in The Voyager for the rest of the night. Meanwhile, Goldie has been stealing snacks from bar patrons all night long.
After finishing their own meals, the trio of Fiji, Lucy-Mae and Dali all opt to return to the Voyager as well for the rest of the night, especially since all their stuff was left within the boat. As they approach, Fiji notices that Cyril is using some kind of tools and are pressing them against his chest. Fiji tries to sneak up on Cyril to see what he’s doing, but he fails so horribly that Cyril easily catches him and seems offended at being snuck up on. Cyril makes a point to make direct eye contact with Dali while taking a heavy drink of whiskey… with Fiji noting that Cyril seems to enjoy upsetting Dali. In her annoyance, Dali tells Goldie that, although she has long tried to teach Goldie to not go places she doesn’t belong or go digging through other peoples’ stuff, for tonight, at least, she encourages Goldie to investigate Cyril.
Diego wakes up embraced by Nancy and Needlesplit, choosing to wake the women with a kiss. Although their morning starts somewhat romantic, soon all three realize they’re late for their various jobs, and they all seem to understand that this was just a one-night thing… although they do agree to try and meet during Diego’s return trip. Making it back to The Voyager, he finds the only person awake is Goldie, who is sitting on a small hoard of stolen trinkets and is currently chewing on a bullet. Diego hurries to take the bullet from her, which wakes the others who help him, with Dali putting Goldie away. The bullet doesn’t belong to Cyril, and Diego investigates it further and realizes it has magic runes on it… with his knowledge of inventions, he discerns that it can be used as sort of long-range net. The other items seem to mostly not belong to Cyril either, and nothing of particular value
Continuing their ride, Fiji attempts to ask Cyril about what he was doing with the tools to his chest the night before, but Cyril isn’t persuaded to talk about it, instead encouraging Fiji to just look for any jumping river salmon. This immediately gets Fiji’s attention, who hurries to watch for fish… as soon as one of the migrating river fish leaps out of the water he quickly snatches it with his bare hands. With a bit of help from Diego and Dali, Fiji manages to cook a delicious meal using the tiny stove built into the Voyager. They all enjoy the meal, and Dali in particular is relieved as Cyril consumes actual food for the first time anyone in the group has seen since meeting him. Cyril notes that they’ll be passing through Campbell’s Bridge, and he’s eager to pick up some “supplies”… with Dali intuiting that he means alcohol, and she has no intention of allowing him to get more alcohol. Making their way into the makeshift bar owned by the Bugbear couple, they find that the Coffee Plant Dali helped them to bloom is growing healthily. Dali tells Goldie to shriek any time Cyril attempts to order any alcohol, which manages to interrupt Cyril’s attempts to purchase enough for him to simply give up, However, seeing how Cyril seems so sensitive to not getting alcohol regularly, Diego and Lucy-Mae both think to buy some emergency wine just in case they ever need to calm him down. Diego also learns that Cyril has a reputation for drinking… in particular, he once drank an entire keg of beer by himself on a dare, and seemed none the worse for wear… a feat that’s unusual enough to actually pique Diego’s curiosity.
Returning to the Voyager, Cyril is still in a bad mood with Dali’s needling. His mood isn’t helped after taking off when Diego starts to question him about his unusual ability to drink in excess. Cyril is aware that his ability to drink is unusual and seems to know why, but he refuses to explain why, hoping to exit the conversation by going below deck to do some maintenance… however, Diego forcibly assists with the maintenance and continues to try and interrogate Cyril, who simply grunts and avoids answering any of Diego’s questions. Meanwhile, the others are focused on catching more fish and preparing some fish and grits for dinner. By the time the food is finished, Cyril pointedly locks Diego out of the Captain’s quarters, accepting his dinner through a small window in the freshly locked door.
As they sit and eat their meals, they discuss their theories about Cyril. Fiji casually mentions that he saw Cyril manipulating something on his chest with tools the other day. Diego theorizes that Cyril might have some kind of prosthetic in his chest that requires maintenance, and which may have something to do with his ability to drink alcohol. He even wonders aloud if it’s possible that he uses alcohol as a fuel source of some kind, but he admits that, while high proof alcohol can make a viable fuel source, something like beer or wine isn’t well suited to the task. The decision is eventually made that, as curious as everyone is, it would be too rude to keep pressing Cyril on the topic directly. Instead they decide to get some rest, as Cyril instead decides to drive through the night just to get this over with early.
The travelers still keep watch through the night. During Fiji’s watch he notices a shadowy figure in the trees near the river that appears to be following the ship. He watches it for a moment, but it doesn’t seem to do anything out fo the ordinary, so he doesn’t think much of it, aside from mentioning it to Lucy-Mae when waking her up for her watch. More alert thanks to Fiji’s warning, Lucy-Mae watches the shoreline more closely, and to her horror realizes the shadowy figure is somehow keeping up with The Voyager by swinging from tree to tree. The shadowy figure appears extremely tall and spindly, its body seemingly made of thin whisps of shadow with eyes that are simply two glowing points. She hurries to wake Dali to seek her expertise… to her horror Dali recognizes this as a “Lookaround”… a strange spirit that remains harmless if ignored, but if stared at it becomes hostile… it’s known for its unnatural height and extreme speed. Everyone is woken up and readies to deal with the creature should it attack.
The party finds it exceedingly difficult to not watch the spirit as it follows them. Dali and Diego move to try and protect Captain Cyril, who is panicking a bit as he’s not a trained fighter like the others. Diego positions CHESTR near where he hears the Lookaround moving, hoping CHESTR may draw its attraction. However, it ignores CHESTR and its long, shadowy claw begins to reach for Dali, with Diego no longer able to ignore the creature and firing on it with his pistol. The bullet does relatively little damage to the spirit and in the blink of an eye it leaps onto The Voyager, standing over 10 feet tall and shrieking, the supernatural screeching sound instilling fear in most who hear it. Even the automaton CHESTR is affected, but Fiji manages to avoid the debilitating effects, rushing the Lookaround and slamming it repeatedly, only to find his bludgeoning strikes barely harming it. Lucy-Mae and Diego are slowed by their fear, but finally Dali conjures a Moonbeam to slam into the creature and damage it with radiant energy, which burns away the long, spindly limbs of the Lookaround, revealing its true form as a small, wrinkled, white-skinned animal-like being… with its limbs destroyed it hisses and leaps into the water… defeated for now, but not dead.
Cyril is eager to be done with this job at this point, and he speeds up, completing the ride to Veiltown by noon the next day while everyone else rests after having their long rest interrupted. They find that Veiltown has a lone, isolated dock on the Snake River with no one present attending to it. Cyril has no interest in visiting Veiltown… he repeats rumors he has heard of it being creepy, but can’t offer any explanation beyond that. He also seems just eager to spend some time away from the group who is cramping his usual habit of lounging around and drinking all day. Leaving Cyril behind, they complete the short walk to Veiltown… a small settlement with buildings that are clearly extremely high quality… made of sturdy wood and stone, and most of the buildings have decorative stained glass windows.
Veiltown certainly doesn’t live up to its “spooky” reputation… until the group is suddenly approached by an unkempt, crazed looking human man. He runs toward them with wild eyes, shouting about how “they” are going to “awake it”, and warning the group to stay away. Baffled, they try to get him to explain in detail, but as quickly as he approached he immediately runs away into the nearby woods, and they opt not to follow him, instead approaching some of the seemingly normal citizens of Veiltown who are busying themselves around town to ask about what just happened. The people of Veiltown don’t know who the crazed man is, but they seem to be aware that he’s been around and they have no idea what he’s talking about. They don’t think he’s dangerous, and tend to just ignore him when he comes by. However, when the group explains that they’re here to meet Madam Veil, everyone is eager to guide them toward her home… although the multi-story manor is easy to find, especially as it rests atop a large hill. The people of Veiltown all seem to speak happily about Madam Veil.
Approaching the luxurious manor, Diego rings the doorbell. The door is answered by a Kirei Midorian human woman who recognizes Diego’s name, as HR Hughes had sent word ahead of time about his visit. Standing nearby is a male goblin in a servant’s suit, both of them greeting the adventurers and guiding them into Madam Veil’s office. Madam Veil’s home is lavishly decorated with red, and is lit by hanging chandeliers decorated with finely crafted crystals. Fiji, whose father is a skilled glassblower, appreciates the high value and rarity of such things. Making their way through her lavish abode, they soon find Lady Isald Veil waiting in her office.
Madam Veil is a young human woman with striking red hair and an elaborate dress. She’s chipper and excited to meet the group, inviting them to join her for an elaborate lunch that had been prepared especially for them. She’s not interested in discussing business matters at first, wanting simply to get to know the group and share some of the international foods that she has learned to love in her travels across the world. She is very proud of the quality of the buildings in Veiltown, especially as she feels it important that her employees live rich, fulfilling lives. She doesn’t like that rumors are spreading that Veiltown is “creepy”, and can’t fathom why anyone would think that… even the thought of some business rival trying to spread false rumors doesn’t ring true to her. She also admits sheepishly that she is sometimes referred to as “The Scarlet Lady”, but only brings it up to explain that she doesn’t like the moniker and asks not to be called by that name.
During their dinner, Dali realizes she’s lost track of Goldie… as the Sand Otter has a love for snatching shiny objects she realizes that Goldie is a disaster waiting to happen in the Veil estate. Diego continues to chat with Madam Veil while the others excuse themselves to look for Goldie, finding that the otter has somehow managed to climb into the crystal chandelier and very clearly got herself stuck in the process. Careful to avoid damaging the valuable decoration, Lucy-Mae uses her powers as a Rune Knight to grow to large size and reach for Goldie and extract her before she does any damage. Once captured, Madam Veil is eager to meet Goldie. She also lets her visitors know that they’re welcome to stay in her home, and gives them themed keys to the guest rooms, each party member getting their own room. As they go inside to drop off their supplies and relax, they’re each delivered a gift of fine clothing made especially for them, based on information provided to Madam Veil by H.R. Hughes.
Come join the Crits for Breakfast crew on Twitch or Youtube tonight! The heroes have found themselves in a mysterious temple... join us tonight at 8:30 pm EST, and if you need a reminder of what happened last time, read on:
The party opens the gifts left for them, finding fine clothes custom made just for them. Diego finds an 1800’s style Spanish nobleman’s suit. More used to this kind of thing, he rings the bell to summon Jasper, Madame Veil’s goblin servant to help put on the outfit. Fiji finds a traditional Chinese-style robe made of flowing yellow fabric, specially made to avoid static and is even designed to accommodate his tail. Fiji eagerly puts his outfit on, rushing outside after he puts it on to show everyone. He’s soon joined by Dali, who was gifted a European woman’s fine dress… unfortunately, she can’t figure out how to put it on, stepping out of her room to seek help. Lucy-Mae, meanwhile, gets a playful Steampunk style dress with leather corset, fingerless gloves, and a dress shorter in the front than in the back, showing her legs in tight fitting pants, tall boots, and even a cute top hat.
Dali is barely wearing her dress, spilling out as she’s trying to figure out how to wear this European-style clothing. Fiji, with his mercurial nature, doesn’t find her near-nudity unusual, but he doesn’t know how to secure those kinds of outfits either. Lucy-Mae steps out and is shocked at the sight, when Dali has the thought that Diego will probably know, casually walking into his room as her dress is beginning to slip off of her. Diego was chatting with Jasper about his work with Madame Veil, but is pushed to stunned silence at the sight before him. Dali is asking for help, with Jasper ushering her back to his room while he summons Akane, Madame Veil’s female human servant, to help her get dressed. Dali doesn’t understand all the fuss being made, as she sees nothing unusual about her natural body being seen by others… among her tribe, nudity isn’t seen as particularly strange, and things like communal baths regularly occur. Akane lets her know that she should be more careful exposing herself, with Dali agreeing for everyone else’s sake, although she still doesn’t see the problem.
The group spends some time examining their room. Fiji finds a lovely clock with a sunflower design, although it doesn’t seem to be working. Lucy-Mae is hoping to find some perfume, but doesn’t have any in her room. She steps out and sees Fiji, who left his door open, and at his suggestion they think to ask Diego, who tends to have things like that. Diego, meanwhile, can’t help but admire an elaborate golden mirror set in his room with carvings of angels framing the reflecting glass. However, the hands of one of the angels has a seam of some kind on it… pulling on it, he finds that it pops off, and reveals a small button underneath. Pressing the button, he can hear gears turning, the mirror folding away to reveal a hidden container that holds what appears to be a small iron comb with a crown pattern on one side. As he’s trying to discern that this device is, Fiji and Lucy-Mae approach to ask him about help with perfume… fortunately, his Magical Tinkering allows him to create harmless scents, and with Lucy-Mae’s direction he provides for her a floral scent. Dali, now that she’s properly dressed, goes to see what everyone is gathered for, although she’s worried about getting too close, since she’s actually allergic to most types of perfume. Fortunately, since Diego’s tinkering is Magical in nature, it doesn’t cause her to develop a rash.
Diego believes that this is a deliberate game set up by Madam Veil, and the group then systematically goes from room to room solving puzzles, each time opening a hidden compartment in some part of the room to reveal more pieces of a device that, once assembled together, forms a large key, over 7” in length, with a decorative head that resembles a lion’s head sprouting from a large sunflower, and a complicated pronged end. Curious about what this oversized key could possibly go to, they test it against a nearby door, and to their surprise the key rearranges itself to lock the door. Testing it against another door, they find it does the same thing and they determine that it must be a skeleton key designed to open, at the very least, any door within the mansion. Wondering why Madam Veil would set up a game to allow them to find a universal key instead of one that will, presumably, open up some kind of prize, they realize that this wasn’t intended as a gift at all… it was simply a well-hidden key that was kept in pieces in the themed rooms, and they weren’t expected to find it. Diego immediately attempts to disassemble the key to hide it back where they found the pieces, but finds the key is thoroughly locked in place and can’t be easily taken apart.
As they’re discussing whether or not they should hide the key somewhere, they hear Jasper approaching to inform them that dinner is prepared. Feeling guilty for digging into their hidden things without permission, Diego returns the key to Jasper, who seems shocked to see it, and annoyed at the party for finding it. Her hurriedly takes the key back and insists the party follow him back to the dining room, where dinner is waiting. Joined once again by Madam Veil, they finally decide to discuss they were sent for in the first place… trying to convince Madam Veil to help invest in the new TX-2 Cy-mount invented by Diego’s teacher, Sprock, and due to be produced by the Hughes Family. Diego at first attempts to wow Madam Veil with the technical specs of the TX-2, but Lucy-Mae interrupts his rambling to point out that nobody has any idea what he’s talking about. Instead, he switches tactics… telling in more detail the story of how he nearly drowned during a hydraulic mining incident. In his youth, some other boys dared him to enter a forbidden part of his family’s mine. However, he didn’t know that this portion of the mine was set to be Hydraulic mined on that day, and when the caves were flooded he was only saved because some of the miners risked their own lives to rescue him. This helped instill in him a deep appreciation for the workers themselves, and he knows that Madam Veil has a reputation for caring deeply about the people in her employ. He’s hoping that, if Madam Veil is a primary investor, she’ll be able to use her influence to make sure that everyone employed in the manufacture of the TX-2 will have someone fighting for them.
Appealing to her sense of duty, and finding sincerity through his story, Madam Veil doesn’t commit just yet, but she’s clearly interested in investigating further. She considers traveling back to Pennington with the group, although there is some hesitation since the riverboat they took to visit her in Veiltown, while fast, doesn’t quite match the luxury they assume Madam Veil would be accustomed to. As they’re discussing the date of the upcoming exhibition they’re planning for the TX-2. Just as they’re beginning to discuss the logistics of travel, dinner is interrupted by Jasper, who needs to speak to Madam Veil in private, and he seems to be in a bad mood. The group remains eating dinner, until Dali begins to worry that Goldie might be doing something, as the last anyone saw the Sand Otter she was sleeping on Dali’s bed, but had many opportunities to wander out and explore the manor when they weren’t looking. Dali and Fiji both excuse themselves to try and listen in on Madam Veil’s conversation to listen and make sure Goldie hasn’t broken anything, while Diego and Lucy-Mae stay and eat.
Both Dali and Fiji have particularly good hearing, and they can pick up Veil and Jasper’s conversation clearly… they don’t know exactly what they’re discussing, but most importantly they discuss the master key that had been found earlier… Jasper explains that he’s stored it in his room for now, but they’re both worried about the curiosity of their guests. They discuss plans to lock everyone in their room, so that they might “avoid the bloodshed”. Before they can continue, however, the sound of an animal howling can be heard and they head outside. Fiji and Dali return in a panic, trying to explain what they heard. Especially with the strange man who approached them in a panic earlier that day, Fiji and Dali especially are becoming convinced that they’ve been lured here to be killed, for whatever reason. Diego disagrees… if they were just being brought here to be killed, why would Madam Veil provide them with fine clothes and such a luxurious feast? This, however, only panics Dali more, as now she’s convinced they’re being fattened up for slaughter.
Any debate on whether or not they’re in danger is cut short as they hear the sound of a man screaming in terror outside, followed quickly by more animal howls. Diego wants to just ask Madam Veil about this directly, but Lucy-Mae reminds him that they’re all unarmed and wearing formal clothes… if he’s wrong and Madam Veil means them harm, whatever is howling out there could potentially kill them all. Dali and Fiji again listen at the door to hear Veil and Jasper still conversing, clearly not afraid of whatever creature is howling outside. Instead, they’re concerned that their guests must have heard that scream. As they’re trying to decide what they’ll say to their guests, Dali quickly locks the door behind them and everyone runs back to their rooms to gather their equipment and prepare for what comes next.
Dali has been struggling to move in her European-style dress this whole time, and had long ago abandoned the high heeled shoes she had been gifted, opting to walk on her bare feet. Now that they’re preparing for potential combat, and not knowing how to properly remove the complicated outfit, Dali simply rips it off, unashamed to be seen before stomping into her room to make sure Goldie is unharmed and to put on her proper armor. Fiji, as a monk, requires no real armor or weapons, so he stays in his formal wear, which was designed to be moved in comfortably anyway. Lucy-Mae and Diego both opt to put their armor on over their formal wear, just in time to hear loud banging on the front door, signaling that Veil and Jasper are now trying to break in the front door. Remembering that Jasper mentioned leaving the Master Key in his room, they decide to search for his room… reasoning that whatever the key is hiding, it must be tied to whatever is going on, based on the snippets of conversation Dali and Fiji have been hearing. Whatever it’s hiding, it will likely give them answers for some of their questions, and whether or not they’re even really in danger.
Fortunately, it doesn’t take them long to stumble upon Jasper’s room. The door was left unlocked, and as they hurry in they find, despite his formal appearance, Jasper’s room is crudely built. Filled with jars that contain body parts, with walls covered in herbs and an unpleasant smell in the room. Dali and Diego investigate the herbs, realizing that they’re mostly Wolfsbane, which means one thing they’ve all been thinking since they heard the howling: werewolves. Everyone gathers some Wolfsbane in their pockets as Dali searches deeper into Jasper’s room, finding the Master Key casually tossed onto his bed… and more worryingly, 3 human skulls sitting on a blood-stained bookcase. As they start to panic again they notice thick shackles in one corner… unsure of their intended use, Diego grabs a pair of them just in case they prove useful. As the sound of the front door being hammered is getting louder, the group hurries downstairs… Diego reasons that the Master Key likely hides the entrance to some kind of basement, comparing it to a safe room. As one more familiar with manors and mansions, he’s asked where that kind of entrance might be… he assumes in the back, perhaps in the kitchens. As they hurry that way they hear the sound of the front door crashing in, Jasper and Veil shouting, demanding the group show themselves.
