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Starting at Shadows
Sessions Archive
Session 06: 'Cat's Eyes, Twice" or "I'll Take What's In Box Number Two"
Diplomacy in the heat of battle is difficult to manage. Heralds have made a history out of others’ need for it. ‘Sometimes it’s a granite feather, sometimes it’s a crystal sledge.’, is an often repeated maxim. Treaties can be written in such situations but it takes level-headedness and an intimate understanding of the motivations of the parties concerned. When nations are involved it is easy to broker an agreement. With individuals it can be trickier to know if such treaties will play out. That’s how it is, that in Axildusk, in the Aqua Quarter, at the ‘S.I.H.Q.', after most have gone to bed, that rakshahasa Kathedauk’s reprisal is begun. Did he not oversee a planned alliance with Sybermane and Kiln? A belief shared only by the two new companions and not by the rakshshasa! For his part, the agreed terms would matter if he were able to come to terms with having made a previous pact with his only true ally — himself. He cannot, so he must “... take care of my latest debts and rid my ledger of these two meddlers.” It starts with smoke, a found tool of Darkness, interjected by low levels of yellow, flickering Light. Fire is a building’s arch nemesis...
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Session 05: 'The Way We Were' or 'There's Always a Full Moon Somewhere In the Realm'
Anubis, Sybermane and Tar Kiln form their covenant. It will be known as the Bismanekiln Covenant in the future. All well and good but fearsome pacts do not pay the bills any more than promises of thousands of echoes. What the two companions need is some quick and easy money. That is why the cackle of the door chime is somewhat 'welcome', when it sounds. A commission! The hire is for a good looking man. He offers fifteen hundred eclipses for S.I. to locate a middle aged woman, who has 'used him for her own purposes'. The young man is reluctant to describe in detail what happened. He gives them the address that he last met her at and suggests they can start there. He leaves with a warning. The woman is likely to be a Were. He was attacked by a wolven female wearing her signature necklace...
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Session 4: 'The Mane Man' or 'What in Tarnation?'
Sybermane might be considering the folly of joining his fortunes with the cadavivva. It might be bravely done and allow him to learn more of what the plans for Realmic dominance entail. Word reaches him via a bellboy of the Ambrosia Arms that another anthropomorphic person has been sighted within the Shallowverge. Moreover, a first class berth has been booked and paid for by 'the Manager', in Sybermane's name on the shadowliner, 'The Immensity of Rigel'. He knows that seeking more detail from the mysterious manager of the hotel is likely to prove fruitless. If talking was an option, the manager would have invited Sybermane to the hotel. Could it be that another quinnial has appeared to join him in Axildusk? Might this newcomer be female? Sybermane reckoned there was a 50/50 chance. As things were calm following the hectic evening before, Sybermane has no real reason to want to miss the 'liner's departure. The billet mentions the berth is suitable for twin occupancy. He needed to be clever about who he might invite along. A woman would make the time on board pass enjoyably but should a female quinnial be at the destination, things could get awkward...
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Session 3: 'Once More Into the Breach' or ' Undermining a Thriving Business'
A typically informative and somewhat unnerving conversation with the 'Manager' leads Sybermane to return to his office. There he readies himself for the visit of two unrelated tradesmen. The first comes to fix the front door damaged by the shadowmine. He'll re-attach the lower hinge and who knows perhaps tune down that terrible door chime. The second is to arrive with a shadow device -- a 'burrower'. An impressive casting construct if real. Powerful enough to create a decent sized tunnel beneath the city; small enough to be carried by a single man. If the construct is as good as promised, the intended plan is to create an access to the PCI's scriptorum. There Sybermane hopes to uncover at least some information that might allow him to understand what their interest in him is. The digging can't start soon enough.
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Session 2: 'On the Threshold of Greatness'
Sybermane has arrived, made his first assignation with and completed a request for 'the manager' of the Ambrosia Arms. He returns to his office, where he uses the back room as a makeshift bedroom. The room doesn't have a sofa-bed but it has a sofa that will do as one. Sleep comes easy to those who have made good on a promise, especially a promise made to oneself. Sybermane has dealt with the man who hurt his friend. Fordam, interstellar agent, wouldn't be traveling the stars any more, except in a religious sense. As he rests, nothing could ruin his well-earned slumber unless it was something important. That, or the ever-disturbing cackling doorbell that on this occasion would not still its shrill laughter. On and on it gleefully went. As he roused himself to go and have a look, he realized that the doorbell's continued activation could be a sign to take care...
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