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Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-03-02T02:26:55Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #28 - "East Hills" */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Characters:

GM:

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

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GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''... my keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Byron Hans Core, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, [[Mocking-Bird]],

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, Ember Eyes, Lucian Grim, [[The Nighthawk]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel), Grand Noman Hospital, Ember Eyes' Apartment

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* The investigators were dispatched to Silverslip after James Hendrix publicly combusted in front of the Civil Tribune.
* Witness interviews in police reports conflicted, some describing a tall man lurking nearby, while the morgue confirmed Hendrix’s spontaneous combustion without accelerants.
* Recovered evidence included Hendrix’s body and a draft of an article (burned beyond recognition).

'''2. Searching the office of Editor, Mac Voss'''

* Carmen and Filly distracted Voss so Byron could search Voss' office and uncover editorial records suggesting that Hendrix’s investigation was known to upper management before his death.

'''3. Exploration and Clues'''

* The investigators tracked down Magnus Thorne, a war criminal turned informant, but found him burned to death in the motel room that was serving as his safe house.
* The safe house showed clear signs of supernatural fire damage and forced entry.
* Inside a hollowed-out radio that barely survived the fire, the investigators discovered hidden drafts of Hendrix’s article, laying out a clear connection between several suspicious deaths. These included Marie Chen, Jasper Parson, and the Merrick’s Hearth disaster. All of them connected to a secret cabal manipulating city events.

'''4. Encounter with Heath Keers'''

* As the investigators left the motel room, Dex detected bleed with his bleed detector. The investigators followed the trail all the way to The Steel.
* The trailer led them to an abandoned warehouse. Mocking-Bird reconned the warehouse and found Ember Eyes, preparing to torture a man hung from and bound by several chains. He told the already bruised and bloodied man, "The council is very disappointed in your failure Lu. And you do know how they hate loose ends..." Mocking-Bird overheard Ember Eyes say.
* Mocking-Bird dropped from the rafters of the warehouse and confronted him. The other investigators snuck into the warehouse, ready to aid her if a fight broke out.
* With a sadistic smile, he issued a warning: stop the investigation or face a similar fate to Hendrix.
* A fight started. The Heath nearly killed Mocking-bird with fire after breaking her nose and left orbital bone. Carmen slid between them and force him back with an Aether Loadstone. Byron hurled a combat ball from his utility belt at Ember Eyes and struck him in the face. Knocking out one of his teeth.
* Ember Eyes summoned a fiery door of bones and viscera and escaped before anyone could stop him.
* The investigators unchained Ember Eyes' captive then discovered his name was Lucian Grim. An enemy of Candela Obscura believed to have been taken into custody by the Noman High Command. After his arrest the year before, he had been intercepted by another group of investigators and placed in custody within The Store, inside the Pharos.
* The investigators sent him back into The Store.

'''5. Post Credits Scene'''

Jacen is pacing in his gym when the investigators return, wringing his hands. He stops and looks to each of them before stopping at Mocking-Bird.

'''''Cut to:'''''

The Nighthawk lies in a bed in Grand Noman Hospital. An oxygen mask covers her mouth.

She is barely recognizable to the only person in the room who has ever seen her face as the Investigators.

She reaches out for Mocking-Bird. Then speaks in a horse whisper…

'''''Cut to:'''''

The Nighthawk moves stealthily through Heath Keers’ apartment, searching for clues. Papers lie scattered, half-burned, detailing unknown names and ominous plans. A flicker of orange light catches their attention—too late.

They look back over their shoulder silently.

Behind them, the man with the ember eyes smiles.

“You should’ve stayed in the shadows.”

The room ignites in a burst of flame, and a strangled cry fills the night’s air.

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Celeste Marrow, Elias Creel (informant), Neriah Saelis, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit, Lowel Overpass

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Lowel Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook: Nesta Acheron has asked for Candela’s help. Her late husband Lincoln’s last and unfinished manuscript was being prepared for posthumous publication. While reading through it, she discovered that the table of contents was no longer in the order she remembered from her final review before his death. The first story appears out of place, and she’s begun to suspect that something inside the manuscript has changed.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of memory distortion, recursion, disappearances, isolation, and surreal horror.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Nesta Acheron

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Cipher used to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

District/Locations: The Sidle, The Soffit, Worthington Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

The investigators were drawn into the short story ''Before It Got Weird'', assuming roles embedded in the narrative. They arrived in South Soffit moments before Jona Hendricks ran from Grady’s Low Beam (a real life bar in The Soffit) and spontaneously combusted in the street.

Police Sgt. Isabella Reyes attempted aid while her partner Cal Keene secured the perimeter. Journalist, Eve Hurst appeared almost immediately, already taking notes.

When the investigators began to question the circumstances, the day reset.

'''2. Loop One – Spontaneous Combustion'''

Hendricks died by fire outside Grady’s Low Beam.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve Hurst arrived too quickly and appeared unsurprised.
* Hendricks had been working on a big case regarding corruption within the government.

The day reset before the investigators could formally accuse anyone.

'''3. Loop Two – Printing Press Death'''

This time, Hendricks was found crushed within the South Soffit Defender printing press.

Clues uncovered:

* Typeset plates reading: “NOT AGAIN...” with a photo of an exhausted Jona Hendrix as he is falling to his death above the printing press.
* Eve was alone in the newsroom shortly before the incident.
* Security access logs had been altered manually.

The investigators had to fight of a monsterous man made of ink trying to escape the printing press. They defeated him by burying him in yards of newsprint.

The day reset again. But the investigators had started to put the pieces together.