The group starts a desperate search, checking every door, hoping to find one that’s locked. Unfortunately, almost none of them are, and the few that are hold no new secrets. However, Fiji has the idea to lock every door they pass through… not only does this slow their pursuers even further, since Jasper isn’t carrying his house keys at the moment, but it also makes it more difficult for them to determine which direction they actually went. Getting a decent headstart, the group exhausts the back rooms and servants’ quarters before deciding to check Madam Veil’s study. There is is some hope when they find a locked drawer, but it simply contains her telephone, and although that is also key-activated, the Master Key doesn’t work on it. There begins a desperate search for some kind of hidden doorway or something, and there’s no progress until Diego is drawn to a book case tucked against the far wall of very short hallway. Its unusual position and the novel contraptions to hide hidden switches and secrets he’d already seen in the manor leads him to assume it must be where it is to fulfill a specific purpose. He begins systematically checking books, searching for hidden switches or key holes. However, there are a suspicious number of books relating to infernal dealings and curses… finally, with a book written in Elvish as “The Beast and the Beauty”, a small lever is pulled. With a click and the sound of gears turning, a portion of the nearby wall slides open, revealing a recess in the shape of the key. The master Key is placed in sideways, and as it does it becomes locked in place, then pulled into the wall as a hidden doorway slides open, revealing a room with a large infernal summoning circle drawn on the floor and more books on the far wall. The scent of old blood is heavy in the dimly lit, stone-walled crevice, and shortly after entering they find the exit has closed on its own behind them. Checking the books, it appears to be grimoires and instruction manuals for infernal rituals. Not wanting to lose too much time checking the books, in case whatever is pursuing them find s where they went, they search deeper and find a ladder leading downward into a deep, dark cave.
CHESTR is sent first downward… but unfortunately the automaton has never actually used a ladder before and without more careful instruction it simply leapt down the hole… fortunately not damaging itself too badly in the 30 foot drop. However, the loud crash doesn’t seem to attract anything from below, so the group follows CHESTR down into the darkness. Dali holds up the tinkered torch she was provided by Diego, and they see they’re moving downward into some kind of large temple. Not only a temple, but an ancient temple… clearly Veil Manor was built on top of this temple, and not the other way around. With nowhere to go but forward, the group prepares to face whatever they might find in this hidden place.
We're playing more Gears and Guns tonight at 8:30 PM EST. Come join us on Twitch or Youtube as we make our daring escape from Veil Manor. If, however, you need a stronger reminder of what happened in our last session, read on:
The travelers are in the hidden basement of Madam Veil’s home, after witnessing some kind of strange werewolf attack. However, exploring deeper, they realize this is actually an ancient temple, which Veil Manor was built on top of, that leads into a dark cave system. Diego takes a moment to take down the ladder they used to reach the temple, hoping to slow down any pursuers. Exploring deeper into the cave system, Dali is attacked by a strange creature that looked like a stalactite at first glance, but was able to fly and attach to her leg. Although it’s a small creature, it’s surprisingly strong, crushing her leg. Fiji rushes forward and manages to kill it. Lucy-Mae recognizes it as a Dark Mantle, and Goldie starts to try to eat it… with Fiji joining. Fortunately Lucy-Mae knows that they’re edible, with some dwarves referring to them as “Cave Calimari”, although normally they’re actually cooked.
Continuing further into the caves, they spot an area of magical darkness clinging to the roof. Choosing to avoid that, they instead move South, finding the chambers of the cave expanding in size, with more darkness surrounding them. Looking to the roof, they see that a sort of gravity-defying fog of pitch blackness clings to the ceiling. Throwing a torch into it, they see that it does nothing to dispel the darkness, with the light vanishing while it’s within the inky blackness, but the light becomes visible again as soon as it falls back to the floor. Diego realizes this is similar to the Darkness spell… harmless on its own, but it can still hide dangers. Unfortunately, it also means they have no way to dispel it, as it cannot simply be moved aside by hand.
Dali tries to see if Goldie can sense anything, as Sand Otters are natural tunnelers who are used by her people to help find sources of water in the desert. She is able to communicate simple ideas with Goldie, and realizes that Goldie senses water nearby. She directs the group to continue in that direction… Fiji steps ahead, hodling his spear on top of his head to deal with any dark mantles… this tactic actually works, and one Dark Mantle impales itself on his spear. He also notices that some of the magical darkness dissipates when the Dark Mantle dies. Continuing further, they notice a few weak spots on the ground that look to be unsafe to stand on. Goldie also takes advantage of the moment to climb into CHESTR, riding the treasure chest-shaped automaton… until Diego forgets she’s in there and sends CHESTR ahead just in case something attacks, causing Goldie to leap out and crawl back into Dali’s arms.
As they travel through tunnels that follow a slow decline downward, Diego tries to examine the walls to tell if these tunnels are naturally occurring or if they’re man-made… it does seem to be naturally made, but he does notice claw marks from a large creature. Fiji compares it to his own clawed hands, realizing the markings are quite a bit bigger. As they continue, Dali hears strange voices in her head speaking in a language she doesn’t understand. No one else has heard anything, making her more concerned. Before they can try to figure out what is happening to her, Fiji notices light ahead. Continuing stealthily, they find another underground temple. This time paintings of monstrous figures are visible on the ceiling. More concerning, however, are several coffins placed around the room… coffins that look to be quite new. Examining the walls as well, although the room at first glance appears old and worn, it’s clear that these details were added artificially… otherwise, the temple seems newly constructed. Looking at the coffins more closely, they find the interior is well-made, but they find a strange letter inside:
“For our newest and dearest guests. I hope they are comfortable for your new eternity – Madam Veil”
Realizing the coffins are most likely intended for them, they look further into the temple and find a 5th coffin, realizing that this one seems much older. Continuing deeper inside, they notice another, more elaborate coffin… it’s decorated with a crest depicting a golden lion with crystal eyes and a rose in its mouth. Opening it up, they find a golden plaque with the name “Madam Isald Veil” on it. However, there seems to be nowhere else to go, until the group notices what looks like a broken portion of the wall. Investigating further they find a strange room… it has an area covered with straw that has a child’s doll sitting with it. A nearby well provides water, and there’s a trough full of edible slop… however, what draws their attention the most is a pile of bones tucked into a corner. As Diego is investigating the bones to try and discern what killed them. However, a rumbling sound can be heard, and Dali hears that strange voice in her head again just before and suddenly a massive creature erupts out of the ground. It’s some kind of bizarre aberration… covered in scales, its body resembles a massive lizard, but with clusters of tendrils instead of legs. Its massive maw is filled with dagger like teeth, and it has glowing red eyes that seem to be growing in random locations on its body, although mostly clustered on its head. As it shrieks, everyone can hear the same voice in their heads that Dali heard earlier, although none of them recognize the language, just realizing that it fills them with a supernatural sense of dread
Their forced to fight for their life as the creature lashes out. More tentaacles erupt out of the ground, attempting to grapple them. The tentacles are coated in some kind of strange slime which has a caustic effect on those it touches. Lucy-Mae is nearly knocked unconscious, but she uses her Giant’s Might to grow large and battle against the creature. As they battle, however, they notice something unusual… the creature has a pink bow on its head. Despite its hideous appearance, this gives them enough pause to avoid killing it outright, instead knocking the beast unconscious. Dali casts Spare the Dying to help stabilize the creature while Diego investigates its unconscious body to try and figure out what it is. Examining the bow on its head, they see gold Embroidery labeling the creature as “Spiffy”, and the same name is also embroidered on the doll they saw earlier. There’s some concern on whether or not Spiffy should be put down for the safety of any civilians, but to help make that decision Fiji and Diego work together to investigate the skeletons left behind in a large pile. It’s difficult to tell, as Spiffy’s corrosive mucus has broken them down into bleach-white bones, but from what they can tell the majority of the skeletons seem to have lethal injuries inflicted by weapons… they’re fairly certain that, although Spiffy has eaten several corpses, she isn’t actively hunting for humans, but instead is being used to dispose of bodies killed elsewhere. Resolving to leave the injured creature to recover, they continue further into the cave systems, looking for an escape.
The group continues deeper into the caves, with Goldie guiding them toward the scent of fresh water. However, on their way the group is attacked by a group of Stirges in a thin hallway… a bottleneck leaving Diego vulnerable, as he was leading the way. If not for their recent battle with Spiffy, the Stirges would be a minor issue, but they prove more dangerous as the party is in a weakened state. Fortunately, the bat-like creatures are still quickly dispatched, leaving them free to continue further where they find a small pool with a few skeletons visible deep below the dark water… along with some pet toys floating on the water, leading them to assume this is Spiffy’s bath. Nearby, however, is a small opening with moonlight visible through it. Not wanting to dwell any longer in Spiffy’s lair, they stealthily head out of the small opening to escape the caverns.
Once outside, they find themselves in a strange area with tall foliage-covered stone walls and an open ceiling, leading toward multiple branching pathways… they realize this is what they assumed was a hedge maze they saw near Veil Manor. Examinging the stone walls more closely, they realize that the walls are covered in reliefs depicting more monstrous creatures eagerly devouring humans.
For anyone who was watching our last livestream, we had to cut it short because one of our players was having a major toothache that made it too hard for her to keep playing... A D&D stream is basically just talking for 3+ hours, which is really hard to do when your tooth feels like it's trying to kick its way out of your skull.
To make up for the short stream, however, we're going to playing again tonight! You can join us on Twitch or Youtube tonight at 9pm EST as we complete our latest session of our game. However, if you missed our session earlier this week, or if you just need a reminder, here's what happened:
The travelers find themselves in a large maze just outside of Veil Manor. The area is filled with topiaries… the tops of the 12 foot walls have iron spikes that make them dangerous to attempt to climb. A large mural depicts monstrous figures of a variety of species gleefully devouring humanoids as well. The group decides to take a rest, while Dali uses her magic to determine that a storm will be coming soon. They also note that the humanoids being killed in the mural are all warriors of some kind, and a phrase in Latin on the mural says “We will happily feast on those who try to destroy our peace.” Diego is the first to voice the suspicion that Veiltown may be intended to be a safe haven for creatures considered monsters… they realize that the bodies they saw earlier were also largely armored, and could have been attackers trying to hunt the citizens of Veiltown. They hear the monstrous Spiffy waking up and take that as a sign to begin exploring the maze.
Their exploration is cut short as the only doorway out from the area they find themselves in appears to lead to a dead end. All investigations fail to find a path forward, and as Diego begins tearing off part of the hedge the group notices that the hedge itself seems to shudder… realizing that the hedge seems to be sentient, Dali uses her Firbolg connection to nature to speak to the hedge itself. With her polite request to be guided out, the Hedge agrees, opening a hidden passageway. The Hedge continues to shudder, guiding the party through the maze safely. During their exploration they come across a small stump overgrown with mushrooms… Goldie approaches and starts eating some of the mushrooms… and she’s soon joined by Fiji, who starts eating some as well. Diego notices that some of the mushrooms are dangerous Deathcaps, and he harvests some. Lucy-Mae also wants to harvest some portobello mushrooms, hoping to grow some back in Rattleridge. However, when she does, she notices a few tiny chairs and tables next to the mushrooms… there’s a moment of panic as they briefly believe they may have destroyed some fairy homes… although they realize the mushrooms are far too small to be used as homes, even for Fairies, and this little area is more just a small sitting area for visiting fairies, and it should be fine with some mushrooms missing.
The party continues… the twists and turns of the maze are disorienting, even with the maze itself guiding them. Still, the travel proves peaceful, and the group occasionally stumbles upon elaborate topiaries or more carvings of monstrous beings, although away from the large battle mural they are depicted living peacefully. The most focus is given to a topiary depicting an angel and a devil held in a romantic embrace… the figures are both androgynous, and it is marked with a nameplate labeling it “The Devil and the Celestial”.There is a certain tragedy to the figures, and Diego in particular seems to be taken with the image. After passing through a massive spiral decorated with stone lions, the find a large elaborate topiary expertly designed into a miniature township, complete with lights visible through the windows. An eager Fiji hurries to peek into the tiny windows and is delighted to find actual fairies living inside… until one wakes to the sight of a massive feline eye staring at her and she screams for help, causing the party to avoid the issue and hurry further through the maze, making their way to the exit as a heavy storm begins to rain down around them.
In the rainy night, they can see clearly that the lights of Veil Town are lit, and there seems to be a gathering of citizens in the town square. Hoping to avoid further conflict and now believing that Madame Veil and the citizens of Veiltown are not the villains they once feared they were, they begin to March forward with the hopes of speaking openly.
After a month of absence, we're finally able to play again! Come join us tonight at 8:30 EST on Twitch or Youtube As we continue our adventures through the Steampunk West
Edit: I forgot to include the text summary of what happened in the last session! Here's a quick summary for what happened last time:
As the travelers are approaching the lights of Veiltown, they opt to have the speedy and dexterous Fiji sneak ahead to make sure it looks safe to approach. Using the heavy rain to hide himself, Fiji sneaks ahead, spotting strange glowing lights floating near a well. Still keeping out of their range, Fiji recognizes them as Wisps, dangerous undead creatures, although he does manage to avoid their attention. Returning to the group, he informs them of the danger, and although by reputation Wisps are known to be quite dangerous, considering Veiltown seems to be some kind of village meant to be safe for monsters, they don’t know if the Wisps are citizens or just creatures attacking the remote village.
They decide to approach the wisps and see how they react, but as they do they hear intense laughter and the loud crack of lightning, and suddenly they see the skies clear as the rain subsides. The Wisps don’t react to the sudden sound, but when the group approaches they turn invisible. They wait to see if the Wisps attack, but when one farts near them and apologizes they realize they’re likely just citizens as well. Approaching where they heard the thunder earlier, they find the streets are empty. But as they stand there shadowy figures emerge from the darkness. Monstrous forms of all varieties draw near, pulling satchels from their sides… reaching into the satchels, they pull out confetti, throwing it into the air as they shout in unison, “Welcome to Veiltown!” Madame Veil herself is present, recognizing the party and realizing this isn’t the group that this greeting has been prepared for. Diego steps forward to speak to her… as a form of apology, he tells more of the story of how he found himself caught in a flooded cave as a child… young boys dared him to enter the cave, claiming that there is a cave to the 9 Hells inside, and since he’s a “devil”, he’ll be pulled into Hell. He agreed, partly because he thought the idea was ridiculous… but also, the thought of being somewhere with people like him who wouldn’t judge him based on his appearance didn’t seem so bad. He admits that he would have loved to have a place like Veiltown at that time. Although he does manage to quell some of Madame Veil’s frustration, the fact that they had also attacked her pet, Spiffy, made it hard to convince her of their innocence. As they’re dealing with the awkwardness of the situation, the small fair that begins in the street is approached by what, at first, appears to be a group of humans… but as they speak and the monsters of Veiltown greet them, the party realize that it’s 4 vampires… A family of 4 with a variety of body types that match the coffins they had found earlier… coffins the Party thought were intended for themselves. Still, they manage to not embarrass themselves too much, although they’re invited to take use of the local public baths to clean up, considering they fought their way through the catacombs and ruined the fine clothes they were given as a gift earlier that evening.
After getting cleaned up the group reconvenes, everyone feeling a bit awkward after finding that they jumped to conclusions and potentially insulted Madame Veil and the innocent, if frightening citizens of Veiltown. They still don’t know what caused the scream they heard earlier, or if there’s any significance to the summoning circle they found hidden in Veil Manor. Still, there’s a party atmosphere to welcome the new citizens, complete with drinks. Feeling that he wouldn’t want to miss this, Fiji suggests that he could hurry out of town to find Cyril, the tiefling man who captains The Voyager and also drinks heavily. Diego recommends against it, as Cyril could insult the people if he reacts too much to their presence, but the others think if he’s properly warned he won’t cause any trouble. Unfortunately, Fiji is sent to gather Cyril, and unfortunately for Cyril’s sake, Fiji simply describes the citizens of Veiltown as a “bunch of cool dudes.” An honest assessment, by Fiji’s standards, already forgetting that Cyril might react with shock and fear when seeing the monstrous residents. Cyril isn’t too eager to go, but the thought of free booze is enough to motivate him… plus he’s hoping to annoy Dali, who he thinks is more attractive when she’s angry.
Shock and Fear does indeed show in his face as Cyril joins the party. The music stopping as everyone is made uncomfortable by Cyril’s reaction. The others approach to explain to Cyril what is happening and to try and calm him down, but what actually gets everyone to calm down is Dali getting upset when Fiji casually mentions that Cyril was hoping to annoy her. Seeing her drag him by the ear to the bath house so he can make himself presentable calms everyone’s nerves. Lucy-Mae and Fiji stay nearby to keep an eye on Cyril while he gets cleaned up. Meanwhile, Dali and Diego approach a flower stall led by a zombie woman.
Dali is excited to meet a fellow botanist, not particularly bothered by the woman’s undead appearance. However, what does draw Diego’s attention is the botanist’s blue roses… something that he thought was impossible. The Botanist admits that it’s been her personal project ever since being resurrected. She’s spent over 70 years working on her flowers, carefully cross-breeding roses to eventually breed the extremely rare blue flowers. Dali is impressed as well, although the botanist does admit that she was killed by her Mother… and her Father was killed as well, as they were sacrificed to Tiamat… which eventually led to her Mother being burned at the stake. Still, she gives out some free flowers, with Dali commenting that it’s the first time someone other than her father had ever given her flowers. Diego takes this as an opportunity… buying some flower seeds for her as a gift of “future flowers”. The Botanist finds this incredibly sweet, assuming the two are dating… which leads to the two of them awkwardly denying any kind of relationship.
Cyril is guided into the bath house by the Sea Hag who runs the bath house, much to his fear and confusion. He’s so stunned with his fear that the Sea Hag, Marge, thinks he might have special needs, volunteering to help him get washed up. Meanwhile, Fiji and Lucy-Mae speak to the necromancer who works as a tailor… a man with a skeletal hand named Dennis (although it’s spelled “Denise”). They bring him Cyril’s clothing so he can use them as reference for Cyril’s size… however, Denise notices that his clothes is absolutely filthy… the stink of alcohol is so strong that he’s confident it hasn’t been washed in years, and he casually tosses the ratty old clothing into a nearby fire that manages to turn green from whatever chemicals have soaked. Despite being gifted a brand new set of fine clothes, he’s mostly upset that his lucky jacket is destroyed. Lucy-Mae tries to comfort him, but the only thing that actually manages to calm him is the abundance of free drinks.
The group reconvenes, checking out the local baker… an animated skeleton. Through conversation, they learn that his husband is the necromancer who revived him, and also acts as the skeleton’s taste-tester. The food is delicious, and the baker mentions that he also produces food for the citizens of Veiltown who feed on blood. Diego can’t resist his scientific curiosity, wanting to try a taste… and Fiji wants some too, because he wants to try a weird cookie. Diego only tastes a small sample, while Fiji just munches a whole cookie. It has a metallic, authentic blood taste… unpleasant for mortals, but the flavor is authentically blood-like. The Baker explains that it’s actually vegetarian… the “blood” provided by a bizarre fruit that originates in the Abyss that is, in simplest terms, a blood apple. Although it’s edible for anyone, it only provides nutrients for blood drinkers… and worse, the cookie contains peanuts, which Diego is actually allergic to. Luckily, Dali has minor restoration ready, and is able to prevent Diego from suffocating on his tongue.
With the challenges of the night complete, the group spends the night mingling with others, and they learn that Madam Veil intends to accompany them back to Pennington, and their ship will need to be modified to allow her to travel safely. Diego also finds himself dancing with Dali, the two of them proving shockingly capable when performing together, as expected from a double nat 20 on Performance despite Diego’s exhaustion. The exhaustion proves too much for him to continue, however, and Dali insists the group needs some sleep after everything that happened. Diego also notices that Fiji is dancing with a succubus, and helpfully cuts in and dances away with Fiji back to Veil Manor as the group proceeds to their individual rooms to finally rest and prepare for the trip back to Pennington.
Bad news! One of our players is feeling sick so we're going to reschedule for a different night. I'll be sure and let the forum know when everyone is feeling better
I have some very sad news... after tonight's session, Crits for Breakfast will be going on hiatus because of our DM's tragic financial woes. If you can help, please consider supporting her and her wife through their Ko-Fi.
