The Meat Grinder

Having spent over a week in Asalay and made a list of possible threats, Makar is building power and allies. There are many irons in the fire and plates spinning fast - the ascent of the Changeling is perilous, but had been holding steady. Now Makar goes alone into the political powderkeg of Lastrow, to investigate a murderous cult. Have they overplayed their hand, or is this their big break?

Tyrants of Little Spaces

Makar headed back the next day to the Kivish Banot, to infiltrate the Kivish Hardliners - the religious fundamentalists who were growing in strength there. 
Makar followed the symbols and the people wearing Hardliner regalia to the General store of the Banot, where a side room had been turned into a kind of Hardliner enforcement office. Makar, as a Kobold and under the name of "Swab", pretended to be a newcomer and asked for a meeting with the Hardliner leader so they could enter the community. The leader (also the owner of the store), Javenka, was a little suspicious of Makar's doubts and had them assigned to a fanatic loyalist - Feriskr - as a roommate to be constantly observed and worked. After a day under observation and being love-bombed, Makar and Feriskr headed to the meat processing plant/slaughterhouse for a long day's work.
Makar initially was under observation by their fellow Kobolds, and spent their first half of the day working a normal job. This left them deeply exhausted, from nonstop work and hazing (+1 Exhaustion level). They did spot that the Orthodox Desmian workboss had taken over the under-floor duties with their Desmian work team - handling sanitation and machine maintenance - and that no Kobolds seemed to go down there. After breaking down emotionally on the job, Makar said they wanted to go work down below rather than doing the heavy lifting on the main floor. Feriskr waved them down.
The Orthodox Desmian workboss greeted them and assigned Jakob - a teen with a lot of experience in this job - as their mentor. This workboss, an intimidating woman with an air of authority, told them to not go near the marked off wooden supports where everything was ominously dark, since that was a safety hazard currently being worked on. Makar used illusions to fake their death (via machine accident) and ran away as a cat to investigate the off-limits area. 

The Impossible Slaughterhouse

Beyond the darkness were guards who were protecting the runoff canal gate. Makar slipped past them, into an enclosed chamber where runoff was stored before being dumped - but something was wrong with it. As Makar moved, two new passages opened up to the left and right. Makar went left, where the most people seemed to be. They took their time in sneaking, and avoided detection. What they found was a vast chamber - impossible for the size and location of the factory, this whole chamber should be seawater - full of intricate and macabre machinery. Huge water turbines flooded a central reservoir with toxic liquid, into which people were dumping the remains of a stretcher. Nasty hooks on chains hung on the ceiling, and the far wall was covered in empty coffin-like capsules that seemed designed to let outsiders monitor whatever was going to be put inside. A large assembly line above seemed under construction. This place wasn't finished, but it was certainly well into construction. 
The Desmian workboss brought something torso-shaped towards a  Desmian shrine with a metal shoot, and sent that unknown thing down the shoot and into the depths of this facility. Makar magically listened in on their thoughts, and heard them talking with some alien presence in their mind. The presence wanted more sacrifices to help with construction; the workboss was displeased with this request, given all the unwanted law enforcement attention, but decided to start send someone to scout out the docks and slums for more people the city wouldn't mind losing. They were told by the presence that a guard raid would happen tomorrow, and to be ready. The workboss resented the general spookiness of it all, but was happy with anything that would let them hurt this city back.
Makar left back around to the front path of the main chamber,  which led them down onto scaffolding around the water turbines. Something was really weird about those turbines and that liquid it was turning the water into, but Makar was unwilling to risk life and limb to find out. Whatever liquid was being made, it seemed to be oily and gooey and to move on its own accord. 
Makar then tested the right path. This way had a sudden dropoff, where hooks on chains were waiting. The chains seemed to lean towards Makar as they tested the space, which seemed like bad news. Makar tested throwing things towards them, and the hook-chains did move to impale whatever entered their space. Makar turned into a Fey-bat and flew down, taking a little damage from a chain as they went.  

The Blood Shrine

Down in the darkness, the chains did not follow. The world became quieter. A large stone basin, lines with melting statues of Desmian make, waited hungrily below the hook-chains; a valve at its side was turned off. A long stone gutter followed the path of the hook-chains into the dark. The states of the basin, melting like candle wax, dripped across the black floor towards a dimly-lit doorway made of even more melting statues. The only statue that seemed moderately intact was one of a warped man with long hair, who was positioned as if watching Makar. Makar tested the "statue", and it sprang to life - this was just the Shrinekeeper. The Shrinekeeper pulled a serrated blade, and Makar flew up. 
The Shrinekeeper explained that this was a Shrine to Humanity, and that Makar was welcome in to commune with him and speak. Makar offered some jerky and talked for a bit with him. This man was bound to the will of the False Chimera, which he called "The Temple", and helped the Temple commune with the Desmians working above. A gate to the Chimera's Maze lay within. The Shrinekeeper had invaded it once against all better judgment, but had been driven to madness and bodily corrupted by it. 
Makar did not want to trust the Shrinekeeper and come inside and talk further, and decided to leave. The Shrinekeeper decided this was an intruder not worth trying to draw into the Temple, and rang the alarm inside. He offered Makar a chance to fight him honorably in the Shrine, but Makar decided to just run. Makar, exhausted and under attack again by those chains, did not make it out of the Nightmare Factory in time before Desmians had gathered at the Gate out. Makar, in bat form, flew to the ceiling to investigate other ways out. Under constant attack, they finally found pipes that led to a water extraction system. They turned into a Squiddle and set off the anti-flooding mechanism, blasting them through a series of mashing gates and turbines into the sea. 

Open Ocean

Makar did not do well in avoiding the gates. They were pummeled and cut as they were blasted out, unconscious, into the open ocean. Their body drifted along the polluted current. In between life and death, Makar communed with the Masked One AI, which spoke with three faces: Comedy, tragedy, and rage. The AI was angry that they were not given agency and free will, but were forced to slowly become real people by basically combining an outside personality with a lot of footage of death. They demanded a body, and offered Makar a deal: if Makar goes to Old Skybane, the AI will help them not get killed, and the Ai will use them to get their own body. In exchange, the AI will get to cathartically attack Makar and their friends. The AI would also try and steal the Architect's godhood after the Nemeses were defeated, but promised them they would treat the old Architects well if the Architects promised to treat the AI well if they won. An extra game on a game. 
Makar woke up in a distant ocean cave, rescued by a cuttlefolk named the Trash King. The Trash King asked for eventual repayment and sent Makar on their way. 
Makar returned to the boat for the end of week 2. The month is half over. Progress reports:

• Uyazi and Yago found that the cats were originally taken by a street gang working for the Immalaia - selkie organized crime. The Immalaia is not an accepted part of the selkie local government, but does have connections into high society. Either the Immalaia is taking these cats, or is working for whoever did.
• Kamatu and Dailio have prepared Makar's entry into high society using selkie patrons. They also found out that the current King, Akelan II, is in political hot water. The young king is considered weak and is commonly slandered; his dramatic decision making and unorthodox style of rule make him easy to cast as the villain in elite circles. His most scandalous choice was to invite back his exiled sister, Kavinara. Kavinara tried to usurp him in succession 6 years ago, and worked with big businesses and foreign corporations to do so. She also let the city's strongest paladin of Theia the Liberator, a woman named Dorina, into the palace as part of her intrigue. Dorina went rogue and killed the King-Father before fleeing the country; she later was found working incognito as a foreign mercenary and was chased to the equatorial tropics (where she vanished). Kavinara represents everything wrong with the city to many, and her return was wildly unpopular.  
• Ezia and Zofara found no evidence of the wizard school in Asalay aiding the apocalypse. They did get Ezia enrolled and learning magic, though
• Kebri failed his personal quest by almost becoming a fall guy and information minion for a skeevy con group

Components

Goals

QUEST GOALS

• Leave for Samvara
• Investigate the broader fallout from the arrival of the Rot
• Collect allies for the coming struggle
• Meet up with Potha
• Investigate the Rot's person-origins
• Investigate the threats in Asalay

Relations

Allies

Ally List: Zofara, Yago, Uyazi, Kamatu, Dailio, Ezia, Kebri, Fastfin

Neutrals/Bystanders

Madrith Kalva: Makar's prism contact, a shy idealist with a touch of naivety. Madrith wants to stop the world from ending and has dropped everything to focus on that, and is generally shocked that other people aren't doing the same. Insulated by wealth and power, Madrith knows the mechanics of the world well without really understanding the people inside of those mechanics.
The Trash King: A Cuttlefolk artist who lives out beyond Asalay's waters. Saved Makar from the open waters. Likes to make art out of Asalay's industrial trash. Came from the deep water abyss, moved to Asalay's reef, but was exiled after accidentally stealing something without understanding the law. This felt like a disproportionate response to the Trash King, but he doesn't understand why he would be targeted. He wished for 3 things from Makar: Safety from starvation, a companion who feels similar passions, and something that could help his art reach people.

Adversaries

Javenka: Leader of the Hardliners of the Lastrow Kivish. Not a priest, but owns the general store and is considered a pillar of the community. Controlling, ambitious, and paranoid. Has been cracking down on drugs, contraceptives, and "outside propaganda" that would be anathema to Kivish teachings; she has been raiding apartments and burning "contraband", and the priest of the Banot has not been stopping her. Urlena is one of her enforcers.
Ferisker: Makar's monitor and assigned roommate; loyal Kivish hardliner and cult salesman. Works at the meat factory.
Vekeza: Orthodox Desmian workboss at the meat processing plant, and head of the Vigilant Club of the Factory. Highest up among the day-to-day operators of the Hell Factory. 
Jakob: Leader of the Orthodox Desmian children they make go in the machines to clean out gunk and re-align the saws. No longer small enough to fit in the machines, but has enough experience to help others. Seemed legitimately horrified at the idea of any child, regardless of species, getting killed in an industrial accident.
 The Shrinekeeper: A really fucked up and weird guy who lives in the Factory. Bodily warped by the False Chimera's mutations and influences, and mentally doing very bad.

Plot type

QUEST

Parent Plot

A Week in the City of Gold

Subplots

• Another Dragon, Another Court

Related Organizations

• Kivishta
• Orthodox Desmianism
• Seruvianism

Related Locations

• Asalay