Blue Moon (Suns Apart - Campaign 2 - Session 5)

PCs:

Cassian Carmine - Master of the Loom (Weaver 1st degree); wielder of Sleep, Alleyways, and Moonlight

Iziki'el - Master of the Loom (Weaver 1st degree); wielder of Blood, Infinity, and Freedom

Naniz - Initiate of the Mysteries (Goetic 1st degree); Blue scholar

Xeni - Shaper (Maker 1st degree); School of Matter, expert in smoke

• The trending topic around Satyrine this week was the emergence of a street drug that kills you… and then brings you back shortly after (up to 24 hours for a strong dose)
• The Pale government was furious about this as it contravenes their immigration and customs laws in pretty much every way
• The PCs headed to the Pale Embassy (riding the Satyrine rail to the Marquis Quarter) so that Cassian could read Arthelo’s file, hoping to get more information on what happened to him

• At the Embassy a large crowd had gathered outside, protesting the Pale Embassy’s lack of a response to the new drug
• The messaging seemed confused, with some people holding signs indicating they thought the Embassy was hoarding the drug, others calling for it to be banned, and lots of different names for the drug being used
• A partially mummified spokesperson for the Pale was outside talking to a fedora clad reporter surrounded by floating eyes recording the spokesperson’s statements
• The PCs realized getting into the Embassy would not be entirely straightforward since the staff were restricting entrance due to the large numbers of protesters
• Cassian started chanting “Blue Moon” (a meaningless phrase) and large sections of the crowd inexplicably started joining in, each assuming it was a reference to whatever they were upset about
• Naniz surmised it was a meme virus since they had recently been to Blue and may be carriers
• The net effect was a disorganized crowd rapidly becoming unified under one angry chant and starting to become a mob 
• Iziki’el shoved Cassian forward while weaving movement to propel him to the front of the crowd at speed
• The skeletal guards holding the crowd back from the building moved to intercept but were too slow and could not risk deviating from their cordon too much as the crowd attempted to surge through any gaps
• Just like that he was through the imposing “gateway to the afterlife” archway that marked the Pale Embassy’s entrance
• The crowed cheered him as he broke through. “Find the Blue Moon for all of us!!!”
• The sounds of the crowd faded behind soundproofing enchantments and were replaced by the sounds of bones clacking on marble, rustling files, and the artificial smell of money
• There were a handful of rich or otherwise influential people seeing to business in the Embassy, apparently not even inconvenienced by the protests outside. Cassian guessed the Embassy had private entrances.
• Cassian was ushered into a side office by a porcelain skinned attendant with a dark ebony desk. The desk was bare save for a black skull.
• “Yes I see. And what is your relation to Arthelo Carmine?”
• “I’m his brother.”
• “Could you please repeat that into the skull? Just make eye contact.”
• Cassian did so and the skull’s eye sockets flashed Indigo.
• “Excellent, everything seems to be in order.”
• The attendant held out a hand and a file flew down from a file cabinet far above.
• Cassian was shown to a private reading room where he began to review the contents.
• Some notable elements:
• Arthelo’s Order affiliation was marked as “none”. He and Cassian were estranged as of late but Cassian and Iziki’el weren’t aware of him apostatizing
• Arthelo’s cause of death was marked as “Weaver of Shadows, by special arrangement”
• Cassian called over the attendant and asked what “by special arrangement” meant
• He was given a diplomatic non answer as well as some pamphlets on assisted suicide
• He asked about getting a visa to visit Arthelo
• He was told Arthelo had waived all visitation rights
• He was about to leave when the attendant asked “will you be needing to review the other files?”
• That was only the file for the most recent death, apparently Arthelo had died seven other times over the course of the past few months, all to the Weaver of Shadows, all by special arrangement
• Meanwhile the other PCs were watching the situation outside go from the frying pan into the fire
• The Embassy had deployed lictors (giant enforcers) to push the crowd back

• The Pristine Guard (the Marquis Quarter’s local police) had shown up and formed a cordon behind the crowd, effectively sandwiching the confused mob between two different authorities giving them different instructions
• Naniz summoned a Blue spirit which manifested above him as a floating stone head about the size of a cabbage. He compelled it to reveal its name which was “Creston, who Adjudicates”
• The meme-addled crowd fixated on Creston and started cheering it as the Blue Moon, drawing more attention to the PCs than they wished
• Somewhere, they heard a bomb going off and suddenly the situation was total chaos
• The Thah (the enigmatic personal enforcers of the Deathless Triumvirate, Satyrine’s highest authority) descended from the sky on their floating stone horses and just started wading through the crowd and subduing people with their agonizing touch
• Naniz cast a haste spell on himself, Iziki’el, and Xeni and they attempted to GTFO
• Each street or alley they tried seemed to loop right back around to the embassy and the edge of the rioting, it seemed the whole block was under the effect of a maze spell to contain the rioters
• Iziki’el wove sight from Freedom to spot a way out, and managed to spot an alley running stam/ren which wasn’t enfolded into the maze
• Unfortunately his weave also generated flux which had the unintended effect of causing a paradox: finding a way out of a maze with no exits
• The air above them split with the cacophony of a newly spawned paradox angel. Creation abhors paradoxes.
• The magically hastened PCs wisely doubled down on GTFO-ing and booked it through the narrow gap in the maze spell Iziki’el spied, managing to time it just as it shifted behind them and trapped the paradox angel
• Back in the Embassy, Cassian was taking the… scenic way out, chowing to eavesdrop and poke around for a bit instead of hurrying to rejoin his companions
• He observed some sort of a dispute between the Embassy staff and a mummified, disembodied, cyclopean head being borne on a palanquin by one-eyed servants (and accompanied by a large granite ushabti/golem)
• The head and its retinue began to leave (headed upstairs towards the roof) and Cassian went over to asked the head what that was all about
• The head said it was the ambassador of Khalgorond as if that cleared it up
• Cassian indicated that it didn’t and the head bemoaned the lack of history taught in schools these days before explaining that Khalgorond was a city on the Nightside of the Pale whose sovereignty had long been a contested issue with the Pale Court (sort of a China and Taiwan situation)
• Cassian headed to the Embassy’s second floor, walking past various lounges, reading rooms, and offices, some catering to the living and some to the dead
• He walked into a meeting room full of ghosts intending to ask for directions to a side exit, realizing too late he is interrupting a birthday party
• The ghost of what looks like an eight year old girl (it was actually her 295th birthday, making her about 90 in Shadow years... she died at Shadow age 8 and had been dead for 82 Shadow years) looks up from a slice of conceptual cake, points at Cassian and shouts "magician!"
• Some confused ghost parents sidle over
• “You’re a bit early and we didn’t expect you to have so much… flesh.” They look suddenly mortified. “Not that that’s a bad thing! It isn’t—I mean we don’t—we’re not like that. So sorry for making this awkward, we’ll get out of the way so you can do your thing.”
• Always the performer, Cassian just ran with this and put on a show doing knife tricks and weaving enhanced sleight of hand
• As he was wrapping up and taking bows, a ghost in a top hat showed up, took in the scene, and then stormed off in a huff
• On his own way out, Cassian passed a reading room with the door adjacent and a dark haired woman crying inside
• He asked what was wrong and it turned out she was frustrated about not being able to visit a friend in the Pale because she was legally considered their murderer
• Cassian struck up a conversation with this woman and found out that:
• she was a Maker
• her name was Lannie
• she lived in Quiet Lake (he noticed thin gills along the side of her neck)
• She walked him out (a side exit) and asked him out on a date before they parted ways
• drinks at Cafe/Bar, 9am and 9pm (to try both)
• Cassian rejoined his somewhat irked companions, none more so than Iziki’el who strongly felt Cassian was taking all this too lightly and not sparing a thought for the messes he was making along the way
• “You started a riot. People got hurt Cassian. And this isn’t the first time! Guildless died trying to help us find your Arthelo, and you weren’t even there!”
• The party walked in silence (except for Naniz asking Creston to judge between various things) to the celestial bazaar
• Naniz ordered Creston to indicate which direction led “closer to the shop most suited to equip us for our mission”, and repeated the question every turn the group took until the directions started doubling back and it was clear they were being led to a particular candle shop
• The proprietor was Martin, a candle-eyed Maker with rose tinted glasses (looked like Ozzy Ozborne... and talked like him too)

• Naniz spent some of his expeditionary stipend of Goetic lucre to purchase some candles that reveal lies and invisible things, as well as some wicklings (2ft tall, candle headed wax constructs that can provide energetic assistance)

• It also turned out that Martin had a small supply of the temporarily lethal new street drug (which Cassian had coined Death’s Breath)
• Cassian bought a dose for “one favor, of a nature not beyond Cassian’s natural aptitude”
• Naniz oversaw the contract
• End of session!

Next time: dungeon delving or bust!