But with that sad news out of the way, we will be playing tonight at 9pm EST on Twitch and Youtube! The travelers are back in the big city, but if you need a reminder of what happened last time, read on:
The travelers have learned the secret of Veiltown, and are eager to help this strange, remote village of creatures normally considered “monsters” in their ongoing quest for acceptance. After a long night they find themselves sleeping in until the afternoon of the next day. Woken by Jasper, the goblin Werewolf who serves ad Madam Veil’s butler, the travelers are led to meet with Madam Veil for an early dinner, although they’re surprised to find that Madam Veil has brought in her pet monstrosity, Spiffy, who is bandaged and resting against Madam Veil’s piano. Madam Veil, who is no longer hiding her vampiric nature, explains that she will be resting in her coffin during the ride back. She’ll be accompanied by Jasper and Akane, who she considers family, but makes it clear that the others will be tasked with performing as their bodyguards in case of any trouble, as Jasper and Akane will prioritize protecting Madam Veil. The group understands, and they enjoy their dinner before preparing to leave on The Voyager.
Madam Veil requires a large crate to safely travel, and its the party’s responsibility to carry it to the nearby wagon to transport it to The Voyager. Diego, however, is having a bit of trouble… after trying one of the blood cookies made for vampires to satisfy his curiosity the night before, now he finds himself feeling sick and struggling to keep up with the others. The citizens of Veiltown come out as the sun sets, wishing the travelers good luck on their journey. They also see Jasper’s wife Macy, who is an albino human when not transformed into a werewolf. Once Madam Veil’s crate is successfully loaded, captain Cyril eagerly takes off… despite everything that happened, he’s still eager to get away from Veiltown, which he considers creepy.
The Voyager continues steadily on its return to Pennington, with the travelers busying themselves. They come across some large salmon swimming upstream, and Fiji does some spearfishing to catch one. However, Diego’s sickness finally overtakes him, and he ends up hiding in the captain’s quarters with a bucket as he waits for the sickness to pass… the others politely ignoring him to spare his pride. The others try to focus on preparing the salmon Fiji had caught, but suddenly the boat is rocked hard from an impact. Suddenly, a giant water snake burts out of the river, attacking Dali with its poisonous fangs. In response, Dali wild shapes once again into a giant mongoose, the natural enemy of snakes, pouncing on the snake with claws and fangs. Lucy May manages to finish it off, but a second snake attacks from behind, although thankfully Fiji is able to quickly dash across and kill it with a spear. With the snakes killed the group is able to relax… taking some time to butcher the dead snakes, and they find that the snakes had swallowed a few things, and they manage to find an intact health magazine and a missing poster for a Native woman from the Calm Waters tribe. They realize that she matches the description of the other women murdered by the serial killer they had been tracking, and the missing poster appears to be several months old.
The Voyager approaches Campbell’s Bridge… it’s late at night, but they’re hoping that they’ll be able to find some medicine for Diego. Heading to the nearby tavern, they find the Bugbear owner, who reveals that his pregnant wife keeps some ginger root for her stomach as well. Dali also checks in on the coffee plant she helped them grow, and uses her Druid spells to help it continue to grow. As Diego is chewing on the root, Fiji and Lucy May make plans to sell the snake meat they just acquired. Fiji asks Diego to handle the negotiations for the sales… but despite being successfully persuasive, his constitution fails him and he has to rush out to the outhouse to relieve himself… in order to avoid having anyone hear him, he has CHESTR stand outside the outhouse and play some music to muffle any sounds he might make… but the music ends up attracting a small crowd, with Fiji and Lucy May even joining in with the dance before returning to The Voyager.
Once back on the ship, Diego starts to unpack his alchemist tools with plans to create a proper medicine with the ginger root, but considering his weakened state, Dali interjects… insisting on using her herbalism skills to create a ginger tea to help settle his stomach. Finally feeling healthy, Diego lays down to rest. Meanwhile, Jasper is eating raw snake meat… considering he’s a goblin and a werewolf, raw meat is fairly safe for him to eat. He invites Fiji and Lucy May to play cards to pass the time. As rain starts to come in. Meanwhile, Diego finally convinces Cyril to explain about the installation in his chest that has been noticed a few times prior to this… Cyril doesn’t like to discuss it, but admits that he required emergency surgery and allows Diego to see the mechanical modifications done to his body… including an artificial lung and heart. He doesn’t explain exactly what happened, but he does reveal that it was Sprock who installed these modifications, and that the reason he drinks so much alcohol is because his body converts it into fuel.
Speaking with Cyril, Diego realizes that constructs in Pennington are becoming very controversial. The growing number of unemployed laborers in Pennington is mostly thanks to jobs being taken by constructs. Distrust of constructs is so strong that Cyril keeps his modifications hidden, lest he be accused of being a construct. Diego wonders for a bit about his plans to, eventually, mass produce CHESTRs, especially if constructs are causing this much trouble. Still, there’s not much left to do at this point but try and rest, the travelers napping while Jasper and Akane keep watch… especially Akane who, as a Wight, does not require sleep. They’re snapped awake by the sound of a ship’s horn as the Voyager arrives in the Pennington docks. Cyril is happy to just go home and drink, while Akane and Jasper take Madame Veil to the nearby Luxury Garden Inns. The party then makes their way back to Hughes Manor… they’re greeted by Mrs. Bonnet, who informs them that Hesper has recently attended the funeral of her Bridget, and is still feeling down… made only worse by the fact that her sickly brother, August, is currently hospitalized for pneumonia.
Our hiatus is over! lol you can see our last session didn't go quite as planned... due to some trouble with the DM's internet provider, the stream had a weird start/stop, and the way Youtube archives livestreams means it's split up into 3 videos. We'll be playing again later tonight! Keep an eye on this space as I'll update once I know for certain what the start time will be.
Folks! Come join the Crits for Breakfast crew tonight at 8:30 PM EST on Twitch or Youtube! The Gears and Guns crew are back in the large city of Pennington, and if you want to know what happened in our last session, or if you just need a reminder, read on:
As the party returns to Pennington, and after approaching the Hughes estate, the family’s maid, Miss Bonnet, informs them that the weekend has been difficult, with both the funeral for Bridget Cammington and August needing to visit the hospital for pneumonia. They’re informed that he’s at Lathander’s Mercy hospital, and that Hesper is in her office. Dali needs to use the restroom, and the others go to visit Hesper and inform her about the successful visit to Veiltown. She’s pleased at the results, but she still seems drained of energy and extremely stressed. Lucy May opens up to her and convinces her to explain her state of depression… the stress of the funeral in addition to her brother being sent to the hospital, while she’s too busy to visit.
Once they know what’s bothering her, the group explains that they already intend to visit August, and volunteer to deliver something to him for her. This does seem to relieve her, and she gives them a book in braille to give to him… Diego actually recognizes the book, “Blood Diamond”, as Dicky Greensleeves story, written by “Bilbo Swaggins”… a pulp murder/mystery novel in a long series. Diego’s excited, as he’s read many of the Dicky Greensleeves books in his youth, although he can’t read braille. Hesper also notices that Dali is missing, and asks about her… Lucy May doesn’t want to say anything too embarrassing, but Diego leads Fiji out of the room to examine the book so Lucy May can explain the embarrassing situation Dali finds herself in… Diego laments that they can’t read the book, but Fiji happily claims that he can just make something up and proceeds to tell a surprisingly moving story that ends up completely enrapturing Diego. Hesper also gives Lucy May some letters that were delivered to the Manor for them. With letters in hand, Lucy May steps out just in time for the ending, with Diego on the verge of tears from his story.
Meanwhile, Dali is relieving herself in the manor’s bathroom… although Goldie is with her and not enjoying the scent at all. It’s bad enough that even Miss Bonnet can’t help but swear in reaction. The noise draws the rest of the group, and once Miss Bonnet learns that they’re visiting August she gives them a tin of simple sugar cookies to deliver for her. While Diego is putting the cookies in, Fiji opens his letter, which comes from his mom, which explains that his parents are actually in Pennington. Dali joins them as well, and Lucy May gives her a letter from her Dali’s father. He’s worried for Dali, especially since word of the serial killer has reached him, and he can’t help but notice that Dali fits the killer’s M.O. He also informs her that Dali’s mother has gone missing, and may be somewhere near Pennington. Dali explains that her Mother is something of a warrior, and is known to track her targets across massive distances and never gives up. Dali is slightly worried that her Mother is hunting her… not that she feels her Mother is there to kill her, but possibly may be testing her… or trying to teach her a lesson about dedicating herself to the settlers instead of her own people.
Seeing all this hubbub from everyone else’s letters, Diego decides to check his letters as well, finding that he’s gotten one from his Father and his sister. He opts to open the letter from his sister first, assuming it… it produces a powerful perfume scent, and is written in complex calligraphy. She shares some gossip, but ultimately reveals that she’s in Pennington right now as well, and she’s attempting to join a group called “The Pink Ladies”. Diego has heard the term, but he asks Lucy May, who knows a bit more about them… they’re a group of wealthy women from rich families, and although they perform acts of charity, it’s mostly for their own self-interest. Lucy May is no fan, and Diego isn’t particularly excited either. With that established, he opens the letter from his father… Diego is encouraged to return home whenever he can, and also encouraged to come home with a wife… he’s also warned to not become too successful, and also told if he manages to see his sister to encourage her to return home as well.
As everyone is heading out, Lucy May reads her letter as well… she finds a message from her grandmother chastising Lucy May for not visiting yet, despite both of them being in Pennington. She is a bit annoyed, as she actually sent a letter to her Grandmother once she had learned they were both in Pennington… however, both letters were in the mail almost simultaneously. With their plans solidified, the group decides to take Bucket and their old cart to travel, since it will save money. As they begin to travel, Diego discusses his plans for CHESTR… seeing how constructs are causing some of the poverty in Pennington, as laborers are losing their jobs to constructs. He believes the best use for CHESTR would be to design it to increase its ability to survive conditions too dangerous for normal people… instead of taking jobs, it will instead do things that couldn’t be done. Hoever, Dali is still uncertain if its wise to manufacture something like CHESTR, which could be very dangerous in the wrong hands. Diego begins to think that he might need to put some kind of inhibitor in future designs, but for now he’s still intent on continuing his research.
Continuing through the castle district, the group is approached by a town guard, who seems interested in speaking to Dali. He seems suspicious of her, but once he learns the group is staying at the Hughes estate he softens. It seems that he recognized her face, and seemed to consider her as dangerous. He states that he likely saw them at the police station, but Diego asks Dali how much she resembles her mother… Dali explains that she has the same coloration to her facial fur as her Mother, and even has very similar hair. Dali is deeply concerned, especially since the letter informed her that her Mother is somewhere near Pennington.
As they continue their journey, Fiji spots a shortcut through an isolated alley. A shifty character asks them for change, and Fiji happily shares a copper with him… but when he hands the coin over, the shifty man grabs Fiji’s hand and calls for his fellow bandits to come out… although Fiji just shakes his hand… although once he realizes what’s happening, he quickly pulls out his spear and renders the robber unconscious. A brawl erupts as the bandits refuse to stand down… in the end one bandit has the brains to just run away, while the rest are knocked unconscious and left cuddled up together thanks to Fiji, who wanted to leave them in a seemingly nice position.
The group proceeds toward the hospital, but unfortunately one of their attackers was a bleeder and managed to get blood all over the front seat of the cart and on both Diego and Lucy May. A town guard stops them, thanks to their suspicious appearance. Thankfully, he becomes convinced that they really were the victims of bandits, and even sends a squadron to gather the unconscious bandits they had left in the alleyway. They even manage to get fast tracked into the hospital, where they prepare to look for August… and Dali can get some stomach medicine as well.
Due to financial difficulties we don't know for certain if we'll be able to stream as usual this upcoming Sunday. Watch this space and I'll be sure to keep you all up to date, but for now at least, here's the last session
We're playing again tonight on Twitch and Youtube! Join us at 8:30 PM EST as the party is called to speak to the City Watch. However, if you need a reminder of what happened last week, read on:
The group makes their way to a high class restaurant, The Sable Garden, accompanying Hesper to dinner. Diego recognizes it as perhaps the oldest fine dining establishment in all of New Estea… one that is extremely expensive. As they’re greeted by the host, Aadi steps forward, paying for the meals for everyone present. They’re escorted to a table, where their drinks are ordered. Hesper asks Aadi why he insisted, but he says he’s happy to pay… especially to enjoy the fine meal himself. Knowing that Aadi is from the Reaverlands, Diego asks him if he recognizes the unusual armor worn by the Reaver the group had encountered earlier. Aadi can tell that the armor appears to be a combination of traditional Reaver design and designs unique to Night Children… although what worries Hesper is when he also points out that the only group known to wear that style of armor are assassins.
When their appetizers arrive, Diego takes it upon himself to try and explain proper etiquette to Dali… Lucy May also listens in, but Fiji ends up playing with his silverware and just eating with his hands. Hesper is embarrassed by Fiji, but Aadi actually seems entertained by his playful nature. The group enjoys their meal, with Dali occasionally sneaking scraps of food to Goldie, who is hiding in Dali’s bag. Their main course is delivered… an imported meal from the Reaverlands of Cardali Lizard… an uncommon meal that is prepared almost like seafood. Finally, the group is delivered the rare, valuable wine that Aadi had ordered… a strange pearlescent wine with a warming, comforting feel. He identifies it as “Celestial White”, which is one of the most expensive wines in the world. Dali, not fully knowing what the drink is, gives some to Goldie… who gets drunk and crawls out of her bag when Dali isn’t looking.
Once Goldie escapes, she starts to explore the restaurant… in particular, climbing up some curtains toward a crystal chandelier. To try and catch Goldie, Diego conjures his Mage Hand, not realizing that Goldie is too heavy for it to lift. Before he can dispel it, the Mage Hand starts to absorb some of the crystals and even an entire gold-rimmed wine glass. In a panic, Diego struggles to dismiss it while Fiji and Dali work together to rescue Goldie… with Dali giving Fiji a boost as he leaps up and catches Goldie… then immediately lands on a couple diner’s table. As they’re starting to get upset Diego quickly steps in, acting as if the entire thing is a performance. This manages to pacify the other customers… but that kind of shenanigans aren’t tolerated in an establishment like this, and the host arrives to ask them to leave. Hesper and Aadi are upset, especially considering how much Aadi is spending, but a guilty Dali volunteers to leave, since she was the one who brought Goldie to the restaurant in the first place. Diego also volunteers to leave with her, insisting that he takes full responsibility for everything that happened.
As Dali and Diego leave together, Aadi continues to argue with the staff, as he already paid for the most expensive package, and if nothing else he intends to keep the wine. Fiji also wants to still have dessert, and the staff agrees to prepare their dessert to go. Meanwhile, Diego walks with Dali, confessing that he’s the reason money and goods seem to occasionally disappear without explanation… he finally tells Dali about his grandfather, who had made a deal with the archdevil of greed, Mammon. All of the gold found by his family’s mine was provided by Mammon… and Mammon has started collecting, with interest. His grandfather kept the deal a secret until his dying day, and he never fully explained what the deal he made with Mammon even was. Now Diego’s family’s wealth is gradually disappearing, and he left his family with the hopes that any money made without their wealth wouldn’t disappear… but instead it seems that Mammon has impatiently started stealing random things, utilizing the Mage Hand. Dali promises not to tell anyone else about this as the rest of their group approaches, and it becomes clear that Hesper in particular is quite inebriated.
Looking with worry at Hesper, Dali realizes that she’s been drinking away her sorrows through the night… her best friend died recently, and now her brother is once again in the hospital, leaving her alone to care for the Hughes company. Although Dali can tell that, despite her complaints to the staff, getting out of the house and venting seems to actually be doing well for her. Fiji takes the reins on their carriage, returning to the Hughes estate. However, along the way a major intersection is impassable, as a two gangs are battling at that point, sending passersby running in fear as gunfire fills the air. Fortunately, Fiji’s skill with driving is enough to avoid the conflict and not hit any of the citizens, and as they take the long way home they’re able to see a large group of City Guard marching forward to break up the conflict.
As they travel, Aadi wonders aloud if such violence is common here, with the others sheepishly admitting that gang activity does seem very prevalent in Pennington. Dali learns that Aadi is traveling only with his driver, and worries whether that’s safe… but Aadi explains the last time someone tried to rob him, he very nearly incinerated them. Lucy May realizes, based on the amount of religious imagery subtly stitched onto his outfit that he’s likely a Cleric of some kind. Once that’s pointed out Diego finally notices the imagery as well, recognizing the symbol of a Avarine… the Reaver God of Business and Wealth… Aadi’s very business is a form of worship for his God. He also explains that he had asked his God for a sign just moments before the pigeons employed by Dali delivered one of the TX-2 pamphlets to him.
Returning to Hughes manor, Aadi helps Hesper to her bed before finding his own. Fiji and Lucy May, however, can’t wait… hurrying to the dining room to sample the chocolate mousse cake they left the The Sable Garden with… a cake so delicious, they struggle to avoid finishing the whole thing themselves. Meanwhile, Diego goes to Dali’s room to continue their conversation from earlier. Dali speaks on her relationship with her own family… although she took on the position as protector of Rattle Ridge based on her father’s guidance, she didn’t do so out of a sense of obligation… she just wanted to help people. She even knows that her Mother’s much harsher, often violent interactions with the non-Firbolg colonizers is her own Mother’s choice, and Dali is free to make her own decisions. She wonders how Diego’s grandfather could possibly force a literal deal with a devil on his entire bloodline without their consent. Diego clarifies his belief that his grandfather’s family-cursing deal was made not out of cruelty, but rather, out of ignorance. He was very young when his grandfather died, but from what he’s been told when his grandfather revealed he had taken a deal with Mammon, he spoke of paying back the archdevil as some far distant trouble the descendants of the family will be able to easily afford by the time the devil comes to collect. Diego also insists that a good majority of the citizens of Imp Branch are employed by his family in some capacity… the collapse of the Alleghiris spells the collapse of the entire town.
As the two of them discuss family and responsibility, Fiji and Lucy May are finishing their dessert and heading back to their rooms. However, Fiji’s sense of hearing is so strong he accidentally hears a good majority of their discussion. A gossip-hungry Lucy May gets an idea… her room is right next to Dali’s, and the two of them hurry there, pressing their ears against the wall to listen in, learning Diego’s family secret. Lucy May and Fiji also have a strong sense of responsibility to their families, although neither of them have had as many outward signs as Diego and Dali, so they both sympathize with their allies and their struggles. Lucy May notes that they have to be careful not to reveal what they know, and Fiji mentions hopefully that, some day, Diego will trust them enough to share his secret as well.
As the night grows darker, Dali recommends getting some sleep. She also makes Diego promise that he won’t stay up tinkering with things, which he forces himself to obey. With the gossip complete, Lucy May and Fiji also split for the night and everyone gets some sleep, safe in Hughes Manor. However, they’re woken up early the next morning by Mrs. Bonnet screaming. Hurrying to investigate, they find that Aadi, who is also staying in Hughes Manor, had stepped out of his room to make his way to the bathroom to tidy up. However, as the group has learned from Dali, Firbolgs have few hangups about nudity, considering it perfectly natural, and thus Aadi was walking through the hallway with little more than a human-sized towel loosely wrapped around his waist.
In the commotion that erupts everyone gets a good view of Aadi, who is quite tall even by Firbolg standards, with proportions to match. Dali seems to be the only one unfazed by the whole thing, handing Goldie to Diego to hold before helpfully directing Aadi to the restroom. Everyone splits up to prepare for the day once it’s all complete, but Fiji and Diego remain… Diego was distracted by Goldie and hadn’t seen everything as clearly as everyone else, but Fiji is overwhelmed with shock at Aadi’s size. A flustered Diego insists that there’s nothing unusual about Aadi, and anything about him is simply in proportion to his height and nothing to be impressed or intimidated by. Unfortunately for them, Aadi overhears this conversation and admonishes them for discussing his private matters so loudly in the middle of the hallway.
With everything sorted out, the group gathers to have a simple but filling breakfast prepared by Mrs. Bonnet. The party is informed that August will be returning home later that day, and Mrs. Bonnet brings them a delivery that was brought directly to Hughes Manor by a tall man in strange armor… a box addressed to “The Potential Killers”, and inside is a well-used pistol with blood splatter on it that Diego recognizes as belonging to one of the bandits who attacked them the other day… based on some markings on it, he deduces that one of them dropped it after being knocked unconscious, and it fell somewhere in their carriage. It must have been dislodged during the near-collision with the Reaver man in black armor, and the armored man, not knowing where it came from, has tried to return it… the box also containing a note that he didn’t want the gun because it’s probably evidence of something.
The gun immediately puts Mrs. Bonnet into a panic, while a hungover Hesper is mostly annoyed that someone seems to be trying to blackmail them. However, the group explains about the bandit attack, but there is still some concern about why this person would go out of his way to return the gun to them in the first place. Luckily, Aadi, who was raised in the Reaverlands, is able to explain that this is perfectly normal in Reaver culture. Reavers are a warrior culture with many traditions regarding weapons and armory, and keeping another person’s weapon without their permission is a dishonor. Helpfully, Hesper also lets them know that she was contacted by the City Watch… Detective Terrel wishes to speak with them, and it seems there are other questions waiting for them. With a plan for the day, Diego takes the gun to carry, but before they head out Fiji realizes the armored man couldn’t have gotten far and decides to hurry out and try to catch up to him before the group leaves to speak the Detective.
Oh, and I also forgot to mention... we're streaming tonight at 9pm EST! Come join us on twitch or youtube, and if you need a reminder of what happened in our last session, here you go:
During the night, in a darkened street somewhere in the city of Pennington. The streets are emptying earlier than usual thanks to a combination of the increased gang activity and fears of the serial killer. Mists hang in the empty streets, while a lone carriage travels through the lonely city. The carriage stops, the passengers hand reaching out, gesturing to a figure to step forward. An armored figure steps out, wearing strange armor as the passenger gives them an envelope, stating only, “You know what to do”, while the man in armor nods and moves back into the alley while the carriage moves on.
In the morning, the party is finishing breakfast in Hughes manor. While they discuss the strange gun that was delivered to Hughes Manor by hand only a few minutes ago by the mysterious armored Reaver, Fiji decides he’ll just go ask the Reaver directly… darting out and looking for his trail. Unfortunately, he gets the wrong impression of which direction to go and darts off just as his allies finally notice that he left in the first place. Hurrying out, Lucy May tries to catch up, while Diego decides he couldn’t possibly catch up to to the Tabaxi Monk and opts to just prepare the carriage along with the party’s cy-mount, Bucket. Dali, who doesn’t care for the smell of oil that permeates the garage, opts instead to do some maintenance on the garden while she waits for Fiji and Lucy May to return.
Fiji, meanwhile, stumbles upon a large construction site being manned mostly by Warforged. One of the Warforged starts flirting with him, but it soon becomes clear that it is simply “Catcalling” because Fiji is a literal cat, and it doesn’t fully understand the point. As Fiji gets caught up in a conversation with them on the subject, Lucy May finally catches up, finding that the jog was actually fairly easy and invigorating. She shouts to Fiji, calling him “F-Cat”, embracing Fiji’s tendency to call everyone else “__-Dog”. As the two of them discuss how Fiji has lost track of the person he’s following, some of the humanoid workers start properly cat-calling Lucy, while the Warforged is confused, since she’s not a cat.
Diego checks on the TX-2 Cy-Mount, making certain that it’s in good condition before securing Bucket to one of the Carriages. During this, the stable-worker, Allan, approaches to ask him about Aadi’s fine foreign Cy-Mounts. They are refusing to eat hay, and Allan asks Diego to pick up some Berry Seeds to feed them, which Diego promises to have some delivered to the estate. Meanwhile, Dali wants to try out some of her new magic… taking some time to cast “Plant Growth”, which causes all the plants in the area to suddenly grow large and healthy… Wisteria flowers bloom, trees grow larger, and some of the horse feed blooms into full-sized ears of corn. Diego calls out to Dali, who climbs over the garden wall to explain what she had done. Diego can’t help but crawl over to her side to see what happened… shocked at the sight of the garden overgrowing with gorgeous flowers that are already attracting butterflies. A stunned Diego holds out a finger and manages to get a butterfly to actually land on his fingertip… Dali however, is still a bit embarrassed, as she wasn’t expecting this level of growth from her spell.
As they hear Mrs. Bonnet scream in shock as the potted plants within the Manor have also grown large, some growing so much that they actually destroy their vases. Diego hurries to try and calm Mrs. Bonnet while Dali does her best to tidy up the Garden. Fiji and Lucy May actually notice one of the trees visibly growing taller and resolve to hurry… Lucy May checks the tracks that Fiji was following, and realizing they’re actually going in the opposite direction… and also notices that the prints leave large claw marks that seemingly match the markings left on the gun delivered to Hughes manor earlier. The two of them decide to hurry back, and they get back just in time to see the overgrown garden just as Diego is calming Mrs. Bonnet and showing her the garden. Lucy May is also commenting on how it looks, but Diego quickly steps forward and whispers to them to help him calm Mrs. Bonnet, as it’s kind of freaking her out.
Fiji, of course… steps forward and immediately tells her that he heard she’s freaking out and tries to calm her with a friendly hug. Lucy May assists, trying to back Fiji up, which does mostly keep Mrs. Bonnet from worrying… she’s mostly concerned for Hesper, who prefers a tidy, well-maintained garden, but admits that August would probably love it. Still, she decides to take a break, while Dali insists on cleaning up the mess she made. The focus is on cleaning up the garden enough that it will be safe for August to traverse, which takes nearly an hour. Mrs. Bonnet appreciates the effort, thanking them and Diego informs her about he dietary needs of Aadi’s horses, which she should be able to handle.
With the work finished, they’re finally able to climb into the carriage and make their way to the City Watch. Fiji finds a shortcut, hurrying through a back alley… unfortunately, they’re ambushed by criminals. They’re caught by surprise, but luckily the bandits aren’t particularly good shots. From the shouts of the bandits, they seem to be friends of other bandits who the group has encountered before… unfortunately, they’ve dealt with enough criminals in the city that they don’t really know which group it might be. A battle ensues, with the two groups trading blows. Unfortunately for the bandits, their clothes provide meager defenses, as they lack proper armor. The party is able to fight them back… the final bandit attempts to run, but not wanting them to bring more bandits to chase them in the future, Dali finishes off the last bandit with a powerful Moonbeam spell.
After gathering the mixture of unconscious and deceased bandits, the group decides they shouldn’t leave dead bodies sitting in a back alley and Fiji leaves to find a City Guard. He finds an officer directing traffic, who is able to step away from his duty to investigate the matter. With Lucy May’s help, Diego is able to convince him that they were simply defending themselves, and he agrees to handle the matter, but encourages them to visit the City Watch Station and make a full report. Thankfully, they’re already headed that way, and after taking the officer’s name they continue on their way.
Unfortunately, on the drive out, Fiji has some trouble controlling a still-spooked Bucket, and accidentally runs over some of the bodies before Bucket takes off. Fiji wrestling to control the reins as they rush toward the guard station. They meet with the front desk, putting in their report before being called to speak to to Detective Terrel. He leads them up to his office to explain the information he’s gathered. His investigation has determined that Bridget Cammington, indeed, was killed before the fire nearly destroyed her body. He has also found a number of other murders that are likely the result of the same killer. One of the most unusual things is a photograph. Lucy May notes that it’s unusual that Bridget was killed in her home, and her body was not displayed in public… in fact, the killer seemed to be trying to hide her death using the fire. As they discuss the matter, some bad news arrives… another body has found. Terrel reveals that it’s the mother of the young boy they brought in earlier, Michael. Her body was found near Pennington castle, lashed to a statue of Lathander with wires. Her womb was removed. Diego believes it might be a defiance of Lathander who, as the God of Dawn, represents not only literal dawn but also birth. Dali notes that the woman was already a Mother… it is more likely that the use of the Lathander statue was used as a convenient symbol to mock the victim, rather than a message to the church.
Terrel needs to investigate further, letting the group know that he can’t bring them with him. However, before leaving the group shows him the gun that was delivered to them earlier that day… Terrel is surprised at the claw marks. They explain who had given it to them, and Terrel notes that the Reaver they mentioned was downstairs at that very moment cashing in a bounty. Fiji immediately dashes out to try and speak to him, but the man has already left and became lost in the crowd. The rest of the group hurries to catch up with him, confused as to why he’s so insistent on speaking to this man, but Fiji clarifies he just wants to learn his name. Figuring there’s no harm in assisting, they all try to look for him in the crowd as well, but nobody can pick him out. Just as they’re about to continue with their day, they hear the sound of gunshots and clashing noises inside the station.
I really need to get in the habit of sharing these Youtube links ahead of time...
That said, Gears and Guns will be streaming tonight at 9pm EST on both Twitch and Youtube! And just in case you need a reminder for what happened last week and don't have time to watch the linked video, here's what went down:
As the party is preparing for bed, with the murderer still on the loose they opt to keep watch in the Hughes Manor. Fiji takes the first watch, but he’s assisted by CHESTR… the two of them walking quietly through the manor as they keep watch. As they’re wandering the large, dark manor, Fiji hears the strange sound of a child giggling in a seemingly empty room. Fiji peeks in to the ballroom, which appears empty at first… CHESTR follows Fiji inside, stepping into the middle of the room. Unable to find anything, but as lightning crashes outside they hear the grand piano in the room suddenly play a few loud notes. CHESTR investigates further, but prodding the piano only has the top of the piano slam shut, followed by that unusual child-like giggle and a rush of cold air. Not sure what to make of that, Fiji decides to check on the Hughes family.
Listening at a few rooms, they don’t hear anything out of the ordinary. However, CHESTR enters an unlocked room, finding a bathroom. CHESTR enters a defensive posture when it sees its own reflection, and Fiji takes some time to explain to CHESTR that it’s “just him”. CHESTR eventually understands, if nothing else, that the mirror is harmless. Once the bathroom is deemed safe, CHESTR continues to check the house room-by-room, entering August’s room. CHESTR’s investigation starts to wake August, and in a panic Fiji tells CHESTR to run, the two of them rushing back to wake up Lucy-Mae, since it’s time for her to take watch. Fiji explains with embarrassment everything that happened with him and August… and almost forgets to mention the potential ghost they saw in the ballroom, since that was a lesser issue to him, but Lucy-Mae is upset, since she was working in the ballroom all day and isn’t eager to have to deal with any ghosts and resolves to avoid the ballroom during her watch.
After hearing about Fiji’s warning, Lucy-Mae makes sure she has her weapons and armor before starting watch with CHESTR. While the construct is patrolling, Lucy-Mae hears tapping sounds in the hallway. She asks who it is and soon recognizes it as August, who was tapping with his walking stick. He appreciates that Lucy-Mae seems concerned for his well-being, and he admits that he likes to walk the grounds at night when no one will object to him… being blind and sickly, he’s given relatively little freedom, although it’s mostly for his own safety. Still, he’s curious why she’s also up this late… Lucy-Mae admits it’s mostly in response to the murderer on the loose, following August on his walk… only to find he has led them right into the ballroom, and the seemingly haunted piano.
Lucy-Mae panics briefly, which is enough for August to ask her what the problem is. She tells him about the voice that Fiji heard, although August thinks that it’s just a little girl who sometimes visits in the dead of night. He notices CHESTR prodding at the piano and seems curious… since he couldn’t see CHESTR, August thinks he’s some kind of metal dog. Lucy-Mae tries to explain what CHESTR is, but she doesn’t actually know how CHESTR works. August asks if CHESTR can make any sounds, and CHESTR helpfully opens up, revealing a small horn-shaped speaker and a switch. Lucy-Mae presses the switch, and CHESTR, tinkered with by Diego, produces the faint sound of Ranchera music.
CHESTR seems curious about the piano and pokes at the keys, much to Lucy-Mae and August’s annoyance, turning off its music and instructing it to not touch the piano. They proceed out to the garden, listening to the sound of the rain… although CHESTR reacts defensively to the sound of thunder. August starts to shiver from the cold and Lucy-Mae insists on returning inside, walking with August and asking him about his music playing, with August explaining that he specializes in the Violin, or the viol. Still, he seems to appreciate the judgment-free company for the night, and thanks Lucy-Mae before going to bed for the night… with Lucy-Mae briefly considering locking his door, but realizing for a sickly young man it might be best that others can easily enter his room. As they pass by the ballroom, Lucy-Mae hears the piano being played followed by the sound of a young girl giggling… which she opts to ignore and hurries to wake up Dali to keep watch, not interested in dealing with a ghost.
Lucy-Mae enters Dali’s room to wake her for her watch and inform her about what she saw… in particular, about August’s late-night walks and the haunted piano. Dali is particularly curious about the ghost, but doesn’t seem too worried about it, especially since August implied this was a regular occurrence. Goldie the sand otter starts to follow her at first, but as soon as Dali tells her to get some sleep Goldie happily hurries back to the room. Dali uses the light that Diego had given to her, but finds it a bit frustrating… instead she chooses to Wildshape into a housecat, relying on the cat’s darkvision to continue her investigation. She moves to the ballroom, with CHESTR following. She also hears the piano seem to play itself, followed by a child’s giggle… although she is concerned, she doesn’t detect any malice, and as she watches, the piano begins to play itself. Rather than confront the spirit or question what’s happening, Dali sits and politely listens to the song being played. When lightning flashes, she can briefly see the faint outline of a child at the piano. CHESTR, however, doesn’t seem to react at all to the sudden appearance of this spectral child. Once her song is complete, she disappears, and Dali decides to continue her patrol and notices a light in a window.
Investigating further, they find that the light is on in the kitchen. Mrs. Bonnet steps into the kitchen and panics at the sight of a strange cat in the kitchen, along with Diego’s “Devil Box”, as she refers to CHESTR. She’s trying to shoo out the cat and CHESTR, forcing Dali to return to her true form and explain that she’s keeping watch… although a tiny housecat shifting into an 8 foot tall firbolg only panics her further. Mrs. Bonnet doesn’t care for CHESTR and shoos it out, while Dali volunteers to help with preparing breakfast as an apology for frightening her. Dali asks her about the spirit in the “piano room”, but Mrs. Bonnet doesn’t believe in such things. Still, Dali is helping as best she can, but clearly struggles with the often wasteful manner of cooking of the upperclass. After breakfast is complete, the sun has risen, although it’s still hidden by heavy clouds, with Mrs. Bonnet ringing the bell to invite everyone to breakfast.
August actually manages to arrive at breakfast before anyone else. He asks CHESTR to play some music again, but CHESTR was not told to listen to him and doesn’t respond, but at Dali’s request it opens up again and August can reach over to activate its music playing function. Diego arrives to find Mrs. Bonnet complaining about CHESTR, as she considers it a nuisance that scuffs the floors, with Diego taking this as an opportunity to check on CHESTR… when Fiji mentions that CHESTR is gaining a sense of self Diego seems excited at the thought of CHESTR recognizing its reflection as itself, and hurries to get a mirror to perform tests, so absorbed in his work he doesn’t realize how rude he’s being until Mrs. Bonnet admonishes him, which seems to greatly embarrass him, but he does at least confirm that CHESTR seems to just be copying what Fiji showed it and shows no sign of actually understanding the specifics of how a mirror works.
Everyone eats breakfast and discusses the night. Fiji mentions the ghost again, but August against insists it’s just a little girl named Lucille who has a habit of sneaking into the manor and visiting. He even confirms that he’s had conversations with her… how else would he know her name? Diego accepts this explanation without question beyond concern that the house is so easy to sneak into… Dali, who witnessed the spectral nature of Lucille directly, chooses not to press the issue. However, the discussion of the piano does lead to the revelation that CHESTR was poking and prodding at it, and Diego wants to make sure the piano wasn’t damaged, with Lucy-Mae following to help. Diego explains that he actually became interested in invention thanks to a Player Piano in his family’s home, and he clearly appreciates the Grand Piano in the Hughes manor… according to August, it’s Hesper’s piano and originally belonged to their Mother. With Lucy-Mae’s help he finds only a few minor scuffs that are easily cleared up, and does a quick tune-up to get it into prime condition.
Returning together, they arrive in time for Mrs. Bonnet to assign tasks for her visitors. Fiji and Lucy-Mae have work to do in the ballroom, while Mrs. Bonnet wants Dali to assist her, and also hopes to teach her some more modern cooking techniques. Diego, of course, continues the installation of the TX2 Cy-Mount Chassis… using a “Birthday Crit” to maximize work on the complicated installation. Fiji and Lucy-Mae are helping prepare the ballroom for an event of some kind when Fiji hears a visitor at the front door. Going to the front door, he finds a fellow tabaxi… an employee of Hermes Delivery, a rival company to the Quicktep Delivery Service. The Hermes Deliveryman recognizes Fiji by name, and the two swap banter… although the Hermes Deliveryman clearly takes the rivalry more seriously than Fiji, who seems to mostly be playing along with the rivalry for fun. He finds that the delivery is actually for Lucy-Mae… a letter from her grandmother that’s been forwarded to her current location, and has clearly been in the postal system for some time.
Lucy-Mae’s grandmother, Delorah Brewmonger, writes to admonish Lucy-Mae for not staying in regular communication. She also asks about Lucy-Mae’s love-life, encouraging her to meet a strapping young man, and warning her to avoid any “dashing rogues”… but also suggests Lucy-Mae send any Dashing Rogues to grandma instead. At this time, Lucy-Mae and Fiji have finished the task assigned to them, and join Dali to help her, finding that she’s been learning to make cookies. She’s happy with their work, and gives them a tray of fresh-baked cookies, asking that they share some with August who is in the study. He appears to be reading a book, but there’s no visible text on the page… instead he’s running his hand along the page. Dali is instantly curious about the book, with August explaining it’s The Grimveil Saga… a historical drama. Dali admits she mostly prefers informational books rather than stories, and August says he has a few books she would probably like, if only she read braille. Dali doesn’t know what that is, so he lets her see that his book actually has a series of raised bumps on the page that he can read by touch.
Fiji recognizes the book series, and asks about August’s favorite character… he cant’ settle on a single one, but he lists a few and Fiji is curious about the character known simply as “Crush”, thinking it would be odd to have just a single name… causing Lucy-Mae to question about his last name. He explains that “Quickstep” isn’t just the company he works for… it’s actually his last name. They sit and discuss books for a bit while eating cookies and drinking tea. Dali asks about why such a large home doesn’t have any pets, with August explaining that Mrs. Bonnet doesn’t allow them, as their fur gets everywhere, they scratch the floor, and poop all over. Fiji explains that he’s potty trained, with August having forgotten momentarily that Fiji is completely covered in fur. Dali explains she also has a light coating of fur all over her body, and August apologizes but asks if he can touch her face to feel. He’s fascinated by her animal-like features and asks her about them… Dali explains that firbolgs have animal-like features… her mother has more deer-like features, and her father has more buffalo-like features, and she has a sort of halfway point between the two. August doesn’t know what a buffalo is, so Dali volunteers to wildshape into one so he can feel what one is like.
August is shocked, but he can’t help but feel her head, amazed at the sheer size of her new form. Feeling a little embarrassed that he was touching her so much, but he appreciates the experience. After she turns back, he asks if anyone else would allow him to feel their face so he could get a better understanding of their appearance. Fiji volunteers first, unbothered by the feeling of having his face groped… and August can’t help but pet him like a cat, which Fiji simply enjoys, seeing nothing wrong with it. Still, August apologizes when he realizes he was being impolite… he then asks Lucy-Mae if she minds. She doesn’t, although she doesn’t think he’ll find her face as interesting as the others, since dwarves are far more common than Tabaxi or firbolgs… but with his secluded lifestyle, August hasn’t met many dwarves. He’s mostly interested in her tightly braided hair, as he’s never felt anything like that before, and although he understands what a tattoo is in theory, he has no way of knowing what hers look like. He asks about their “rambly friend”, but Diego is too busy at the moment. Although Lucy-Mae tells the story of when they met Michael, and how Diego talked at length trying to explain something, and how Fiji had to regularly remind him that he’s talking to an actual child. They all enjoy a good laugh, but Fiji admires that Diego doesn’t talk down to others… even if he does occasionally embarrass himself ranting so much about seemingly unimportant details.