'''4. Loop Three – Worthington Field'''

Hendricks was pummeled to death by an unnatural barrage of baseballs at Worthington Field. Percy spotted Eve, who all the investigators now suspected.

The Inkman manifested again, attempting to prevent the investigators from stopping Eve,

Then everyone was being pummeled with baseballs falling from the sky.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve positioned herself for a perfect vantage point.
* Percy and Avyaan confronted Eve and snatch her note pad from her, and discovered she had been writing the events that were happening in such a way that they were a command.

The Inkman manifested as a physical guardian entity attempting to prevent resolution.

'''5. The Reveal'''

The investigators determined that Eve Hurst was killing Hendricks repeatedly to craft the perfect sensational story. Each attempt failed to satisfy her ambitions, forcing her to reset the day through narrative manipulation.

'''6. Reward'''

Upon solving the mystery, the investigators were expelled from the story.

They retained a cipher embedded in the dark blue handwritten epigraph scrawled across the manuscript’s title page. This cipher later allowed them to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

Hook: What begins as a simple night at the theatre—a well-earned reprieve from the pressures of daily life—takes a sharp and sudden turn when a murder interrupts the performance… and the greatest detective in the city lies dead at center stage. Now, the investigation is yours to finish—whether you’re ready or not.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of murder, theatrical violence, psychological tension, and altered realities.'''''

Characters: Arthur Nook, Avyaan Kumar, [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lysera

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: An ornate wooden box bearing Shore Lock Holdings tag that contains a mask depicting a sleeping, crowned figure. The mask bears symbolic markings resembling lunar phases.

District/Locations: The Malloy Theatre - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Arrival and Opening Performance'''

The investigators attended a staged epic recounting the tale of Atycos and her companions, depicting their corruption by forces beyond the veil.

Detective Samantha Chandler rose from the audience to announce inconsistencies in the production’s funding and symbolism.

Before she could finish her accusation, she transformed into marble before the crowd.

The house lights dimmed.

'''2. Julien’s Monologue'''

Julien Alden, still in costume as Damion the Steadfast, delivered a monologue that blurred the line between performance and warning:<blockquote>“As light grows dim, so changes skin.

Stone remembers what flesh forgets…”</blockquote>He pointed directly at the investigators, establishing that they were now part of the play’s unfolding fate.

He then turned to marble.

The theatre doors sealed.

'''3. Exploration Phase I'''

The investigators realized they were trapped inside the production.

Clues uncovered:

* Lunar phase markings hidden within costume embroidery.
* Stage lighting dimming in unnatural increments.
* Jane Waller missing from her directing station.

A third actor narrowly avoided petrification when the investigators interrupted a backstage cue.

One investigator took a Body mark as the transformation process began to affect them.

'''4. Exploration Phase II'''

Further investigation revealed hidden passageways allowing Jane and Lyle to move unseen through the theatre.

The marble statues of Jane and Lyle discovered earlier were revealed to be theatrical constructs.

Clues uncovered:

* Mask of Thalos covered in geometric and astronomical markings.
* Ritual staging tied to the theatre’s lighting grid.

Another cast member was petrified.

'''5. Confrontation'''

Jane and Lyle attempted to complete the ritual through synchronized light cues and recitation of corrupted myth.

The investigators disrupted the staging mechanism, altered lighting, and exposed the ruse.

Jane was overwhelmed by backlash from the ritual energy.

Lyle fled through the catwalks before being forced to abandon the ritual.

The theatre lights returned to full brightness.

Olive took her third scar: her hand now has Marble like knuckles.

One of the cast survived!

'''6. Resolution'''

Lysera (or an apparition bearing her likeness) appeared in the aftermath.

She presented the investigators with an ornate wooden box.

Inside was a mask depicting a crowned, sleeping figure.

Attached was a Shore Lock Holdings tag (later revealed by clerks of The Circle of Mind and Might to be a shell corporation for MetaMorph).

The investigators were expelled from the narrative.

=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

Hook: A colleague went missing last week while investigating Halcyon Hills—a glossy new suburban community developed by Concordia Solutions. The hedges are freshly trimmed. The neighbors wave. The paperboy never misses a throw.

There’s just one problem: a room showed up in his house that wasn’t there yesterday.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of surveillance, bodily transformation, social conformity, and psychological horror.'''''

Characters: [[Carmen Baxter]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, [[Jackson Cunningham]], Noelle Silva

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Billy Stroud

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: BIlly Stroud and a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]].

District/Locations: The Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Cold Open – Halcyon Hills'''

Halcyon Hills is beautiful in the way a showroom is beautiful... perfectly arranged and utterly untouched.

The morning sun glints off polished chrome mailboxes. Lawns are green and close-cropped, hedges trimmed with mathematical precision. Neighbors wave with practiced warmth. A paper boy pedals by, never missing a porch. Somewhere down the block, a lawnmower hums a lazy tune beneath the stillness.

But behind the picture-perfect façades, one house feels wrong.

Inside, the air is too quiet.

Billy Stroud sits stiffly on the edge of a pristine floral couch, hands clenched into the cushions. He’s about ten years old, wiry, with sharp eyes too wary for his age. His accent—pure South Soffit—is unmistakable when he speaks.

“I wanna go home now.”

Dr. Michael Lowell, kneeling gently beside him, offers a patient smile. He’s soft-spoken and observant, the kind of man who wears concern like a well-tailored coat. He’s here as a psychologist. And as an investigator for Candela Obscura. But mostly, right now, he’s trying to be kind.

“You are home, Billy.” he says softly.

Billy shakes his head.

“My real home. Before. Before the house had a den.”

The investigator gaze flicks to the hallway, to a door that didn’t exist on the blueprints. Or when Billy and his parents first moved in.

Lowell remembers them well. Their posture was perfect, their smiles unwavering. And not a trace of the boy’s accent in either voice. Like they’d never set foot in The Soffit.

“Billy,” Lowell says, more serious now, “can you tell me what’s in the room?” Lowell's eyes never move from the door.

Billy just stares at the door.

“I think…” he whispers. His voice trails off.

Lowell rises slowly, eyes fixed on the threshold. Something is wrong here. He can’t say what. But everything in Halcyon Hills is too fine. Too neat. Too... perfect.

He reaches for the knob; feeling it's warmth before he even grasps it.

The door creaks open as if beckoning him to enter.

And outside a single beat of silence.

Then Billy bursts out of the house, sprinting across the grass, straight through the gentle arc of the sprinkler. He doesn’t look back.

The house stands perfect behind him. It's front door gently drifts shut.

The sun is shining. The breeze is sweet.

A lawnmower drones softly in the distance...

'''2. Briefing at Page & Lantern'''

Lightkeeper Libby Locke gathered the investigators at The Page & Lantern (a coffee and book shop in The Sidle) to review the Halcyon Hills file.

Her concern stemmed from multiple phone calls from a young boy asking for his father. The calls ended whenever Libby requested to speak with his parents.

The final call differed. When she pressed the boy, a woman with a pleasant voice took the line.<blockquote>“Everything is fine.”</blockquote>When pressed further, the woman repeated:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>On and on for almost a solid minute.

The call disconnected.

Libby traced the call to Halcyon Hills and dispatched the Circle of Steam and Sorrow, led by Dr. Lowell. After 24 hours of silence, she assembled a new team to investigate discreetly and extract the other investigators.

'''3. Arrival at Halcyon Hills'''

The investigators entered a pristine mid-century suburban development just as the clocktower at the center of the park rang out.

Residents displayed uniform pleasantness, emotional flattening, and uncanny consistency in behavior.

Jackson and Trudy met the head of the Home Owners Association. They posed as a young couple looking to buy a home in the community and start a family. He was friendly, though he seemed very concerned about where in the city they were from. The others overheard him telling them about the wonderful school nearby, and that the kids in the suburb were practically angels. Though one boy, Billy, was a bit of a troublemaker.

He offered to escort them to a diner just near the train station for some pie and to talk to the developments realtor about possibly buying a home. They took his offer and split from the rest of the investigators.

'''4. Discovery of the Re-written'''

Carmen, Noelle and Feyre noticed a mailbox with the name M. Lowell on it and decided to knock on the front door. discovered that members of Lowell’s Circle had been remade into Halcyon Hills residents.

A man matching the description of Lowell that Libby had given them answered the door. He was dressed in a fine suit and carried a briefcase as if he was just preparing to leave for work.

When Lowell was asked to explain what was going on, he had no clue what Feyre was talking about. After a few moments, while Noelle looked down the street, Carmen remove one of her gloves and placed it on Lowell's. She saw a maze made of paper. Black paper. As she quickly moved deeper and deeper into the maze, typewritten words slowly appeared on the paper walls, growing in concentration at the center of the maze where, a human shaped glob of white appeared over the words.

Lowell had been re-written into someone new. The old Lowell could seemingly overwritten and gone.

Shaken by the psychic connection, Lowell fell back to sitting on the front porch of the house, distressed as if suddenly realizing something was gravely wrong.

Noelle saw a young boy, watching them from down the street with a baseball and glove in hand.

The clocktower rang out again. An hour had passed since their arrival.

'''5. The Diner'''

Trudy and Jackson sat at a table, being given the sales pitch by the head of the HOA and it's realtor about a home that just came on the market.

They got the feeling that these two felt more like cult leaders than community members and lied about going to see the home and walk the neighborhood to get away.

The head of the HOA and the realtor invited Jackson and Trudy to a gathering at the park that would be taking place that evening. A pot luck. So they could really see what it was like to belong.

As they left the diner, they heard the park's clocktower ring again. Two hours had passed since their arrival.

'''6. The Stroud's'''

Feyre, Carmen and Noelle moved to speak with the little boy down the street. But he quickly ran into his house before they could reach him.

After a minute of deliberation and coming up with a cover story, the three investigators moved to the door and knocked. When no one answered, Feyre knocked a second time.

The boy answered. She knelt down and asked if he was Billy.

He nodded.

Before Feyre could speak again, a pleasant voice called from inside the house for Billy to tell them who was at the door.

When Billy just looked at the investigators for a silent moment, his mother appeared and smiled at them. She greeted them and asked if she could help them.

Feyre answered they were from Briargreen Prep and had come to meet Billy. His mother was confused, so Carmen added that Billy had come to their attention after scoring very high on a standardized test that qualified him for a scholarship to the elite prep school.

She smiled proudly at Billy and invited the investigators inside.

They asked if Mr. Stroud was home, but Mrs. Stroud said he had fallen ill recently and couldn't leave bed.

Carmen, posing as a doctor, offered to look him over and Mrs. Stroud accepted.

While Mrs. Stroud showed Carmen to the master bedroom, Feyre and Noelle tried to get Billy to answer some carefully worded questions. Noelle was very distracted. Billy told them they should leave or they'd end up like their friends.

When Carmen entered the bedroom, she saw Mr. Stroud lying in bed, staring at the ceiling a catatonic state. A rictus smile on his face. Mrs. Stroud was oblivious and thought he just had a bad cold.

Carmen quickly left the room, running down the stairs and losing a shoe on the way down. As she did so, the phone began to ring. Mrs. Stroud called from upstairs, "Billy, could you be a dear and answer that?" He did so. After a moment of quiet speaking he turned to Feyre and Noelle and told them the call was for them. Slowly Feyre took the phone...<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She lurched backward, suddenly struck with an incredible migraine, and slammed the phone onto the hook. Then cut the phone cord from the wall.

Noelle, pail and sweating, pointed out a door at the end of the hall.

Despite the protestations of Feyre, Carmen moved to the door. Billy covered his eyes clearly terrified.

Carmen opened the door and vanished into the room.

Billy ran out of the living room and through the front door.

'''7. Across Space and Time'''

The moment Carmen entered the Den, she was flung upward from the ground. Higher and higher. Spiraling away from Halcyon Hills, into the clouds. Away from Quelmar. Out of a massive nebula. She streaked through space faster than the speed of thought and slammed to her hands and knees on a patch of rough, jagged rock. And looked up to a man made of stars and... dreams. Sitting upon a throne of eyes. He smiled at her. They spoke and he offered to help her master her power and show her the universe. If she would just bring the boy to him. She denied him. He simply smiled and said he'd be seeing her soon enough then flung her through the cosmos back into her body, which it turned had never left Halcyon Hills.

Carmen staggered out of the den, the door slamming shut behind her of it's own accord.

The three investigators ran out of the house to try and find Billy. They ran into Jackson and Trudy.

The clocktower rang throughout the suburb. Four hours had passed since they had arrived.

'''8. The Hour Was Upon Them'''

Jackson and Trudy explained what they had learned. Noelle, Feyre and Carmen shared their experiences as well. The community gathering was only an hour away.

They all decided it was best to make their way to the park to try and find Billy and see what the HOA was up to.

They broke into a tool shed and a club house at the park. They examined a maintenance door that led into the clocktower.

In the tool shed, Feyre found blue prints for the entire suburb. It had been built by a company named Concordia Solutions. There were notes on the blueprints about the clocktower being a critical part of something but it did not say what.

Trudy and Jackson found Billy while Noelle investigated inside the club house.

Carmen and Feyre decided to break into the clock tower.

The clock tower rang again. The suburbanites of Halcyon Hills began to approach the park. Chanting in some indecipherable tongue.

'''9. The Clock Tower Ritual'''

The investigators concluded that Concordia Solutions was a corporate front for a cult that was trying to change people into ideal, "perfect" human beings.

The head of the HOA saw Jackson and Trudy and quickly approached them. He was very friendly to Billy, insisting the boy stop bothering the couple and come with him because his mother was looking for him and very worried.

As the clock tower rang out, a phone in the club house begin to ring. Noelle answered the phone. She heard:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She resisted the intense psychic pain that the phone call caused her and ripped the phone from the wall.

Trudy and Jackson tried to hide Billy behind them, but the head of the HOA slugged Jackson in the face and shoved Trudy to the ground. He grabbed Billy and ran towards a slowly building crowd.

Carmen and Feyre broke into the clocktower and locked the door behind them as the residents of Halcyon Hills began to bang on the maintenance door. As they made their way up the stairs towards the third story of the clock tower, the structure suddenly lurched. It twisted and moved. As if it had come to life and was trying to stop them. They made a daring race to the second story just as the stairs behind them ripped free from the wall and feel to the ground.

Then the stairs that led from the second story to the third ripped free and listed low towards the ground. Carmen sensed a presence in the tower with them and when she looked. She saw Lincoln cutting words into his arm, with a piece of chipped stone. The words, though hard to read were very similar to what they were experiencing. So, Carmen decided to roll up her sleeve and used a screwdriver from Feyre's tools to do the same. She used this newly discovered power to re-write the stairs back into place long enough for her and Feyre to make it to the third story.

Outside, Noelle had suddenly become sick from the continue repetition coming from the phone. Trudy ran in and dragged her out of the club house while Jackson fought off the head of the HOA and sent Billy running to Trudy. Jackson was attacked by a frenzied mob of suburbanites and beat badly.

Carmen and Feyre began throwing every larger, hard object the could find into the gears of the clock tower. Causing them to shudder and come apart. As the third story landing began to come lose beneath them, Feyre grabbed a rope and swung into Carmen and used it to get them both to the ground. They ran out of the clocktower just in time to see Trudy grab Billy in her arms. The clocktower suddenly crumbled and the investigators woke up, in various places inside the offices of Beck's Gym. Some were lying on cots, others on the floor.

'''10. Resolution'''

When Jacen saw they were alright, he quickly picked up the manuscript [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]] that he and the investigators had been investigating (when they all lost consciousness) and threw it into his wood stove. Wanting to keep any further dangers from befalling his investigators.

When Jackson realized Trudy was in the next room over, he quickly ran and found her lying under a blanket on a small bed. She was curled in a loose ball, holding something. He pulled her blanket back and found Billy nestled in her arms, sleeping soundly.

'''9. Aftermath'''

Before they awoke, the investigators had a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]], sitting on the floor of a stone room (and Dottie Welles sitting beside him), he looked at the mediums of the group, "You did it. Now come and find us..." Before he could say more, guards in black uniforms burst into the room and grabbed both of them. Dottie was killed in an experimental machine connected to a woman, floating in a tank of murky fluid. Then they connected it to Lincoln and it worked. A woman in a lab coat looked to a man standing in shadows and said, "It worked sir. Once the last of his magickal defenses were gone we could see if you were right. He can't be killed!"

=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment may include themes of psychological distress, experimentation, altered states of consciousness, existential horror.'''''

Characters: Byron Hans Core, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, [[Mocking-Bird]], Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Sabine Dirac, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], The Dreamer

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Lincoln Renfield-Murray

District/Locations: The Soffit, O.C.O. Fort Black

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators infiltrated Fort Black and reached Lincoln in the containment chamber. Filly shut down the medical systems sustaining the experiment, and Carmen entered the dreamscape to disrupt the magick fueling the sigil around the apparatus. Their actions destabilized the transfer, and a fragment of The Dreamer’s consciousness took hold within Lincoln as the chamber began to fail. As they fled with him, pursuing guards were reduced to sparks of orange light, and the corridors twisted around them as alarms blared. Before they could fully understand what had happened, Lincoln vanished in a flash of orange light. On the road back to Newfaire, the world began to change. Farmers stood like scarecrows fighting off massive, multi-eyed crows, and the city reshaped into a living monolith of brick and steel. Beck’s Gym has been destroyed. In its place floats a writhing throne of flesh, stars, fire, and shattered masonry, with Lincoln seated above streets of kneeling figures whose palms burn with his sigil. Beneath the broken skyline, a shadowed woman chants by a fire as glyphs ignite along her forearm and she screams into the night. The world has not ended, but it no longer feels stable, and nothing about it feels right.

=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

Content Warnings: '''''Content Warning: This assignment may include themes of surveillance, institutional secrecy, Nationalism/National Rivalries and body horror.'''''

Characters: Avyaan Kumar, [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]]

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Celesta Marrow, Mila Korovin

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Research notes, photos, designs of ancient machines

District/Locations: The Pharos, Krasnytska - East Hills, Vostrya - East Hills

Important Things that Happened:

Avyaan, Jackson, and Mocking-Bird were sent to East Hills alongside the former head of the Red Hand, Celeste Marrow, to trace the origin of The Aegises. In exchange for her help, she would be set free and given back all the wealth she had lost thanks to Candela’s interference with her last auction.

They chose the slower, quieter route. The team entered through the industrial border town of Krasnytska by rail and then traveled by car to Vostrya. Using false identities, they posed as Celeste’s entourage. Celeste presented herself as a wealthy heiress, letting the investigators believe that she was actually this person. Mocking-Bird acted as her maid, Evelyna. Avyaan served as her bodyguard, and Jackson took on the role of her accountant.

The team settled into a mansion on the outskirts of the capital (Celeste told them was a family home that was vacated for the season), Celeste arranged a meeting with her contact, “Sable”. Jackson accompanied her to the meeting.

While they were away, Mocking-Bird left the mansion to find Mila Korovin, the only Candela investigator operating in East Hills. She discovered Mila in the middle of sabotaging a government rocket that was set to be displayed in a military parade the next day. The rocket was meant to symbolize national pride and technological strength.

The sabotage did not go as planned.

Mila stumbled, and the tool she was using clattered loudly across the quad. Guards were alerted. Members of the resistance scattered, but several were shot and killed before they could escape.

Mocking-Bird managed to pull Mila out and bring her back to the mansion.

At the meeting, Sable told Jackson and Celeste that there were no additional pairs of The Aegises. The original pair had been removed from K-12. There were no others.

When Jackson and Celeste returned to the mansion, the group regrouped and Mila was brought up to speed. Not long after, state radio announced that a foreign disruptor identified as Mocking-Bird had attempted to sabotage the military parade as part of a Noman effort to undermine East Hills and sow unrest in its smaller regions.

Mila admitted she knew nothing about another set of Aegises. However, she had kept a copy of the research notes she and her colleagues had submitted to the government.

Jackson volunteered to retrieve them.

Posing as a university scientist, he bluffed his way past laboratory security while Avyaan waited nearby in a car as the getaway driver. Jackson secured the notes and returned to the mansion.

When they arrived, they found Celeste attempting to double-cross them. She had Mocking-Bird at gunpoint and was preparing to flee.

Avyaan burst inside and managed to disarm her, though he was shot twice in the process.

Celeste then revealed she had an airplane waiting at a private airfield.

With East Hills tightening its grip and propaganda spreading quickly, the group made for the airfield. Sable was waiting there. She agreed to fly them back to Noma on one condition: Celeste would be allowed to leave with her.

They were nearly intercepted in the air, but they managed to cross back into Noman territory and return to Newfaire.

Celeste Marrow and Sable left together.

The investigators came home wounded, but with the research notes in hand.

=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:
[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-03-02T01:41:00Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum" */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Characters:

GM:

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

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GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''... my keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Byron Hans Core, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, [[Mocking-Bird]],

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, Ember Eyes, Lucian Grim, [[The Nighthawk]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel), Grand Noman Hospital, Ember Eyes' Apartment

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* The investigators were dispatched to Silverslip after James Hendrix publicly combusted in front of the Civil Tribune.
* Witness interviews in police reports conflicted, some describing a tall man lurking nearby, while the morgue confirmed Hendrix’s spontaneous combustion without accelerants.
* Recovered evidence included Hendrix’s body and a draft of an article (burned beyond recognition).

'''2. Searching the office of Editor, Mac Voss'''

* Carmen and Filly distracted Voss so Byron could search Voss' office and uncover editorial records suggesting that Hendrix’s investigation was known to upper management before his death.

'''3. Exploration and Clues'''

* The investigators tracked down Magnus Thorne, a war criminal turned informant, but found him burned to death in the motel room that was serving as his safe house.
* The safe house showed clear signs of supernatural fire damage and forced entry.
* Inside a hollowed-out radio that barely survived the fire, the investigators discovered hidden drafts of Hendrix’s article, laying out a clear connection between several suspicious deaths. These included Marie Chen, Jasper Parson, and the Merrick’s Hearth disaster. All of them connected to a secret cabal manipulating city events.

'''4. Encounter with Heath Keers'''

* As the investigators left the motel room, Dex detected bleed with his bleed detector. The investigators followed the trail all the way to The Steel.
* The trailer led them to an abandoned warehouse. Mocking-Bird reconned the warehouse and found Ember Eyes, preparing to torture a man hung from and bound by several chains. He told the already bruised and bloodied man, "The council is very disappointed in your failure Lu. And you do know how they hate loose ends..." Mocking-Bird overheard Ember Eyes say.
* Mocking-Bird dropped from the rafters of the warehouse and confronted him. The other investigators snuck into the warehouse, ready to aid her if a fight broke out.
* With a sadistic smile, he issued a warning: stop the investigation or face a similar fate to Hendrix.
* A fight started. The Heath nearly killed Mocking-bird with fire after breaking her nose and left orbital bone. Carmen slid between them and force him back with an Aether Loadstone. Byron hurled a combat ball from his utility belt at Ember Eyes and struck him in the face. Knocking out one of his teeth.
* Ember Eyes summoned a fiery door of bones and viscera and escaped before anyone could stop him.
* The investigators unchained Ember Eyes' captive then discovered his name was Lucian Grim. An enemy of Candela Obscura believed to have been taken into custody by the Noman High Command. After his arrest the year before, he had been intercepted by another group of investigators and placed in custody within The Store, inside the Pharos.
* The investigators sent him back into The Store.

'''5. Post Credits Scene'''

Jacen is pacing in his gym when the investigators return, wringing his hands. He stops and looks to each of them before stopping at Mocking-Bird.

'''''Cut to:'''''

The Nighthawk lies in a bed in Grand Noman Hospital. An oxygen mask covers her mouth.

She is barely recognizable to the only person in the room who has ever seen her face as the Investigators.

She reaches out for Mocking-Bird. Then speaks in a horse whisper…

'''''Cut to:'''''

The Nighthawk moves stealthily through Heath Keers’ apartment, searching for clues. Papers lie scattered, half-burned, detailing unknown names and ominous plans. A flicker of orange light catches their attention—too late.

They look back over their shoulder silently.

Behind them, the man with the ember eyes smiles.

“You should’ve stayed in the shadows.”

The room ignites in a burst of flame, and a strangled cry fills the night’s air.

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Celeste Marrow, Elias Creel (informant), Neriah Saelis, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit, Lowel Overpass

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Lowel Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook: Nesta Acheron has asked for Candela’s help. Her late husband Lincoln’s last and unfinished manuscript was being prepared for posthumous publication. While reading through it, she discovered that the table of contents was no longer in the order she remembered from her final review before his death. The first story appears out of place, and she’s begun to suspect that something inside the manuscript has changed.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of memory distortion, recursion, disappearances, isolation, and surreal horror.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Nesta Acheron

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Cipher used to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

District/Locations: The Sidle, The Soffit, Worthington Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

The investigators were drawn into the short story ''Before It Got Weird'', assuming roles embedded in the narrative. They arrived in South Soffit moments before Jona Hendricks ran from Grady’s Low Beam (a real life bar in The Soffit) and spontaneously combusted in the street.

Police Sgt. Isabella Reyes attempted aid while her partner Cal Keene secured the perimeter. Journalist, Eve Hurst appeared almost immediately, already taking notes.

When the investigators began to question the circumstances, the day reset.

'''2. Loop One – Spontaneous Combustion'''

Hendricks died by fire outside Grady’s Low Beam.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve Hurst arrived too quickly and appeared unsurprised.
* Hendricks had been working on a big case regarding corruption within the government.

The day reset before the investigators could formally accuse anyone.

'''3. Loop Two – Printing Press Death'''

This time, Hendricks was found crushed within the South Soffit Defender printing press.

Clues uncovered:

* Typeset plates reading: “NOT AGAIN...” with a photo of an exhausted Jona Hendrix as he is falling to his death above the printing press.
* Eve was alone in the newsroom shortly before the incident.
* Security access logs had been altered manually.

The investigators had to fight of a monsterous man made of ink trying to escape the printing press. They defeated him by burying him in yards of newsprint.

The day reset again. But the investigators had started to put the pieces together.

'''4. Loop Three – Worthington Field'''

Hendricks was pummeled to death by an unnatural barrage of baseballs at Worthington Field. Percy spotted Eve, who all the investigators now suspected.

The Inkman manifested again, attempting to prevent the investigators from stopping Eve,

Then everyone was being pummeled with baseballs falling from the sky.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve positioned herself for a perfect vantage point.
* Percy and Avyaan confronted Eve and snatch her note pad from her, and discovered she had been writing the events that were happening in such a way that they were a command.

The Inkman manifested as a physical guardian entity attempting to prevent resolution.

'''5. The Reveal'''

The investigators determined that Eve Hurst was killing Hendricks repeatedly to craft the perfect sensational story. Each attempt failed to satisfy her ambitions, forcing her to reset the day through narrative manipulation.

'''6. Reward'''

Upon solving the mystery, the investigators were expelled from the story.

They retained a cipher embedded in the dark blue handwritten epigraph scrawled across the manuscript’s title page. This cipher later allowed them to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

Hook: What begins as a simple night at the theatre—a well-earned reprieve from the pressures of daily life—takes a sharp and sudden turn when a murder interrupts the performance… and the greatest detective in the city lies dead at center stage. Now, the investigation is yours to finish—whether you’re ready or not.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of murder, theatrical violence, psychological tension, and altered realities.'''''

Characters: Arthur Nook, Avyaan Kumar, [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lysera

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: An ornate wooden box bearing Shore Lock Holdings tag that contains a mask depicting a sleeping, crowned figure. The mask bears symbolic markings resembling lunar phases.

District/Locations: The Malloy Theatre - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Arrival and Opening Performance'''

The investigators attended a staged epic recounting the tale of Atycos and her companions, depicting their corruption by forces beyond the veil.

Detective Samantha Chandler rose from the audience to announce inconsistencies in the production’s funding and symbolism.

Before she could finish her accusation, she transformed into marble before the crowd.

The house lights dimmed.

'''2. Julien’s Monologue'''

Julien Alden, still in costume as Damion the Steadfast, delivered a monologue that blurred the line between performance and warning:<blockquote>“As light grows dim, so changes skin.

Stone remembers what flesh forgets…”</blockquote>He pointed directly at the investigators, establishing that they were now part of the play’s unfolding fate.

He then turned to marble.

The theatre doors sealed.

'''3. Exploration Phase I'''

The investigators realized they were trapped inside the production.

Clues uncovered:

* Lunar phase markings hidden within costume embroidery.
* Stage lighting dimming in unnatural increments.
* Jane Waller missing from her directing station.

A third actor narrowly avoided petrification when the investigators interrupted a backstage cue.

One investigator took a Body mark as the transformation process began to affect them.

'''4. Exploration Phase II'''

Further investigation revealed hidden passageways allowing Jane and Lyle to move unseen through the theatre.

The marble statues of Jane and Lyle discovered earlier were revealed to be theatrical constructs.

Clues uncovered:

* Mask of Thalos covered in geometric and astronomical markings.
* Ritual staging tied to the theatre’s lighting grid.

Another cast member was petrified.

'''5. Confrontation'''

Jane and Lyle attempted to complete the ritual through synchronized light cues and recitation of corrupted myth.

The investigators disrupted the staging mechanism, altered lighting, and exposed the ruse.

Jane was overwhelmed by backlash from the ritual energy.

Lyle fled through the catwalks before being forced to abandon the ritual.

The theatre lights returned to full brightness.

Olive took her third scar: her hand now has Marble like knuckles.

One of the cast survived!

'''6. Resolution'''

Lysera (or an apparition bearing her likeness) appeared in the aftermath.

She presented the investigators with an ornate wooden box.

Inside was a mask depicting a crowned, sleeping figure.

Attached was a Shore Lock Holdings tag (later revealed by clerks of The Circle of Mind and Might to be a shell corporation for MetaMorph).

The investigators were expelled from the narrative.

=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

Hook: A colleague went missing last week while investigating Halcyon Hills—a glossy new suburban community developed by Concordia Solutions. The hedges are freshly trimmed. The neighbors wave. The paperboy never misses a throw.

There’s just one problem: a room showed up in his house that wasn’t there yesterday.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of surveillance, bodily transformation, social conformity, and psychological horror.'''''

Characters: [[Carmen Baxter]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, [[Jackson Cunningham]], Noelle Silva

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Billy Stroud

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: BIlly Stroud and a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]].

District/Locations: The Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Cold Open – Halcyon Hills'''

Halcyon Hills is beautiful in the way a showroom is beautiful... perfectly arranged and utterly untouched.

The morning sun glints off polished chrome mailboxes. Lawns are green and close-cropped, hedges trimmed with mathematical precision. Neighbors wave with practiced warmth. A paper boy pedals by, never missing a porch. Somewhere down the block, a lawnmower hums a lazy tune beneath the stillness.

But behind the picture-perfect façades, one house feels wrong.

Inside, the air is too quiet.

Billy Stroud sits stiffly on the edge of a pristine floral couch, hands clenched into the cushions. He’s about ten years old, wiry, with sharp eyes too wary for his age. His accent—pure South Soffit—is unmistakable when he speaks.

“I wanna go home now.”

Dr. Michael Lowell, kneeling gently beside him, offers a patient smile. He’s soft-spoken and observant, the kind of man who wears concern like a well-tailored coat. He’s here as a psychologist. And as an investigator for Candela Obscura. But mostly, right now, he’s trying to be kind.

“You are home, Billy.” he says softly.

Billy shakes his head.

“My real home. Before. Before the house had a den.”

The investigator gaze flicks to the hallway, to a door that didn’t exist on the blueprints. Or when Billy and his parents first moved in.

Lowell remembers them well. Their posture was perfect, their smiles unwavering. And not a trace of the boy’s accent in either voice. Like they’d never set foot in The Soffit.

“Billy,” Lowell says, more serious now, “can you tell me what’s in the room?” Lowell's eyes never move from the door.

Billy just stares at the door.

“I think…” he whispers. His voice trails off.

Lowell rises slowly, eyes fixed on the threshold. Something is wrong here. He can’t say what. But everything in Halcyon Hills is too fine. Too neat. Too... perfect.

He reaches for the knob; feeling it's warmth before he even grasps it.

The door creaks open as if beckoning him to enter.

And outside a single beat of silence.

Then Billy bursts out of the house, sprinting across the grass, straight through the gentle arc of the sprinkler. He doesn’t look back.

The house stands perfect behind him. It's front door gently drifts shut.

The sun is shining. The breeze is sweet.

A lawnmower drones softly in the distance...

'''2. Briefing at Page & Lantern'''

Lightkeeper Libby Locke gathered the investigators at The Page & Lantern (a coffee and book shop in The Sidle) to review the Halcyon Hills file.

Her concern stemmed from multiple phone calls from a young boy asking for his father. The calls ended whenever Libby requested to speak with his parents.

The final call differed. When she pressed the boy, a woman with a pleasant voice took the line.<blockquote>“Everything is fine.”</blockquote>When pressed further, the woman repeated:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>On and on for almost a solid minute.

The call disconnected.

Libby traced the call to Halcyon Hills and dispatched the Circle of Steam and Sorrow, led by Dr. Lowell. After 24 hours of silence, she assembled a new team to investigate discreetly and extract the other investigators.

'''3. Arrival at Halcyon Hills'''

The investigators entered a pristine mid-century suburban development just as the clocktower at the center of the park rang out.

Residents displayed uniform pleasantness, emotional flattening, and uncanny consistency in behavior.

Jackson and Trudy met the head of the Home Owners Association. They posed as a young couple looking to buy a home in the community and start a family. He was friendly, though he seemed very concerned about where in the city they were from. The others overheard him telling them about the wonderful school nearby, and that the kids in the suburb were practically angels. Though one boy, Billy, was a bit of a troublemaker.

He offered to escort them to a diner just near the train station for some pie and to talk to the developments realtor about possibly buying a home. They took his offer and split from the rest of the investigators.

'''4. Discovery of the Re-written'''

Carmen, Noelle and Feyre noticed a mailbox with the name M. Lowell on it and decided to knock on the front door. discovered that members of Lowell’s Circle had been remade into Halcyon Hills residents.

A man matching the description of Lowell that Libby had given them answered the door. He was dressed in a fine suit and carried a briefcase as if he was just preparing to leave for work.

When Lowell was asked to explain what was going on, he had no clue what Feyre was talking about. After a few moments, while Noelle looked down the street, Carmen remove one of her gloves and placed it on Lowell's. She saw a maze made of paper. Black paper. As she quickly moved deeper and deeper into the maze, typewritten words slowly appeared on the paper walls, growing in concentration at the center of the maze where, a human shaped glob of white appeared over the words.

Lowell had been re-written into someone new. The old Lowell could seemingly overwritten and gone.

Shaken by the psychic connection, Lowell fell back to sitting on the front porch of the house, distressed as if suddenly realizing something was gravely wrong.

Noelle saw a young boy, watching them from down the street with a baseball and glove in hand.

The clocktower rang out again. An hour had passed since their arrival.

'''5. The Diner'''

Trudy and Jackson sat at a table, being given the sales pitch by the head of the HOA and it's realtor about a home that just came on the market.

They got the feeling that these two felt more like cult leaders than community members and lied about going to see the home and walk the neighborhood to get away.

The head of the HOA and the realtor invited Jackson and Trudy to a gathering at the park that would be taking place that evening. A pot luck. So they could really see what it was like to belong.

As they left the diner, they heard the park's clocktower ring again. Two hours had passed since their arrival.

'''6. The Stroud's'''

Feyre, Carmen and Noelle moved to speak with the little boy down the street. But he quickly ran into his house before they could reach him.

After a minute of deliberation and coming up with a cover story, the three investigators moved to the door and knocked. When no one answered, Feyre knocked a second time.

The boy answered. She knelt down and asked if he was Billy.

He nodded.

Before Feyre could speak again, a pleasant voice called from inside the house for Billy to tell them who was at the door.

When Billy just looked at the investigators for a silent moment, his mother appeared and smiled at them. She greeted them and asked if she could help them.

Feyre answered they were from Briargreen Prep and had come to meet Billy. His mother was confused, so Carmen added that Billy had come to their attention after scoring very high on a standardized test that qualified him for a scholarship to the elite prep school.

She smiled proudly at Billy and invited the investigators inside.

They asked if Mr. Stroud was home, but Mrs. Stroud said he had fallen ill recently and couldn't leave bed.

Carmen, posing as a doctor, offered to look him over and Mrs. Stroud accepted.

While Mrs. Stroud showed Carmen to the master bedroom, Feyre and Noelle tried to get Billy to answer some carefully worded questions. Noelle was very distracted. Billy told them they should leave or they'd end up like their friends.

When Carmen entered the bedroom, she saw Mr. Stroud lying in bed, staring at the ceiling a catatonic state. A rictus smile on his face. Mrs. Stroud was oblivious and thought he just had a bad cold.

Carmen quickly left the room, running down the stairs and losing a shoe on the way down. As she did so, the phone began to ring. Mrs. Stroud called from upstairs, "Billy, could you be a dear and answer that?" He did so. After a moment of quiet speaking he turned to Feyre and Noelle and told them the call was for them. Slowly Feyre took the phone...<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She lurched backward, suddenly struck with an incredible migraine, and slammed the phone onto the hook. Then cut the phone cord from the wall.

Noelle, pail and sweating, pointed out a door at the end of the hall.

Despite the protestations of Feyre, Carmen moved to the door. Billy covered his eyes clearly terrified.

Carmen opened the door and vanished into the room.

Billy ran out of the living room and through the front door.

'''7. Across Space and Time'''

The moment Carmen entered the Den, she was flung upward from the ground. