VtM: Shards of Midnight Session 1 Report

General Summary

Last time on Shards of Midnight: We got acquainted with our coterie, a group of mostly unrelated people who happened to be working in the lower-rungs of the workplace ladder at the SLE.
✦ Arrasar "Scorch" Collinflame - Played by Emerald ・An officer of the Iudices who is currently hunting down a mysterious assassin, possibly threatening his next promotion with his obsession. Known for being passionate, headstrong, and oblivious. ✦ Mildred Francesca- Played by Janea ・A rather plain woman working as a clerk for the evidence locker of the Iudices. Despite her boringness, she seems to have friends in high places of the Archives. Known (or not known) for being forgettable, tired, and quiet. ✦ Simon Shunsuke- Played by Maddie ・A mercenary hired by the S.L.E. to deal with the monsters that are attacking Kilthorne. Quiet and mysterious, no one has seen his face under his mask except for his companion Rhys. Despite this, everyone in the S.L.E. fears his skill with blades and guns. Known for being silent, intimidating, and a loner. ✦ Rhys Meurig - Played by Ki ・A priestess from the Fianna Sacellum, though has for whatever reason been hired as a mercenary alongside her companion Simon. Despite her holy status, she has a trickster demeanor and possesses skills unfit for one of the cloth. Known for being mischievous, easy-going, and petty. ✦ Lynx Dregan - Played by Sky ・A young lawyer who has become infamous due to a case he won a decade ago. He's currently trying to get a retrial, but most still don't trust him. Known for being compassionate, ambitious, and charismatic. ✦ Sage B. Rush - Played by John ・An investigator from the modern world, he is here trying to find a particular Hecata vampire and his mage friends. Known for being intelligent, cautious, and tired. Sage had a nightmare about driving in a red abyss with Demonte, but woke up after seeing Juniper which caused the blood red lake to turn into a dark black. After interacting with Jack, he went to work. No one else had any interactions except for a small conversation between Mark and Lynx, and then an in-depth conversation with Scorch and Mihangel after getting coffee from Gwynn. Mihangel expressed his worries to Scorch about his rival (Lynx) trying to reopen the case that dealt with his brother getting killed. Mihangel said he may retire soon and move back to Apricity and Scorch promised he would be there for him regardless. After getting to work and dealing with a variety of awkward shenanigans, Lynx finally was able to find Vayle while Simon delivered invitations to the circus with everyone. Rhys's and Lynx's were unique, with the first containing a note about meeting at a certain time and the latter having strands of red hair in them.
Scorch then went to his meeting with Comstock, bringing Mildred along. Scorch got his promotion with no lies detected from Comstock. Lynx then had his meeting with Comstock, the invitation gained from an officer planting the evidence for Lynx to find. Comstock offered to cut him a deal: If he helped Scorch find his potential along with his investigation team, Comstock would go through with the retrial while postponing Matthieu's execution date. Lynx took the deal and went to the meeting room to wait for everyone. While everyone filed in, it became increasingly clear that this was a ragtag team assembled either because Comstock wanted to make things difficult or he found true potential in all the individuals at hand. Due to the addition of Vayle, Harper, and James, it became clear that regardless of intentions it is a team consisting social pariahs and general weirdos within the organization. Cain made a comment about Lynx smelling bad, as it was a putrid yet faint smell of Elysium. Assigned to the stern and tired Commander Nieven Vangard, there was a consensus to meet at the crime scene at 10 pm.
The crime assigned is the Amber Lamplight, a low stakes case in the eyes of the S.L.E. and the victim was the lead actress in an erotic play they were putting on about Chaoxing and his lover. Instead of preparing the materials needed, the group decided to take Cain's suggestion and go to the circus that they were all invited to. Mildred decided to stop by the Archives with Scorch and talk to Mr. A and Vilkas. While Mr. A was out, Vilkas was there and has decided to accompany Mildred to the circus. Meanwhile, Lynx ran into Mihangel, who cryptically warned him to allow the dead to rest and he would see him in court as the retrial is inevitable at this point. Gifting him a crown of reeds, a sign of the God of Death, he left.
As Lynx stared at the reeds, he got a visit from Luicine who told him that she had her husband spy on him for the day, which the party quickly assumed that that was where the smell came from. Luicine warned him about things to come and gave him a hint regarding the case they were embarking on, which Lynx quickly recognized the quote from a book from the mortal plane, "The King in Yellow." Luicine then told him how excited she was for him to meet her boss, seemingly knowing even more, but disappeared with her husband.

Character(s) interacted with

✦ Harper Nianhu James ・ The Butterfly Coroner
✦ Cain E. Hartgraven ・ The Blood-Starved Knave
✦ Vayle Aloyse ・ Le Docteur Sanctifié
✦ Mihangel Nachtnebel ・ The Prosecutor of the Dead
✦ Jack Kosminski ・ The War Machine
✦ Head Commander Payne Comstock ・ The Reaper of Justice
✦ Commander Nieven Vangard ・ The Fae-Touched Archer
✦ Head Apprentice Vilkas Dagon ・ The Brine Devoured Scholar
✦ L̷̘͙̓u̴̩̤͒̍ǐ̴̢͖̬̲̑̾̓ͅc̶̨͔̬͛̐̀̊͝i̷̢̛͛͆ń̸̤͔͕́e̴̬̦̘̓̌̄͗͘ ・ The Moonlight Witch

Campaign

Shards of Midnight

Protagonists