The group starts to gather for lunch with Hesper, with Diego arriving like clockwork for the noon meeting. Hesper is pleased to learn of the progress Diego has already made, and she offers the names of a few potential investors that she’s interested in wooing to support the production of the TX2 Chassis. Amongst the names is “Sweet Delorah Brewmonger”… although she’s not particularly wealthy herself, she has deep ties to various politicians and other government officials. Diego briefly considers her low-priority, Lucy-Mae hesitates to mention her connection… until Fiji pipes up, recognizing the name from the letter to Lucy-Mae. Not wanting to flaunt her connection, Lucy-Mae admits that she considers Delorah to be her Grandmother (although it seems the two aren’t blood-related), but she can provide a connection with little effort. Grateful for her help, one last person on their list is a Madame Isald Veil… she’s a well-known philanthropist who recently founded her own town, Veiltown. According to Hesper’s publicist, Veil is the most valuable investor she could hope for, but unfortunately she’s far out of town and will require persuasion. Knowing that Diego’s work will soon require downtime while the Cy-Mount is visited by a veterinarian, this seems the ideal time to visit Madame Veil… although Diego is the only one who can install the Cy-Mount Chassis, he’s also the best choice for convincing Madame Veil… between his knowledge of TX2 and his natural charm. He even briefly turns the charm on Hesper, who Fiji and Lucy-Mae are able to insight actually seems a bit taken with the flirtatious tiefling, but manages to maintain her professionalism. She lets the party know that she can provide a motorized boat to get to and from Veiltown in as little time as possible… a boat designed by Sprock himself. Pleased with the progress, she leaves to continue her business while everyone prepares for the upcoming event.
Diego hurries to the barn to complete this stage of installation of the TX2, while Fiji and Lucy-Mae work together to design flyers to advertise the showcase for the TX2… their plan is for the fliers to contain a coded message. Something not too difficult to solve, but enough to make those who do feel special for uncovering the secret. Meanwhile, Dali works on her plan to gather animals in the city to distribute the fliers… thanks to being both a Firbolg and a Shepherd Druid, she can easily communicate with animals. She finds a particularly fluffy and friendly pigeon and asks it to gather some friends, promising cookies in return for their aid. Within minutes she’s swarmed by eager pigeons happy to help and she realizes that these are actually “Hug Pigeons”, friendly, mostly harmless creatures that unfortunately run the risk of smothering others. Fortunately, Lucy-Mae steps out to assist, pulling Dali from the mass of pigeons as Dali explains her request to the pigeons, which actually line up in organized rows to listen to her.
There is some panic from Mrs. Bonnet when she sees the veritable horde of Hug Pigeons, shouting her concerns after “The Smothering of ‘96”. She’s a little apprehensive when she learns she’ll have to bake cookies for all these birds, but otherwise doesn’t mind as long as they stay out of the manor itself. At this point Diego returns, as no further work can be done on the TX2 Cy-Mount until a veterinarian has spent some time with it. He doesn’t recognize the difference between Hug Pigeons and regular pigeons and when he touches one he finds himself swarmed as well, but Lucy-Mae steps in again and throws Diego into the house where Mrs. Bonnet takes his coat… between the grease of his work and all the birds, his coat has become covered in loose feathers. Diego also notices on Hug Pigeon with intense eyes that is clearly watching him through the windows and actually follows him no matter where he goes. Still, their work is completed shortly before dinner, and they decide that they should leave for Veiltown as soon as possible in order to make sure Diego will have time to charm Madame Veil and still complete the installation of the TX2 before the exhibition.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
The Team starts their journey to Veiltown... they meet a drunken ship captain, a chain-smoking fairy, and someone on the team finally gets laid!
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
We're going live tonight at 8:30pm PST at our usual homes on Twitch and Youtube! It's been about a month since our last session, and if you haven't watched the video above, here's what happened in our last session:
Thanks to one of the cards from Fate’s Verdict, the audience and players learn about something the players themselves don’t… before dawn, it’s a cool morning gradually warming by the rising sun. The outer edges of the city appear peaceful, but soon the sound of gunshots is heard. A rich looking man rushing through the nearby woods, clutching a bundle close as he’s chased by men on horses, firing guns and hooting excitedly. The rich man is wearing his night clothes, and just barely manages to hide behind a tree, the horses rushing past him. Thinking he’s safe, he turns to find a gun in his face… a man wearing a face mask tells him, “End of the Line”, and the sound of a gunshot rings before being followed by cold silence.
For the players, however, it’s at sunset… whether it’s the same day isn’t clear. After Lucy-Mae’s letter from her grandmother, Diego realizes he needs to write to his family as well… composing a letter explaining that he’s in Pennington, and trying to impress them by explaining he’s working with the Hughes Carriage Company, hoping to impress them. Lucy-Mae as well is writing a letter, letting her Grandmother know that she’s in Pennington, but that she’ll be gone for a few days… however, she does try to help Diego by telling her about CHESTR… although she struggles a bit to explain what CHESTR actually is. Meanwhile, Fiji has gotten a delivery forwarded to the Hughes estate… a small package with a letter from his father talking about how proud he is of Fiji, and is hoping he’s eating well… to help him with this, he sent Fiji all the dry ingredients necessary for Dim Sum, along with a handmade bowl and other items.
With their work complete for now, the party decides to ask Hesper if they could leave early to hopefully get a head start on their journey to Veiltown. To Diego’s delight, she pulls out a long range communication device… one of the very first telephones in order to arrange their travel. She also agrees to a per diem for their travel, and shares some more information about Madame Veil… she’s an heiress from the old country, and she’s passionate about issues of Equal Rights, Unfair Wages, or Unemployment. She objects to the use of constructs, as automation has resulted in several people losing their jobs recently.
Before leaving, everyone wants to check in with Mrs. Bonnet and August. They meet Mrs. Bonnet first, and she’s thankful they let her know about their departure before she started on dinner. She also provides them with some cookies to eat on their journey, and when she hears about the motor boat they’ll be taking she warns them to remain seated. Diego reflects that a vehicle built for power at the sacrifice of comfort sounds like something Sprock would invent.
They find August practicing his violin, and they take the time to say farewell to him. They also realize that August didn’t actually know that Diego is a tiefling, and like the others he lets August feel his face so he can tell what Diego looks like. They also get confirmation that, like August, Hesper is a half-elf, but she hides her ears with her hair… explaining that some rich jerks look down on “half breeds”, a pain that Diego can relate to. The group also warns him about the killer, concerned that the Hughes Manor might need more security. However, they learn that August is largely kept out of the loop with local news… he wasn’t even told about the fire that killed Bridget Cammington, although he had basically figured it out on his own… he could easily smell the fire and hear the commotion outside, and he heard his sister crying, even though she refused to explain why. Diego is hesitant to tell August the truth, concerned for his well-being since August is so sickly, but ultimately the group decides it would be cruel to hide this information from him, and although it clearly causes him stress, he suspected as much in the first place and, if anything, seems grateful that they trusted him enough to tell him the truth.
They say their farewells and proceed to a wagon stop to rent a wagon to take them to the docks on the far side of town. With the sun setting, they arrive in a run down part of town and find the Captain of the boat… red skinned Tiefling man with black hair and four horns who is clearly drinking excessively. He introduces himself as Cyril and leads the group to the mechanically enhanced boat with large paddle wheels on its side. Written on the side is “The Voyager”… although it’s been vandalized to say “The Voyeur”, along with some rude words written in Elvish. The ship is clearly of good quality… although it’s filled with empty bottles. Cyril struggles to start the boat, whacking it with a large wrench to get it started.
The Voyager lives up to its reputation… the launch sends Dali and CHESTR both tumbling backward as it takes off like a shot through the bay as it makes its way to the river. The Voyager only barely managing to avoid colliding with other boats in the bay. Cyril casually picks up near-empty alcohol bottles, drinking what’s left before tossing the bottles over his shoulder, to the intense frustration of Dali, who opposes both drinking while driving and especially polluting the river with garbage. To help ease the tension, Diego offers to have CHESTR help clean up the debris. Despite her argument, Cyril clearly finds Dali attractive and attempts to flirt with her, but only seems to upset her further.
To try and cut the tension, Cyril starts to ask everyone about themselves, hoping to learn more about them. Lucy-Mae explains that her tattoos are ceremonial, and it’s something she learned from her grandmother who practically raised her. Dali has to explain that her name is just “Dali”, as her people don’t use surnames. Diego mostly rambles about the technical specs of the TX2 Cymount he’s installing, while Fiji talks about his family business and ends up revealing the reason he’s been in Rattleridge this whole time was because he was hiding out after ruining his arranged marriage. Everyone is stunned to hear this, but in Fiji’s culture arranged marriages are common… his own parents met through an arranged marriage, and there’s even an official matchmaker who pairs couples together. He doesn’t explain exactly what happened, but one detail he shares is that, whatever happened, at some point he accidentally set the matchmaker on fire. While he’s still embarrassed about everything that’s happened, he’s pleased to learn that his friends support his decision to avoid an arranged marriage.
While traveling, Diego is allowed to open a maintenance panel of the Voyager and examine its inner workings. Investigating it more closely, Diego realizes it’s not simply a fast boat… it’s actually a Construct, similar to CHESTR, although not nearly as autonomou The Voyager still requires a driver, but it’s capable of avoiding obstacles and even mooring itself, explaining somewhat how Cyril can steer it with such precision while clearly drunk. In just a few hours the Voyager is arriving at Penning’s Divide… trip that took the greater part of a day on a regular ferry, now only taking a few hours as night begins to fall and Cyril would rather stay in town to get some drinks and sleep in a proper bed.
On their way into town, Diego recognizes Nancy, the Clerk working the ticket booth for the ferry, a young Triton woman. He eagerly flirts with her, hoping to take her out on a date during his short stay in Penning’s Divide. The rest of the group also decides to visit the local tavern, partly for their own relaxation, but also to keep an eye on Cyril and make sure he doesn’t drink himself into a coma. Fiji even manages to stealthily water down Cyril’s drink a bit, for his own sake. Meanwhile, Diego is joined by Nancy for their date, sharing some food together when they’re joined by a Half-orc woman who works as a guard in Penning’s Divide; Needlesplit, Nancy’s girlfriend. To Diego’s delight, they’re in an open relationship, and he manages to woo both of them into a night of passion as everyone finishes their meals and prepares for a night in Penning’s Divide before continuing their journey to the newly formed settlement of Veiltown.
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It's been a while since our last game of Gears and Guns. During our last stream there was actually a problem with our DM's internet, hence why the livestream archive is split into two videos. Luckily, we're finally able to get back and explore the Fantasy Wild West again! It will be a short stream, but you can catch us tonight on Twitch or Youtube at 8PM EST.
As always, if you need a reminder of what happened in our last session, read on:
Diego spends the night with Nancy and Needlesplit, proving himself a generous lover with his critical success on a constitution check. Meanwhile, Cyril is still aggressively hitting on Dali, who is having absolutely none of it. She also opposes Cyril continuing to drink, eventually consenting to let him get just one more drink before heading to bed so he’s able to focus on the drive the next day… which Cyril uses as an excuse to order a pitcher, although Tipsy, who owns the bar, offers him a single tankard, which Cyril accepts. Worried for him, Fiji does a medical check on Cyril and is shocked to realize Cyril shows actually very few signs of drunkenness… despite how much he has been drinking all day, he’s still only a little tipsy. He finishes his drink then leaves to sleep in The Voyager for the rest of the night. Meanwhile, Goldie has been stealing snacks from bar patrons all night long.
After finishing their own meals, the trio of Fiji, Lucy-Mae and Dali all opt to return to the Voyager as well for the rest of the night, especially since all their stuff was left within the boat. As they approach, Fiji notices that Cyril is using some kind of tools and are pressing them against his chest. Fiji tries to sneak up on Cyril to see what he’s doing, but he fails so horribly that Cyril easily catches him and seems offended at being snuck up on. Cyril makes a point to make direct eye contact with Dali while taking a heavy drink of whiskey… with Fiji noting that Cyril seems to enjoy upsetting Dali. In her annoyance, Dali tells Goldie that, although she has long tried to teach Goldie to not go places she doesn’t belong or go digging through other peoples’ stuff, for tonight, at least, she encourages Goldie to investigate Cyril.
Diego wakes up embraced by Nancy and Needlesplit, choosing to wake the women with a kiss. Although their morning starts somewhat romantic, soon all three realize they’re late for their various jobs, and they all seem to understand that this was just a one-night thing… although they do agree to try and meet during Diego’s return trip. Making it back to The Voyager, he finds the only person awake is Goldie, who is sitting on a small hoard of stolen trinkets and is currently chewing on a bullet. Diego hurries to take the bullet from her, which wakes the others who help him, with Dali putting Goldie away. The bullet doesn’t belong to Cyril, and Diego investigates it further and realizes it has magic runes on it… with his knowledge of inventions, he discerns that it can be used as sort of long-range net. The other items seem to mostly not belong to Cyril either, and nothing of particular value
Continuing their ride, Fiji attempts to ask Cyril about what he was doing with the tools to his chest the night before, but Cyril isn’t persuaded to talk about it, instead encouraging Fiji to just look for any jumping river salmon. This immediately gets Fiji’s attention, who hurries to watch for fish… as soon as one of the migrating river fish leaps out of the water he quickly snatches it with his bare hands. With a bit of help from Diego and Dali, Fiji manages to cook a delicious meal using the tiny stove built into the Voyager. They all enjoy the meal, and Dali in particular is relieved as Cyril consumes actual food for the first time anyone in the group has seen since meeting him. Cyril notes that they’ll be passing through Campbell’s Bridge, and he’s eager to pick up some “supplies”… with Dali intuiting that he means alcohol, and she has no intention of allowing him to get more alcohol. Making their way into the makeshift bar owned by the Bugbear couple, they find that the Coffee Plant Dali helped them to bloom is growing healthily. Dali tells Goldie to shriek any time Cyril attempts to order any alcohol, which manages to interrupt Cyril’s attempts to purchase enough for him to simply give up, However, seeing how Cyril seems so sensitive to not getting alcohol regularly, Diego and Lucy-Mae both think to buy some emergency wine just in case they ever need to calm him down. Diego also learns that Cyril has a reputation for drinking… in particular, he once drank an entire keg of beer by himself on a dare, and seemed none the worse for wear… a feat that’s unusual enough to actually pique Diego’s curiosity.
Returning to the Voyager, Cyril is still in a bad mood with Dali’s needling. His mood isn’t helped after taking off when Diego starts to question him about his unusual ability to drink in excess. Cyril is aware that his ability to drink is unusual and seems to know why, but he refuses to explain why, hoping to exit the conversation by going below deck to do some maintenance… however, Diego forcibly assists with the maintenance and continues to try and interrogate Cyril, who simply grunts and avoids answering any of Diego’s questions. Meanwhile, the others are focused on catching more fish and preparing some fish and grits for dinner. By the time the food is finished, Cyril pointedly locks Diego out of the Captain’s quarters, accepting his dinner through a small window in the freshly locked door.
As they sit and eat their meals, they discuss their theories about Cyril. Fiji casually mentions that he saw Cyril manipulating something on his chest with tools the other day. Diego theorizes that Cyril might have some kind of prosthetic in his chest that requires maintenance, and which may have something to do with his ability to drink alcohol. He even wonders aloud if it’s possible that he uses alcohol as a fuel source of some kind, but he admits that, while high proof alcohol can make a viable fuel source, something like beer or wine isn’t well suited to the task. The decision is eventually made that, as curious as everyone is, it would be too rude to keep pressing Cyril on the topic directly. Instead they decide to get some rest, as Cyril instead decides to drive through the night just to get this over with early.
The travelers still keep watch through the night. During Fiji’s watch he notices a shadowy figure in the trees near the river that appears to be following the ship. He watches it for a moment, but it doesn’t seem to do anything out fo the ordinary, so he doesn’t think much of it, aside from mentioning it to Lucy-Mae when waking her up for her watch. More alert thanks to Fiji’s warning, Lucy-Mae watches the shoreline more closely, and to her horror realizes the shadowy figure is somehow keeping up with The Voyager by swinging from tree to tree. The shadowy figure appears extremely tall and spindly, its body seemingly made of thin whisps of shadow with eyes that are simply two glowing points. She hurries to wake Dali to seek her expertise… to her horror Dali recognizes this as a “Lookaround”… a strange spirit that remains harmless if ignored, but if stared at it becomes hostile… it’s known for its unnatural height and extreme speed. Everyone is woken up and readies to deal with the creature should it attack.
The party finds it exceedingly difficult to not watch the spirit as it follows them. Dali and Diego move to try and protect Captain Cyril, who is panicking a bit as he’s not a trained fighter like the others. Diego positions CHESTR near where he hears the Lookaround moving, hoping CHESTR may draw its attraction. However, it ignores CHESTR and its long, shadowy claw begins to reach for Dali, with Diego no longer able to ignore the creature and firing on it with his pistol. The bullet does relatively little damage to the spirit and in the blink of an eye it leaps onto The Voyager, standing over 10 feet tall and shrieking, the supernatural screeching sound instilling fear in most who hear it. Even the automaton CHESTR is affected, but Fiji manages to avoid the debilitating effects, rushing the Lookaround and slamming it repeatedly, only to find his bludgeoning strikes barely harming it. Lucy-Mae and Diego are slowed by their fear, but finally Dali conjures a Moonbeam to slam into the creature and damage it with radiant energy, which burns away the long, spindly limbs of the Lookaround, revealing its true form as a small, wrinkled, white-skinned animal-like being… with its limbs destroyed it hisses and leaps into the water… defeated for now, but not dead.
Cyril is eager to be done with this job at this point, and he speeds up, completing the ride to Veiltown by noon the next day while everyone else rests after having their long rest interrupted. They find that Veiltown has a lone, isolated dock on the Snake River with no one present attending to it. Cyril has no interest in visiting Veiltown… he repeats rumors he has heard of it being creepy, but can’t offer any explanation beyond that. He also seems just eager to spend some time away from the group who is cramping his usual habit of lounging around and drinking all day. Leaving Cyril behind, they complete the short walk to Veiltown… a small settlement with buildings that are clearly extremely high quality… made of sturdy wood and stone, and most of the buildings have decorative stained glass windows.
Veiltown certainly doesn’t live up to its “spooky” reputation… until the group is suddenly approached by an unkempt, crazed looking human man. He runs toward them with wild eyes, shouting about how “they” are going to “awake it”, and warning the group to stay away. Baffled, they try to get him to explain in detail, but as quickly as he approached he immediately runs away into the nearby woods, and they opt not to follow him, instead approaching some of the seemingly normal citizens of Veiltown who are busying themselves around town to ask about what just happened. The people of Veiltown don’t know who the crazed man is, but they seem to be aware that he’s been around and they have no idea what he’s talking about. They don’t think he’s dangerous, and tend to just ignore him when he comes by. However, when the group explains that they’re here to meet Madam Veil, everyone is eager to guide them toward her home… although the multi-story manor is easy to find, especially as it rests atop a large hill. The people of Veiltown all seem to speak happily about Madam Veil.
Approaching the luxurious manor, Diego rings the doorbell. The door is answered by a Kirei Midorian human woman who recognizes Diego’s name, as HR Hughes had sent word ahead of time about his visit. Standing nearby is a male goblin in a servant’s suit, both of them greeting the adventurers and guiding them into Madam Veil’s office. Madam Veil’s home is lavishly decorated with red, and is lit by hanging chandeliers decorated with finely crafted crystals. Fiji, whose father is a skilled glassblower, appreciates the high value and rarity of such things. Making their way through her lavish abode, they soon find Lady Isald Veil waiting in her office.
Madam Veil is a young human woman with striking red hair and an elaborate dress. She’s chipper and excited to meet the group, inviting them to join her for an elaborate lunch that had been prepared especially for them. She’s not interested in discussing business matters at first, wanting simply to get to know the group and share some of the international foods that she has learned to love in her travels across the world. She is very proud of the quality of the buildings in Veiltown, especially as she feels it important that her employees live rich, fulfilling lives. She doesn’t like that rumors are spreading that Veiltown is “creepy”, and can’t fathom why anyone would think that… even the thought of some business rival trying to spread false rumors doesn’t ring true to her. She also admits sheepishly that she is sometimes referred to as “The Scarlet Lady”, but only brings it up to explain that she doesn’t like the moniker and asks not to be called by that name.
During their dinner, Dali realizes she’s lost track of Goldie… as the Sand Otter has a love for snatching shiny objects she realizes that Goldie is a disaster waiting to happen in the Veil estate. Diego continues to chat with Madam Veil while the others excuse themselves to look for Goldie, finding that the otter has somehow managed to climb into the crystal chandelier and very clearly got herself stuck in the process. Careful to avoid damaging the valuable decoration, Lucy-Mae uses her powers as a Rune Knight to grow to large size and reach for Goldie and extract her before she does any damage. Once captured, Madam Veil is eager to meet Goldie. She also lets her visitors know that they’re welcome to stay in her home, and gives them themed keys to the guest rooms, each party member getting their own room. As they go inside to drop off their supplies and relax, they’re each delivered a gift of fine clothing made especially for them, based on information provided to Madam Veil by H.R. Hughes.
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Come join the Crits for Breakfast crew on Twitch or Youtube tonight! The heroes have found themselves in a mysterious temple... join us tonight at 8:30 pm EST, and if you need a reminder of what happened last time, read on:
The party opens the gifts left for them, finding fine clothes custom made just for them. Diego finds an 1800’s style Spanish nobleman’s suit. More used to this kind of thing, he rings the bell to summon Jasper, Madame Veil’s goblin servant to help put on the outfit. Fiji finds a traditional Chinese-style robe made of flowing yellow fabric, specially made to avoid static and is even designed to accommodate his tail. Fiji eagerly puts his outfit on, rushing outside after he puts it on to show everyone. He’s soon joined by Dali, who was gifted a European woman’s fine dress… unfortunately, she can’t figure out how to put it on, stepping out of her room to seek help. Lucy-Mae, meanwhile, gets a playful Steampunk style dress with leather corset, fingerless gloves, and a dress shorter in the front than in the back, showing her legs in tight fitting pants, tall boots, and even a cute top hat.
Dali is barely wearing her dress, spilling out as she’s trying to figure out how to wear this European-style clothing. Fiji, with his mercurial nature, doesn’t find her near-nudity unusual, but he doesn’t know how to secure those kinds of outfits either. Lucy-Mae steps out and is shocked at the sight, when Dali has the thought that Diego will probably know, casually walking into his room as her dress is beginning to slip off of her. Diego was chatting with Jasper about his work with Madame Veil, but is pushed to stunned silence at the sight before him. Dali is asking for help, with Jasper ushering her back to his room while he summons Akane, Madame Veil’s female human servant, to help her get dressed. Dali doesn’t understand all the fuss being made, as she sees nothing unusual about her natural body being seen by others… among her tribe, nudity isn’t seen as particularly strange, and things like communal baths regularly occur. Akane lets her know that she should be more careful exposing herself, with Dali agreeing for everyone else’s sake, although she still doesn’t see the problem.
The group spends some time examining their room. Fiji finds a lovely clock with a sunflower design, although it doesn’t seem to be working. Lucy-Mae is hoping to find some perfume, but doesn’t have any in her room. She steps out and sees Fiji, who left his door open, and at his suggestion they think to ask Diego, who tends to have things like that. Diego, meanwhile, can’t help but admire an elaborate golden mirror set in his room with carvings of angels framing the reflecting glass. However, the hands of one of the angels has a seam of some kind on it… pulling on it, he finds that it pops off, and reveals a small button underneath. Pressing the button, he can hear gears turning, the mirror folding away to reveal a hidden container that holds what appears to be a small iron comb with a crown pattern on one side. As he’s trying to discern that this device is, Fiji and Lucy-Mae approach to ask him about help with perfume… fortunately, his Magical Tinkering allows him to create harmless scents, and with Lucy-Mae’s direction he provides for her a floral scent. Dali, now that she’s properly dressed, goes to see what everyone is gathered for, although she’s worried about getting too close, since she’s actually allergic to most types of perfume. Fortunately, since Diego’s tinkering is Magical in nature, it doesn’t cause her to develop a rash.
Diego believes that this is a deliberate game set up by Madam Veil, and the group then systematically goes from room to room solving puzzles, each time opening a hidden compartment in some part of the room to reveal more pieces of a device that, once assembled together, forms a large key, over 7” in length, with a decorative head that resembles a lion’s head sprouting from a large sunflower, and a complicated pronged end. Curious about what this oversized key could possibly go to, they test it against a nearby door, and to their surprise the key rearranges itself to lock the door. Testing it against another door, they find it does the same thing and they determine that it must be a skeleton key designed to open, at the very least, any door within the mansion. Wondering why Madam Veil would set up a game to allow them to find a universal key instead of one that will, presumably, open up some kind of prize, they realize that this wasn’t intended as a gift at all… it was simply a well-hidden key that was kept in pieces in the themed rooms, and they weren’t expected to find it. Diego immediately attempts to disassemble the key to hide it back where they found the pieces, but finds the key is thoroughly locked in place and can’t be easily taken apart.
As they’re discussing whether or not they should hide the key somewhere, they hear Jasper approaching to inform them that dinner is prepared. Feeling guilty for digging into their hidden things without permission, Diego returns the key to Jasper, who seems shocked to see it, and annoyed at the party for finding it. Her hurriedly takes the key back and insists the party follow him back to the dining room, where dinner is waiting. Joined once again by Madam Veil, they finally decide to discuss they were sent for in the first place… trying to convince Madam Veil to help invest in the new TX-2 Cy-mount invented by Diego’s teacher, Sprock, and due to be produced by the Hughes Family. Diego at first attempts to wow Madam Veil with the technical specs of the TX-2, but Lucy-Mae interrupts his rambling to point out that nobody has any idea what he’s talking about. Instead, he switches tactics… telling in more detail the story of how he nearly drowned during a hydraulic mining incident. In his youth, some other boys dared him to enter a forbidden part of his family’s mine. However, he didn’t know that this portion of the mine was set to be Hydraulic mined on that day, and when the caves were flooded he was only saved because some of the miners risked their own lives to rescue him. This helped instill in him a deep appreciation for the workers themselves, and he knows that Madam Veil has a reputation for caring deeply about the people in her employ. He’s hoping that, if Madam Veil is a primary investor, she’ll be able to use her influence to make sure that everyone employed in the manufacture of the TX-2 will have someone fighting for them.
Appealing to her sense of duty, and finding sincerity through his story, Madam Veil doesn’t commit just yet, but she’s clearly interested in investigating further. She considers traveling back to Pennington with the group, although there is some hesitation since the riverboat they took to visit her in Veiltown, while fast, doesn’t quite match the luxury they assume Madam Veil would be accustomed to. As they’re discussing the date of the upcoming exhibition they’re planning for the TX-2. Just as they’re beginning to discuss the logistics of travel, dinner is interrupted by Jasper, who needs to speak to Madam Veil in private, and he seems to be in a bad mood. The group remains eating dinner, until Dali begins to worry that Goldie might be doing something, as the last anyone saw the Sand Otter she was sleeping on Dali’s bed, but had many opportunities to wander out and explore the manor when they weren’t looking. Dali and Fiji both excuse themselves to try and listen in on Madam Veil’s conversation to listen and make sure Goldie hasn’t broken anything, while Diego and Lucy-Mae stay and eat.
Both Dali and Fiji have particularly good hearing, and they can pick up Veil and Jasper’s conversation clearly… they don’t know exactly what they’re discussing, but most importantly they discuss the master key that had been found earlier… Jasper explains that he’s stored it in his room for now, but they’re both worried about the curiosity of their guests. They discuss plans to lock everyone in their room, so that they might “avoid the bloodshed”. Before they can continue, however, the sound of an animal howling can be heard and they head outside. Fiji and Dali return in a panic, trying to explain what they heard. Especially with the strange man who approached them in a panic earlier that day, Fiji and Dali especially are becoming convinced that they’ve been lured here to be killed, for whatever reason. Diego disagrees… if they were just being brought here to be killed, why would Madam Veil provide them with fine clothes and such a luxurious feast? This, however, only panics Dali more, as now she’s convinced they’re being fattened up for slaughter.
Any debate on whether or not they’re in danger is cut short as they hear the sound of a man screaming in terror outside, followed quickly by more animal howls. Diego wants to just ask Madam Veil about this directly, but Lucy-Mae reminds him that they’re all unarmed and wearing formal clothes… if he’s wrong and Madam Veil means them harm, whatever is howling out there could potentially kill them all. Dali and Fiji again listen at the door to hear Veil and Jasper still conversing, clearly not afraid of whatever creature is howling outside. Instead, they’re concerned that their guests must have heard that scream. As they’re trying to decide what they’ll say to their guests, Dali quickly locks the door behind them and everyone runs back to their rooms to gather their equipment and prepare for what comes next.
Dali has been struggling to move in her European-style dress this whole time, and had long ago abandoned the high heeled shoes she had been gifted, opting to walk on her bare feet. Now that they’re preparing for potential combat, and not knowing how to properly remove the complicated outfit, Dali simply rips it off, unashamed to be seen before stomping into her room to make sure Goldie is unharmed and to put on her proper armor. Fiji, as a monk, requires no real armor or weapons, so he stays in his formal wear, which was designed to be moved in comfortably anyway. Lucy-Mae and Diego both opt to put their armor on over their formal wear, just in time to hear loud banging on the front door, signaling that Veil and Jasper are now trying to break in the front door. Remembering that Jasper mentioned leaving the Master Key in his room, they decide to search for his room… reasoning that whatever the key is hiding, it must be tied to whatever is going on, based on the snippets of conversation Dali and Fiji have been hearing. Whatever it’s hiding, it will likely give them answers for some of their questions, and whether or not they’re even really in danger.
Fortunately, it doesn’t take them long to stumble upon Jasper’s room. The door was left unlocked, and as they hurry in they find, despite his formal appearance, Jasper’s room is crudely built. Filled with jars that contain body parts, with walls covered in herbs and an unpleasant smell in the room. Dali and Diego investigate the herbs, realizing that they’re mostly Wolfsbane, which means one thing they’ve all been thinking since they heard the howling: werewolves. Everyone gathers some Wolfsbane in their pockets as Dali searches deeper into Jasper’s room, finding the Master Key casually tossed onto his bed… and more worryingly, 3 human skulls sitting on a blood-stained bookcase. As they start to panic again they notice thick shackles in one corner… unsure of their intended use, Diego grabs a pair of them just in case they prove useful. As the sound of the front door being hammered is getting louder, the group hurries downstairs… Diego reasons that the Master Key likely hides the entrance to some kind of basement, comparing it to a safe room. As one more familiar with manors and mansions, he’s asked where that kind of entrance might be… he assumes in the back, perhaps in the kitchens. As they hurry that way they hear the sound of the front door crashing in, Jasper and Veil shouting, demanding the group show themselves.
The group starts a desperate search, checking every door, hoping to find one that’s locked. Unfortunately, almost none of them are, and the few that are hold no new secrets. However, Fiji has the idea to lock every door they pass through… not only does this slow their pursuers even further, since Jasper isn’t carrying his house keys at the moment, but it also makes it more difficult for them to determine which direction they actually went. Getting a decent headstart, the group exhausts the back rooms and servants’ quarters before deciding to check Madam Veil’s study. There is is some hope when they find a locked drawer, but it simply contains her telephone, and although that is also key-activated, the Master Key doesn’t work on it. There begins a desperate search for some kind of hidden doorway or something, and there’s no progress until Diego is drawn to a book case tucked against the far wall of very short hallway. Its unusual position and the novel contraptions to hide hidden switches and secrets he’d already seen in the manor leads him to assume it must be where it is to fulfill a specific purpose. He begins systematically checking books, searching for hidden switches or key holes. However, there are a suspicious number of books relating to infernal dealings and curses… finally, with a book written in Elvish as “The Beast and the Beauty”, a small lever is pulled. With a click and the sound of gears turning, a portion of the nearby wall slides open, revealing a recess in the shape of the key. The master Key is placed in sideways, and as it does it becomes locked in place, then pulled into the wall as a hidden doorway slides open, revealing a room with a large infernal summoning circle drawn on the floor and more books on the far wall. The scent of old blood is heavy in the dimly lit, stone-walled crevice, and shortly after entering they find the exit has closed on its own behind them. Checking the books, it appears to be grimoires and instruction manuals for infernal rituals. Not wanting to lose too much time checking the books, in case whatever is pursuing them find s where they went, they search deeper and find a ladder leading downward into a deep, dark cave.
CHESTR is sent first downward… but unfortunately the automaton has never actually used a ladder before and without more careful instruction it simply leapt down the hole… fortunately not damaging itself too badly in the 30 foot drop. However, the loud crash doesn’t seem to attract anything from below, so the group follows CHESTR down into the darkness. Dali holds up the tinkered torch she was provided by Diego, and they see they’re moving downward into some kind of large temple. Not only a temple, but an ancient temple… clearly Veil Manor was built on top of this temple, and not the other way around. With nowhere to go but forward, the group prepares to face whatever they might find in this hidden place.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
We're playing more Gears and Guns tonight at 8:30 PM EST. Come join us on Twitch or Youtube as we make our daring escape from Veil Manor. If, however, you need a stronger reminder of what happened in our last session, read on:
The travelers are in the hidden basement of Madam Veil’s home, after witnessing some kind of strange werewolf attack. However, exploring deeper, they realize this is actually an ancient temple, which Veil Manor was built on top of, that leads into a dark cave system. Diego takes a moment to take down the ladder they used to reach the temple, hoping to slow down any pursuers. Exploring deeper into the cave system, Dali is attacked by a strange creature that looked like a stalactite at first glance, but was able to fly and attach to her leg. Although it’s a small creature, it’s surprisingly strong, crushing her leg. Fiji rushes forward and manages to kill it. Lucy-Mae recognizes it as a Dark Mantle, and Goldie starts to try to eat it… with Fiji joining. Fortunately Lucy-Mae knows that they’re edible, with some dwarves referring to them as “Cave Calimari”, although normally they’re actually cooked.
Continuing further into the caves, they spot an area of magical darkness clinging to the roof. Choosing to avoid that, they instead move South, finding the chambers of the cave expanding in size, with more darkness surrounding them. Looking to the roof, they see that a sort of gravity-defying fog of pitch blackness clings to the ceiling. Throwing a torch into it, they see that it does nothing to dispel the darkness, with the light vanishing while it’s within the inky blackness, but the light becomes visible again as soon as it falls back to the floor. Diego realizes this is similar to the Darkness spell… harmless on its own, but it can still hide dangers. Unfortunately, it also means they have no way to dispel it, as it cannot simply be moved aside by hand.
Dali tries to see if Goldie can sense anything, as Sand Otters are natural tunnelers who are used by her people to help find sources of water in the desert. She is able to communicate simple ideas with Goldie, and realizes that Goldie senses water nearby. She directs the group to continue in that direction… Fiji steps ahead, hodling his spear on top of his head to deal with any dark mantles… this tactic actually works, and one Dark Mantle impales itself on his spear. He also notices that some of the magical darkness dissipates when the Dark Mantle dies. Continuing further, they notice a few weak spots on the ground that look to be unsafe to stand on. Goldie also takes advantage of the moment to climb into CHESTR, riding the treasure chest-shaped automaton… until Diego forgets she’s in there and sends CHESTR ahead just in case something attacks, causing Goldie to leap out and crawl back into Dali’s arms.
As they travel through tunnels that follow a slow decline downward, Diego tries to examine the walls to tell if these tunnels are naturally occurring or if they’re man-made… it does seem to be naturally made, but he does notice claw marks from a large creature. Fiji compares it to his own clawed hands, realizing the markings are quite a bit bigger. As they continue, Dali hears strange voices in her head speaking in a language she doesn’t understand. No one else has heard anything, making her more concerned. Before they can try to figure out what is happening to her, Fiji notices light ahead. Continuing stealthily, they find another underground temple. This time paintings of monstrous figures are visible on the ceiling. More concerning, however, are several coffins placed around the room… coffins that look to be quite new. Examining the walls as well, although the room at first glance appears old and worn, it’s clear that these details were added artificially… otherwise, the temple seems newly constructed. Looking at the coffins more closely, they find the interior is well-made, but they find a strange letter inside:
“For our newest and dearest guests. I hope they are comfortable for your new eternity – Madam Veil”
Realizing the coffins are most likely intended for them, they look further into the temple and find a 5th coffin, realizing that this one seems much older. Continuing deeper inside, they notice another, more elaborate coffin… it’s decorated with a crest depicting a golden lion with crystal eyes and a rose in its mouth. Opening it up, they find a golden plaque with the name “Madam Isald Veil” on it. However, there seems to be nowhere else to go, until the group notices what looks like a broken portion of the wall. Investigating further they find a strange room… it has an area covered with straw that has a child’s doll sitting with it. A nearby well provides water, and there’s a trough full of edible slop… however, what draws their attention the most is a pile of bones tucked into a corner. As Diego is investigating the bones to try and discern what killed them. However, a rumbling sound can be heard, and Dali hears that strange voice in her head again just before and suddenly a massive creature erupts out of the ground. It’s some kind of bizarre aberration… covered in scales, its body resembles a massive lizard, but with clusters of tendrils instead of legs. Its massive maw is filled with dagger like teeth, and it has glowing red eyes that seem to be growing in random locations on its body, although mostly clustered on its head. As it shrieks, everyone can hear the same voice in their heads that Dali heard earlier, although none of them recognize the language, just realizing that it fills them with a supernatural sense of dread
Their forced to fight for their life as the creature lashes out. More tentaacles erupt out of the ground, attempting to grapple them. The tentacles are coated in some kind of strange slime which has a caustic effect on those it touches. Lucy-Mae is nearly knocked unconscious, but she uses her Giant’s Might to grow large and battle against the creature. As they battle, however, they notice something unusual… the creature has a pink bow on its head. Despite its hideous appearance, this gives them enough pause to avoid killing it outright, instead knocking the beast unconscious. Dali casts Spare the Dying to help stabilize the creature while Diego investigates its unconscious body to try and figure out what it is. Examining the bow on its head, they see gold Embroidery labeling the creature as “Spiffy”, and the same name is also embroidered on the doll they saw earlier. There’s some concern on whether or not Spiffy should be put down for the safety of any civilians, but to help make that decision Fiji and Diego work together to investigate the skeletons left behind in a large pile. It’s difficult to tell, as Spiffy’s corrosive mucus has broken them down into bleach-white bones, but from what they can tell the majority of the skeletons seem to have lethal injuries inflicted by weapons… they’re fairly certain that, although Spiffy has eaten several corpses, she isn’t actively hunting for humans, but instead is being used to dispose of bodies killed elsewhere. Resolving to leave the injured creature to recover, they continue further into the cave systems, looking for an escape.
The group continues deeper into the caves, with Goldie guiding them toward the scent of fresh water. However, on their way the group is attacked by a group of Stirges in a thin hallway… a bottleneck leaving Diego vulnerable, as he was leading the way. If not for their recent battle with Spiffy, the Stirges would be a minor issue, but they prove more dangerous as the party is in a weakened state. Fortunately, the bat-like creatures are still quickly dispatched, leaving them free to continue further where they find a small pool with a few skeletons visible deep below the dark water… along with some pet toys floating on the water, leading them to assume this is Spiffy’s bath. Nearby, however, is a small opening with moonlight visible through it. Not wanting to dwell any longer in Spiffy’s lair, they stealthily head out of the small opening to escape the caverns.
Once outside, they find themselves in a strange area with tall foliage-covered stone walls and an open ceiling, leading toward multiple branching pathways… they realize this is what they assumed was a hedge maze they saw near Veil Manor. Examinging the stone walls more closely, they realize that the walls are covered in reliefs depicting more monstrous creatures eagerly devouring humans.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
For anyone who was watching our last livestream, we had to cut it short because one of our players was having a major toothache that made it too hard for her to keep playing... A D&D stream is basically just talking for 3+ hours, which is really hard to do when your tooth feels like it's trying to kick its way out of your skull.
To make up for the short stream, however, we're going to playing again tonight! You can join us on Twitch or Youtube tonight at 9pm EST as we complete our latest session of our game. However, if you missed our session earlier this week, or if you just need a reminder, here's what happened:
The travelers find themselves in a large maze just outside of Veil Manor. The area is filled with topiaries… the tops of the 12 foot walls have iron spikes that make them dangerous to attempt to climb. A large mural depicts monstrous figures of a variety of species gleefully devouring humanoids as well. The group decides to take a rest, while Dali uses her magic to determine that a storm will be coming soon. They also note that the humanoids being killed in the mural are all warriors of some kind, and a phrase in Latin on the mural says “We will happily feast on those who try to destroy our peace.” Diego is the first to voice the suspicion that Veiltown may be intended to be a safe haven for creatures considered monsters… they realize that the bodies they saw earlier were also largely armored, and could have been attackers trying to hunt the citizens of Veiltown. They hear the monstrous Spiffy waking up and take that as a sign to begin exploring the maze.
Their exploration is cut short as the only doorway out from the area they find themselves in appears to lead to a dead end. All investigations fail to find a path forward, and as Diego begins tearing off part of the hedge the group notices that the hedge itself seems to shudder… realizing that the hedge seems to be sentient, Dali uses her Firbolg connection to nature to speak to the hedge itself. With her polite request to be guided out, the Hedge agrees, opening a hidden passageway. The Hedge continues to shudder, guiding the party through the maze safely. During their exploration they come across a small stump overgrown with mushrooms… Goldie approaches and starts eating some of the mushrooms… and she’s soon joined by Fiji, who starts eating some as well. Diego notices that some of the mushrooms are dangerous Deathcaps, and he harvests some. Lucy-Mae also wants to harvest some portobello mushrooms, hoping to grow some back in Rattleridge. However, when she does, she notices a few tiny chairs and tables next to the mushrooms… there’s a moment of panic as they briefly believe they may have destroyed some fairy homes… although they realize the mushrooms are far too small to be used as homes, even for Fairies, and this little area is more just a small sitting area for visiting fairies, and it should be fine with some mushrooms missing.
The party continues… the twists and turns of the maze are disorienting, even with the maze itself guiding them. Still, the travel proves peaceful, and the group occasionally stumbles upon elaborate topiaries or more carvings of monstrous beings, although away from the large battle mural they are depicted living peacefully. The most focus is given to a topiary depicting an angel and a devil held in a romantic embrace… the figures are both androgynous, and it is marked with a nameplate labeling it “The Devil and the Celestial”.There is a certain tragedy to the figures, and Diego in particular seems to be taken with the image. After passing through a massive spiral decorated with stone lions, the find a large elaborate topiary expertly designed into a miniature township, complete with lights visible through the windows. An eager Fiji hurries to peek into the tiny windows and is delighted to find actual fairies living inside… until one wakes to the sight of a massive feline eye staring at her and she screams for help, causing the party to avoid the issue and hurry further through the maze, making their way to the exit as a heavy storm begins to rain down around them.
In the rainy night, they can see clearly that the lights of Veil Town are lit, and there seems to be a gathering of citizens in the town square. Hoping to avoid further conflict and now believing that Madame Veil and the citizens of Veiltown are not the villains they once feared they were, they begin to March forward with the hopes of speaking openly.
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Slight update: We'll be starting at 9:30; some players were kept busy and couldn't get prepped in time.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
After a month of absence, we're finally able to play again! Come join us tonight at 8:30 EST on Twitch or Youtube As we continue our adventures through the Steampunk West
Edit: I forgot to include the text summary of what happened in the last session! Here's a quick summary for what happened last time:
As the travelers are approaching the lights of Veiltown, they opt to have the speedy and dexterous Fiji sneak ahead to make sure it looks safe to approach. Using the heavy rain to hide himself, Fiji sneaks ahead, spotting strange glowing lights floating near a well. Still keeping out of their range, Fiji recognizes them as Wisps, dangerous undead creatures, although he does manage to avoid their attention. Returning to the group, he informs them of the danger, and although by reputation Wisps are known to be quite dangerous, considering Veiltown seems to be some kind of village meant to be safe for monsters, they don’t know if the Wisps are citizens or just creatures attacking the remote village.
They decide to approach the wisps and see how they react, but as they do they hear intense laughter and the loud crack of lightning, and suddenly they see the skies clear as the rain subsides. The Wisps don’t react to the sudden sound, but when the group approaches they turn invisible. They wait to see if the Wisps attack, but when one farts near them and apologizes they realize they’re likely just citizens as well. Approaching where they heard the thunder earlier, they find the streets are empty. But as they stand there shadowy figures emerge from the darkness. Monstrous forms of all varieties draw near, pulling satchels from their sides… reaching into the satchels, they pull out confetti, throwing it into the air as they shout in unison, “Welcome to Veiltown!” Madame Veil herself is present, recognizing the party and realizing this isn’t the group that this greeting has been prepared for. Diego steps forward to speak to her… as a form of apology, he tells more of the story of how he found himself caught in a flooded cave as a child… young boys dared him to enter the cave, claiming that there is a cave to the 9 Hells inside, and since he’s a “devil”, he’ll be pulled into Hell. He agreed, partly because he thought the idea was ridiculous… but also, the thought of being somewhere with people like him who wouldn’t judge him based on his appearance didn’t seem so bad. He admits that he would have loved to have a place like Veiltown at that time. Although he does manage to quell some of Madame Veil’s frustration, the fact that they had also attacked her pet, Spiffy, made it hard to convince her of their innocence. As they’re dealing with the awkwardness of the situation, the small fair that begins in the street is approached by what, at first, appears to be a group of humans… but as they speak and the monsters of Veiltown greet them, the party realize that it’s 4 vampires… A family of 4 with a variety of body types that match the coffins they had found earlier… coffins the Party thought were intended for themselves. Still, they manage to not embarrass themselves too much, although they’re invited to take use of the local public baths to clean up, considering they fought their way through the catacombs and ruined the fine clothes they were given as a gift earlier that evening.
After getting cleaned up the group reconvenes, everyone feeling a bit awkward after finding that they jumped to conclusions and potentially insulted Madame Veil and the innocent, if frightening citizens of Veiltown. They still don’t know what caused the scream they heard earlier, or if there’s any significance to the summoning circle they found hidden in Veil Manor. Still, there’s a party atmosphere to welcome the new citizens, complete with drinks. Feeling that he wouldn’t want to miss this, Fiji suggests that he could hurry out of town to find Cyril, the tiefling man who captains The Voyager and also drinks heavily. Diego recommends against it, as Cyril could insult the people if he reacts too much to their presence, but the others think if he’s properly warned he won’t cause any trouble. Unfortunately, Fiji is sent to gather Cyril, and unfortunately for Cyril’s sake, Fiji simply describes the citizens of Veiltown as a “bunch of cool dudes.” An honest assessment, by Fiji’s standards, already forgetting that Cyril might react with shock and fear when seeing the monstrous residents. Cyril isn’t too eager to go, but the thought of free booze is enough to motivate him… plus he’s hoping to annoy Dali, who he thinks is more attractive when she’s angry.
Shock and Fear does indeed show in his face as Cyril joins the party. The music stopping as everyone is made uncomfortable by Cyril’s reaction. The others approach to explain to Cyril what is happening and to try and calm him down, but what actually gets everyone to calm down is Dali getting upset when Fiji casually mentions that Cyril was hoping to annoy her. Seeing her drag him by the ear to the bath house so he can make himself presentable calms everyone’s nerves. Lucy-Mae and Fiji stay nearby to keep an eye on Cyril while he gets cleaned up. Meanwhile, Dali and Diego approach a flower stall led by a zombie woman.
Dali is excited to meet a fellow botanist, not particularly bothered by the woman’s undead appearance. However, what does draw Diego’s attention is the botanist’s blue roses… something that he thought was impossible. The Botanist admits that it’s been her personal project ever since being resurrected. She’s spent over 70 years working on her flowers, carefully cross-breeding roses to eventually breed the extremely rare blue flowers. Dali is impressed as well, although the botanist does admit that she was killed by her Mother… and her Father was killed as well, as they were sacrificed to Tiamat… which eventually led to her Mother being burned at the stake. Still, she gives out some free flowers, with Dali commenting that it’s the first time someone other than her father had ever given her flowers. Diego takes this as an opportunity… buying some flower seeds for her as a gift of “future flowers”. The Botanist finds this incredibly sweet, assuming the two are dating… which leads to the two of them awkwardly denying any kind of relationship.
Cyril is guided into the bath house by the Sea Hag who runs the bath house, much to his fear and confusion. He’s so stunned with his fear that the Sea Hag, Marge, thinks he might have special needs, volunteering to help him get washed up. Meanwhile, Fiji and Lucy-Mae speak to the necromancer who works as a tailor… a man with a skeletal hand named Dennis (although it’s spelled “Denise”). They bring him Cyril’s clothing so he can use them as reference for Cyril’s size… however, Denise notices that his clothes is absolutely filthy… the stink of alcohol is so strong that he’s confident it hasn’t been washed in years, and he casually tosses the ratty old clothing into a nearby fire that manages to turn green from whatever chemicals have soaked. Despite being gifted a brand new set of fine clothes, he’s mostly upset that his lucky jacket is destroyed. Lucy-Mae tries to comfort him, but the only thing that actually manages to calm him is the abundance of free drinks.
The group reconvenes, checking out the local baker… an animated skeleton. Through conversation, they learn that his husband is the necromancer who revived him, and also acts as the skeleton’s taste-tester. The food is delicious, and the baker mentions that he also produces food for the citizens of Veiltown who feed on blood. Diego can’t resist his scientific curiosity, wanting to try a taste… and Fiji wants some too, because he wants to try a weird cookie. Diego only tastes a small sample, while Fiji just munches a whole cookie. It has a metallic, authentic blood taste… unpleasant for mortals, but the flavor is authentically blood-like. The Baker explains that it’s actually vegetarian… the “blood” provided by a bizarre fruit that originates in the Abyss that is, in simplest terms, a blood apple. Although it’s edible for anyone, it only provides nutrients for blood drinkers… and worse, the cookie contains peanuts, which Diego is actually allergic to. Luckily, Dali has minor restoration ready, and is able to prevent Diego from suffocating on his tongue.
With the challenges of the night complete, the group spends the night mingling with others, and they learn that Madam Veil intends to accompany them back to Pennington, and their ship will need to be modified to allow her to travel safely. Diego also finds himself dancing with Dali, the two of them proving shockingly capable when performing together, as expected from a double nat 20 on Performance despite Diego’s exhaustion. The exhaustion proves too much for him to continue, however, and Dali insists the group needs some sleep after everything that happened. Diego also notices that Fiji is dancing with a succubus, and helpfully cuts in and dances away with Fiji back to Veil Manor as the group proceeds to their individual rooms to finally rest and prepare for the trip back to Pennington.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Bad news! One of our players is feeling sick so we're going to reschedule for a different night. I'll be sure and let the forum know when everyone is feeling better
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Good news! We'll be playign soon! Come join us tonight on Twitch or Youtube! We'll be starting at 9pm EST
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
I have some very sad news... after tonight's session, Crits for Breakfast will be going on hiatus because of our DM's tragic financial woes. If you can help, please consider supporting her and her wife through their Ko-Fi.
But with that sad news out of the way, we will be playing tonight at 9pm EST on Twitch and Youtube! The travelers are back in the big city, but if you need a reminder of what happened last time, read on:
The travelers have learned the secret of Veiltown, and are eager to help this strange, remote village of creatures normally considered “monsters” in their ongoing quest for acceptance. After a long night they find themselves sleeping in until the afternoon of the next day. Woken by Jasper, the goblin Werewolf who serves ad Madam Veil’s butler, the travelers are led to meet with Madam Veil for an early dinner, although they’re surprised to find that Madam Veil has brought in her pet monstrosity, Spiffy, who is bandaged and resting against Madam Veil’s piano. Madam Veil, who is no longer hiding her vampiric nature, explains that she will be resting in her coffin during the ride back. She’ll be accompanied by Jasper and Akane, who she considers family, but makes it clear that the others will be tasked with performing as their bodyguards in case of any trouble, as Jasper and Akane will prioritize protecting Madam Veil. The group understands, and they enjoy their dinner before preparing to leave on The Voyager.
Madam Veil requires a large crate to safely travel, and its the party’s responsibility to carry it to the nearby wagon to transport it to The Voyager. Diego, however, is having a bit of trouble… after trying one of the blood cookies made for vampires to satisfy his curiosity the night before, now he finds himself feeling sick and struggling to keep up with the others. The citizens of Veiltown come out as the sun sets, wishing the travelers good luck on their journey. They also see Jasper’s wife Macy, who is an albino human when not transformed into a werewolf. Once Madam Veil’s crate is successfully loaded, captain Cyril eagerly takes off… despite everything that happened, he’s still eager to get away from Veiltown, which he considers creepy.
The Voyager continues steadily on its return to Pennington, with the travelers busying themselves. They come across some large salmon swimming upstream, and Fiji does some spearfishing to catch one. However, Diego’s sickness finally overtakes him, and he ends up hiding in the captain’s quarters with a bucket as he waits for the sickness to pass… the others politely ignoring him to spare his pride. The others try to focus on preparing the salmon Fiji had caught, but suddenly the boat is rocked hard from an impact. Suddenly, a giant water snake burts out of the river, attacking Dali with its poisonous fangs. In response, Dali wild shapes once again into a giant mongoose, the natural enemy of snakes, pouncing on the snake with claws and fangs. Lucy May manages to finish it off, but a second snake attacks from behind, although thankfully Fiji is able to quickly dash across and kill it with a spear. With the snakes killed the group is able to relax… taking some time to butcher the dead snakes, and they find that the snakes had swallowed a few things, and they manage to find an intact health magazine and a missing poster for a Native woman from the Calm Waters tribe. They realize that she matches the description of the other women murdered by the serial killer they had been tracking, and the missing poster appears to be several months old.
The Voyager approaches Campbell’s Bridge… it’s late at night, but they’re hoping that they’ll be able to find some medicine for Diego. Heading to the nearby tavern, they find the Bugbear owner, who reveals that his pregnant wife keeps some ginger root for her stomach as well. Dali also checks in on the coffee plant she helped them grow, and uses her Druid spells to help it continue to grow. As Diego is chewing on the root, Fiji and Lucy May make plans to sell the snake meat they just acquired. Fiji asks Diego to handle the negotiations for the sales… but despite being successfully persuasive, his constitution fails him and he has to rush out to the outhouse to relieve himself… in order to avoid having anyone hear him, he has CHESTR stand outside the outhouse and play some music to muffle any sounds he might make… but the music ends up attracting a small crowd, with Fiji and Lucy May even joining in with the dance before returning to The Voyager.
Once back on the ship, Diego starts to unpack his alchemist tools with plans to create a proper medicine with the ginger root, but considering his weakened state, Dali interjects… insisting on using her herbalism skills to create a ginger tea to help settle his stomach. Finally feeling healthy, Diego lays down to rest. Meanwhile, Jasper is eating raw snake meat… considering he’s a goblin and a werewolf, raw meat is fairly safe for him to eat. He invites Fiji and Lucy May to play cards to pass the time. As rain starts to come in. Meanwhile, Diego finally convinces Cyril to explain about the installation in his chest that has been noticed a few times prior to this… Cyril doesn’t like to discuss it, but admits that he required emergency surgery and allows Diego to see the mechanical modifications done to his body… including an artificial lung and heart. He doesn’t explain exactly what happened, but he does reveal that it was Sprock who installed these modifications, and that the reason he drinks so much alcohol is because his body converts it into fuel.
Speaking with Cyril, Diego realizes that constructs in Pennington are becoming very controversial. The growing number of unemployed laborers in Pennington is mostly thanks to jobs being taken by constructs. Distrust of constructs is so strong that Cyril keeps his modifications hidden, lest he be accused of being a construct. Diego wonders for a bit about his plans to, eventually, mass produce CHESTRs, especially if constructs are causing this much trouble. Still, there’s not much left to do at this point but try and rest, the travelers napping while Jasper and Akane keep watch… especially Akane who, as a Wight, does not require sleep. They’re snapped awake by the sound of a ship’s horn as the Voyager arrives in the Pennington docks. Cyril is happy to just go home and drink, while Akane and Jasper take Madame Veil to the nearby Luxury Garden Inns. The party then makes their way back to Hughes Manor… they’re greeted by Mrs. Bonnet, who informs them that Hesper has recently attended the funeral of her Bridget, and is still feeling down… made only worse by the fact that her sickly brother, August, is currently hospitalized for pneumonia.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Our hiatus is over! lol you can see our last session didn't go quite as planned... due to some trouble with the DM's internet provider, the stream had a weird start/stop, and the way Youtube archives livestreams means it's split up into 3 videos. We'll be playing again later tonight! Keep an eye on this space as I'll update once I know for certain what the start time will be.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Folks! Come join the Crits for Breakfast crew tonight at 8:30 PM EST on Twitch or Youtube! The Gears and Guns crew are back in the large city of Pennington, and if you want to know what happened in our last session, or if you just need a reminder, read on:
As the party returns to Pennington, and after approaching the Hughes estate, the family’s maid, Miss Bonnet, informs them that the weekend has been difficult, with both the funeral for Bridget Cammington and August needing to visit the hospital for pneumonia. They’re informed that he’s at Lathander’s Mercy hospital, and that Hesper is in her office. Dali needs to use the restroom, and the others go to visit Hesper and inform her about the successful visit to Veiltown. She’s pleased at the results, but she still seems drained of energy and extremely stressed. Lucy May opens up to her and convinces her to explain her state of depression… the stress of the funeral in addition to her brother being sent to the hospital, while she’s too busy to visit.
Once they know what’s bothering her, the group explains that they already intend to visit August, and volunteer to deliver something to him for her. This does seem to relieve her, and she gives them a book in braille to give to him… Diego actually recognizes the book, “Blood Diamond”, as Dicky Greensleeves story, written by “Bilbo Swaggins”… a pulp murder/mystery novel in a long series. Diego’s excited, as he’s read many of the Dicky Greensleeves books in his youth, although he can’t read braille. Hesper also notices that Dali is missing, and asks about her… Lucy May doesn’t want to say anything too embarrassing, but Diego leads Fiji out of the room to examine the book so Lucy May can explain the embarrassing situation Dali finds herself in… Diego laments that they can’t read the book, but Fiji happily claims that he can just make something up and proceeds to tell a surprisingly moving story that ends up completely enrapturing Diego. Hesper also gives Lucy May some letters that were delivered to the Manor for them. With letters in hand, Lucy May steps out just in time for the ending, with Diego on the verge of tears from his story.
Meanwhile, Dali is relieving herself in the manor’s bathroom… although Goldie is with her and not enjoying the scent at all. It’s bad enough that even Miss Bonnet can’t help but swear in reaction. The noise draws the rest of the group, and once Miss Bonnet learns that they’re visiting August she gives them a tin of simple sugar cookies to deliver for her. While Diego is putting the cookies in, Fiji opens his letter, which comes from his mom, which explains that his parents are actually in Pennington. Dali joins them as well, and Lucy May gives her a letter from her Dali’s father. He’s worried for Dali, especially since word of the serial killer has reached him, and he can’t help but notice that Dali fits the killer’s M.O. He also informs her that Dali’s mother has gone missing, and may be somewhere near Pennington. Dali explains that her Mother is something of a warrior, and is known to track her targets across massive distances and never gives up. Dali is slightly worried that her Mother is hunting her… not that she feels her Mother is there to kill her, but possibly may be testing her… or trying to teach her a lesson about dedicating herself to the settlers instead of her own people.
Seeing all this hubbub from everyone else’s letters, Diego decides to check his letters as well, finding that he’s gotten one from his Father and his sister. He opts to open the letter from his sister first, assuming it… it produces a powerful perfume scent, and is written in complex calligraphy. She shares some gossip, but ultimately reveals that she’s in Pennington right now as well, and she’s attempting to join a group called “The Pink Ladies”. Diego has heard the term, but he asks Lucy May, who knows a bit more about them… they’re a group of wealthy women from rich families, and although they perform acts of charity, it’s mostly for their own self-interest. Lucy May is no fan, and Diego isn’t particularly excited either. With that established, he opens the letter from his father… Diego is encouraged to return home whenever he can, and also encouraged to come home with a wife… he’s also warned to not become too successful, and also told if he manages to see his sister to encourage her to return home as well.
As everyone is heading out, Lucy May reads her letter as well… she finds a message from her grandmother chastising Lucy May for not visiting yet, despite both of them being in Pennington. She is a bit annoyed, as she actually sent a letter to her Grandmother once she had learned they were both in Pennington… however, both letters were in the mail almost simultaneously. With their plans solidified, the group decides to take Bucket and their old cart to travel, since it will save money. As they begin to travel, Diego discusses his plans for CHESTR… seeing how constructs are causing some of the poverty in Pennington, as laborers are losing their jobs to constructs. He believes the best use for CHESTR would be to design it to increase its ability to survive conditions too dangerous for normal people… instead of taking jobs, it will instead do things that couldn’t be done. Hoever, Dali is still uncertain if its wise to manufacture something like CHESTR, which could be very dangerous in the wrong hands. Diego begins to think that he might need to put some kind of inhibitor in future designs, but for now he’s still intent on continuing his research.
Continuing through the castle district, the group is approached by a town guard, who seems interested in speaking to Dali. He seems suspicious of her, but once he learns the group is staying at the Hughes estate he softens. It seems that he recognized her face, and seemed to consider her as dangerous. He states that he likely saw them at the police station, but Diego asks Dali how much she resembles her mother… Dali explains that she has the same coloration to her facial fur as her Mother, and even has very similar hair. Dali is deeply concerned, especially since the letter informed her that her Mother is somewhere near Pennington.
As they continue their journey, Fiji spots a shortcut through an isolated alley. A shifty character asks them for change, and Fiji happily shares a copper with him… but when he hands the coin over, the shifty man grabs Fiji’s hand and calls for his fellow bandits to come out… although Fiji just shakes his hand… although once he realizes what’s happening, he quickly pulls out his spear and renders the robber unconscious. A brawl erupts as the bandits refuse to stand down… in the end one bandit has the brains to just run away, while the rest are knocked unconscious and left cuddled up together thanks to Fiji, who wanted to leave them in a seemingly nice position.
The group proceeds toward the hospital, but unfortunately one of their attackers was a bleeder and managed to get blood all over the front seat of the cart and on both Diego and Lucy May. A town guard stops them, thanks to their suspicious appearance. Thankfully, he becomes convinced that they really were the victims of bandits, and even sends a squadron to gather the unconscious bandits they had left in the alleyway. They even manage to get fast tracked into the hospital, where they prepare to look for August… and Dali can get some stomach medicine as well.
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Due to financial difficulties we don't know for certain if we'll be able to stream as usual this upcoming Sunday. Watch this space and I'll be sure to keep you all up to date, but for now at least, here's the last session
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last night's stream is available to view!
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
We're playing again tonight on Twitch and Youtube! Join us at 8:30 PM EST as the party is called to speak to the City Watch. However, if you need a reminder of what happened last week, read on:
The group makes their way to a high class restaurant, The Sable Garden, accompanying Hesper to dinner. Diego recognizes it as perhaps the oldest fine dining establishment in all of New Estea… one that is extremely expensive. As they’re greeted by the host, Aadi steps forward, paying for the meals for everyone present. They’re escorted to a table, where their drinks are ordered. Hesper asks Aadi why he insisted, but he says he’s happy to pay… especially to enjoy the fine meal himself. Knowing that Aadi is from the Reaverlands, Diego asks him if he recognizes the unusual armor worn by the Reaver the group had encountered earlier. Aadi can tell that the armor appears to be a combination of traditional Reaver design and designs unique to Night Children… although what worries Hesper is when he also points out that the only group known to wear that style of armor are assassins.
When their appetizers arrive, Diego takes it upon himself to try and explain proper etiquette to Dali… Lucy May also listens in, but Fiji ends up playing with his silverware and just eating with his hands. Hesper is embarrassed by Fiji, but Aadi actually seems entertained by his playful nature. The group enjoys their meal, with Dali occasionally sneaking scraps of food to Goldie, who is hiding in Dali’s bag. Their main course is delivered… an imported meal from the Reaverlands of Cardali Lizard… an uncommon meal that is prepared almost like seafood. Finally, the group is delivered the rare, valuable wine that Aadi had ordered… a strange pearlescent wine with a warming, comforting feel. He identifies it as “Celestial White”, which is one of the most expensive wines in the world. Dali, not fully knowing what the drink is, gives some to Goldie… who gets drunk and crawls out of her bag when Dali isn’t looking.
Once Goldie escapes, she starts to explore the restaurant… in particular, climbing up some curtains toward a crystal chandelier. To try and catch Goldie, Diego conjures his Mage Hand, not realizing that Goldie is too heavy for it to lift. Before he can dispel it, the Mage Hand starts to absorb some of the crystals and even an entire gold-rimmed wine glass. In a panic, Diego struggles to dismiss it while Fiji and Dali work together to rescue Goldie… with Dali giving Fiji a boost as he leaps up and catches Goldie… then immediately lands on a couple diner’s table. As they’re starting to get upset Diego quickly steps in, acting as if the entire thing is a performance. This manages to pacify the other customers… but that kind of shenanigans aren’t tolerated in an establishment like this, and the host arrives to ask them to leave. Hesper and Aadi are upset, especially considering how much Aadi is spending, but a guilty Dali volunteers to leave, since she was the one who brought Goldie to the restaurant in the first place. Diego also volunteers to leave with her, insisting that he takes full responsibility for everything that happened.
As Dali and Diego leave together, Aadi continues to argue with the staff, as he already paid for the most expensive package, and if nothing else he intends to keep the wine. Fiji also wants to still have dessert, and the staff agrees to prepare their dessert to go. Meanwhile, Diego walks with Dali, confessing that he’s the reason money and goods seem to occasionally disappear without explanation… he finally tells Dali about his grandfather, who had made a deal with the archdevil of greed, Mammon. All of the gold found by his family’s mine was provided by Mammon… and Mammon has started collecting, with interest. His grandfather kept the deal a secret until his dying day, and he never fully explained what the deal he made with Mammon even was. Now Diego’s family’s wealth is gradually disappearing, and he left his family with the hopes that any money made without their wealth wouldn’t disappear… but instead it seems that Mammon has impatiently started stealing random things, utilizing the Mage Hand. Dali promises not to tell anyone else about this as the rest of their group approaches, and it becomes clear that Hesper in particular is quite inebriated.
Looking with worry at Hesper, Dali realizes that she’s been drinking away her sorrows through the night… her best friend died recently, and now her brother is once again in the hospital, leaving her alone to care for the Hughes company. Although Dali can tell that, despite her complaints to the staff, getting out of the house and venting seems to actually be doing well for her. Fiji takes the reins on their carriage, returning to the Hughes estate. However, along the way a major intersection is impassable, as a two gangs are battling at that point, sending passersby running in fear as gunfire fills the air. Fortunately, Fiji’s skill with driving is enough to avoid the conflict and not hit any of the citizens, and as they take the long way home they’re able to see a large group of City Guard marching forward to break up the conflict.
As they travel, Aadi wonders aloud if such violence is common here, with the others sheepishly admitting that gang activity does seem very prevalent in Pennington. Dali learns that Aadi is traveling only with his driver, and worries whether that’s safe… but Aadi explains the last time someone tried to rob him, he very nearly incinerated them. Lucy May realizes, based on the amount of religious imagery subtly stitched onto his outfit that he’s likely a Cleric of some kind. Once that’s pointed out Diego finally notices the imagery as well, recognizing the symbol of a Avarine… the Reaver God of Business and Wealth… Aadi’s very business is a form of worship for his God. He also explains that he had asked his God for a sign just moments before the pigeons employed by Dali delivered one of the TX-2 pamphlets to him.
Returning to Hughes manor, Aadi helps Hesper to her bed before finding his own. Fiji and Lucy May, however, can’t wait… hurrying to the dining room to sample the chocolate mousse cake they left the The Sable Garden with… a cake so delicious, they struggle to avoid finishing the whole thing themselves. Meanwhile, Diego goes to Dali’s room to continue their conversation from earlier. Dali speaks on her relationship with her own family… although she took on the position as protector of Rattle Ridge based on her father’s guidance, she didn’t do so out of a sense of obligation… she just wanted to help people. She even knows that her Mother’s much harsher, often violent interactions with the non-Firbolg colonizers is her own Mother’s choice, and Dali is free to make her own decisions. She wonders how Diego’s grandfather could possibly force a literal deal with a devil on his entire bloodline without their consent. Diego clarifies his belief that his grandfather’s family-cursing deal was made not out of cruelty, but rather, out of ignorance. He was very young when his grandfather died, but from what he’s been told when his grandfather revealed he had taken a deal with Mammon, he spoke of paying back the archdevil as some far distant trouble the descendants of the family will be able to easily afford by the time the devil comes to collect. Diego also insists that a good majority of the citizens of Imp Branch are employed by his family in some capacity… the collapse of the Alleghiris spells the collapse of the entire town.
As the two of them discuss family and responsibility, Fiji and Lucy May are finishing their dessert and heading back to their rooms. However, Fiji’s sense of hearing is so strong he accidentally hears a good majority of their discussion. A gossip-hungry Lucy May gets an idea… her room is right next to Dali’s, and the two of them hurry there, pressing their ears against the wall to listen in, learning Diego’s family secret. Lucy May and Fiji also have a strong sense of responsibility to their families, although neither of them have had as many outward signs as Diego and Dali, so they both sympathize with their allies and their struggles. Lucy May notes that they have to be careful not to reveal what they know, and Fiji mentions hopefully that, some day, Diego will trust them enough to share his secret as well.
As the night grows darker, Dali recommends getting some sleep. She also makes Diego promise that he won’t stay up tinkering with things, which he forces himself to obey. With the gossip complete, Lucy May and Fiji also split for the night and everyone gets some sleep, safe in Hughes Manor. However, they’re woken up early the next morning by Mrs. Bonnet screaming. Hurrying to investigate, they find that Aadi, who is also staying in Hughes Manor, had stepped out of his room to make his way to the bathroom to tidy up. However, as the group has learned from Dali, Firbolgs have few hangups about nudity, considering it perfectly natural, and thus Aadi was walking through the hallway with little more than a human-sized towel loosely wrapped around his waist.
In the commotion that erupts everyone gets a good view of Aadi, who is quite tall even by Firbolg standards, with proportions to match. Dali seems to be the only one unfazed by the whole thing, handing Goldie to Diego to hold before helpfully directing Aadi to the restroom. Everyone splits up to prepare for the day once it’s all complete, but Fiji and Diego remain… Diego was distracted by Goldie and hadn’t seen everything as clearly as everyone else, but Fiji is overwhelmed with shock at Aadi’s size. A flustered Diego insists that there’s nothing unusual about Aadi, and anything about him is simply in proportion to his height and nothing to be impressed or intimidated by. Unfortunately for them, Aadi overhears this conversation and admonishes them for discussing his private matters so loudly in the middle of the hallway.
With everything sorted out, the group gathers to have a simple but filling breakfast prepared by Mrs. Bonnet. The party is informed that August will be returning home later that day, and Mrs. Bonnet brings them a delivery that was brought directly to Hughes Manor by a tall man in strange armor… a box addressed to “The Potential Killers”, and inside is a well-used pistol with blood splatter on it that Diego recognizes as belonging to one of the bandits who attacked them the other day… based on some markings on it, he deduces that one of them dropped it after being knocked unconscious, and it fell somewhere in their carriage. It must have been dislodged during the near-collision with the Reaver man in black armor, and the armored man, not knowing where it came from, has tried to return it… the box also containing a note that he didn’t want the gun because it’s probably evidence of something.
The gun immediately puts Mrs. Bonnet into a panic, while a hungover Hesper is mostly annoyed that someone seems to be trying to blackmail them. However, the group explains about the bandit attack, but there is still some concern about why this person would go out of his way to return the gun to them in the first place. Luckily, Aadi, who was raised in the Reaverlands, is able to explain that this is perfectly normal in Reaver culture. Reavers are a warrior culture with many traditions regarding weapons and armory, and keeping another person’s weapon without their permission is a dishonor. Helpfully, Hesper also lets them know that she was contacted by the City Watch… Detective Terrel wishes to speak with them, and it seems there are other questions waiting for them. With a plan for the day, Diego takes the gun to carry, but before they head out Fiji realizes the armored man couldn’t have gotten far and decides to hurry out and try to catch up to him before the group leaves to speak the Detective.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Whoops, forgot to share the video again!
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Oh, and I also forgot to mention... we're streaming tonight at 9pm EST! Come join us on twitch or youtube, and if you need a reminder of what happened in our last session, here you go:
During the night, in a darkened street somewhere in the city of Pennington. The streets are emptying earlier than usual thanks to a combination of the increased gang activity and fears of the serial killer. Mists hang in the empty streets, while a lone carriage travels through the lonely city. The carriage stops, the passengers hand reaching out, gesturing to a figure to step forward. An armored figure steps out, wearing strange armor as the passenger gives them an envelope, stating only, “You know what to do”, while the man in armor nods and moves back into the alley while the carriage moves on.
In the morning, the party is finishing breakfast in Hughes manor. While they discuss the strange gun that was delivered to Hughes Manor by hand only a few minutes ago by the mysterious armored Reaver, Fiji decides he’ll just go ask the Reaver directly… darting out and looking for his trail. Unfortunately, he gets the wrong impression of which direction to go and darts off just as his allies finally notice that he left in the first place. Hurrying out, Lucy May tries to catch up, while Diego decides he couldn’t possibly catch up to to the Tabaxi Monk and opts to just prepare the carriage along with the party’s cy-mount, Bucket. Dali, who doesn’t care for the smell of oil that permeates the garage, opts instead to do some maintenance on the garden while she waits for Fiji and Lucy May to return.
Fiji, meanwhile, stumbles upon a large construction site being manned mostly by Warforged. One of the Warforged starts flirting with him, but it soon becomes clear that it is simply “Catcalling” because Fiji is a literal cat, and it doesn’t fully understand the point. As Fiji gets caught up in a conversation with them on the subject, Lucy May finally catches up, finding that the jog was actually fairly easy and invigorating. She shouts to Fiji, calling him “F-Cat”, embracing Fiji’s tendency to call everyone else “__-Dog”. As the two of them discuss how Fiji has lost track of the person he’s following, some of the humanoid workers start properly cat-calling Lucy, while the Warforged is confused, since she’s not a cat.
Diego checks on the TX-2 Cy-Mount, making certain that it’s in good condition before securing Bucket to one of the Carriages. During this, the stable-worker, Allan, approaches to ask him about Aadi’s fine foreign Cy-Mounts. They are refusing to eat hay, and Allan asks Diego to pick up some Berry Seeds to feed them, which Diego promises to have some delivered to the estate. Meanwhile, Dali wants to try out some of her new magic… taking some time to cast “Plant Growth”, which causes all the plants in the area to suddenly grow large and healthy… Wisteria flowers bloom, trees grow larger, and some of the horse feed blooms into full-sized ears of corn. Diego calls out to Dali, who climbs over the garden wall to explain what she had done. Diego can’t help but crawl over to her side to see what happened… shocked at the sight of the garden overgrowing with gorgeous flowers that are already attracting butterflies. A stunned Diego holds out a finger and manages to get a butterfly to actually land on his fingertip… Dali however, is still a bit embarrassed, as she wasn’t expecting this level of growth from her spell.
As they hear Mrs. Bonnet scream in shock as the potted plants within the Manor have also grown large, some growing so much that they actually destroy their vases. Diego hurries to try and calm Mrs. Bonnet while Dali does her best to tidy up the Garden. Fiji and Lucy May actually notice one of the trees visibly growing taller and resolve to hurry… Lucy May checks the tracks that Fiji was following, and realizing they’re actually going in the opposite direction… and also notices that the prints leave large claw marks that seemingly match the markings left on the gun delivered to Hughes manor earlier. The two of them decide to hurry back, and they get back just in time to see the overgrown garden just as Diego is calming Mrs. Bonnet and showing her the garden. Lucy May is also commenting on how it looks, but Diego quickly steps forward and whispers to them to help him calm Mrs. Bonnet, as it’s kind of freaking her out.
Fiji, of course… steps forward and immediately tells her that he heard she’s freaking out and tries to calm her with a friendly hug. Lucy May assists, trying to back Fiji up, which does mostly keep Mrs. Bonnet from worrying… she’s mostly concerned for Hesper, who prefers a tidy, well-maintained garden, but admits that August would probably love it. Still, she decides to take a break, while Dali insists on cleaning up the mess she made. The focus is on cleaning up the garden enough that it will be safe for August to traverse, which takes nearly an hour. Mrs. Bonnet appreciates the effort, thanking them and Diego informs her about he dietary needs of Aadi’s horses, which she should be able to handle.
With the work finished, they’re finally able to climb into the carriage and make their way to the City Watch. Fiji finds a shortcut, hurrying through a back alley… unfortunately, they’re ambushed by criminals. They’re caught by surprise, but luckily the bandits aren’t particularly good shots. From the shouts of the bandits, they seem to be friends of other bandits who the group has encountered before… unfortunately, they’ve dealt with enough criminals in the city that they don’t really know which group it might be. A battle ensues, with the two groups trading blows. Unfortunately for the bandits, their clothes provide meager defenses, as they lack proper armor. The party is able to fight them back… the final bandit attempts to run, but not wanting them to bring more bandits to chase them in the future, Dali finishes off the last bandit with a powerful Moonbeam spell.
After gathering the mixture of unconscious and deceased bandits, the group decides they shouldn’t leave dead bodies sitting in a back alley and Fiji leaves to find a City Guard. He finds an officer directing traffic, who is able to step away from his duty to investigate the matter. With Lucy May’s help, Diego is able to convince him that they were simply defending themselves, and he agrees to handle the matter, but encourages them to visit the City Watch Station and make a full report. Thankfully, they’re already headed that way, and after taking the officer’s name they continue on their way.
Unfortunately, on the drive out, Fiji has some trouble controlling a still-spooked Bucket, and accidentally runs over some of the bodies before Bucket takes off. Fiji wrestling to control the reins as they rush toward the guard station. They meet with the front desk, putting in their report before being called to speak to to Detective Terrel. He leads them up to his office to explain the information he’s gathered. His investigation has determined that Bridget Cammington, indeed, was killed before the fire nearly destroyed her body. He has also found a number of other murders that are likely the result of the same killer. One of the most unusual things is a photograph. Lucy May notes that it’s unusual that Bridget was killed in her home, and her body was not displayed in public… in fact, the killer seemed to be trying to hide her death using the fire. As they discuss the matter, some bad news arrives… another body has found. Terrel reveals that it’s the mother of the young boy they brought in earlier, Michael. Her body was found near Pennington castle, lashed to a statue of Lathander with wires. Her womb was removed. Diego believes it might be a defiance of Lathander who, as the God of Dawn, represents not only literal dawn but also birth. Dali notes that the woman was already a Mother… it is more likely that the use of the Lathander statue was used as a convenient symbol to mock the victim, rather than a message to the church.
Terrel needs to investigate further, letting the group know that he can’t bring them with him. However, before leaving the group shows him the gun that was delivered to them earlier that day… Terrel is surprised at the claw marks. They explain who had given it to them, and Terrel notes that the Reaver they mentioned was downstairs at that very moment cashing in a bounty. Fiji immediately dashes out to try and speak to him, but the man has already left and became lost in the crowd. The rest of the group hurries to catch up with him, confused as to why he’s so insistent on speaking to this man, but Fiji clarifies he just wants to learn his name. Figuring there’s no harm in assisting, they all try to look for him in the crowd as well, but nobody can pick him out. Just as they’re about to continue with their day, they hear the sound of gunshots and clashing noises inside the station.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
We had a bit of a late start this time, so the game doesn't start until about 45 minutes into the VOD
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium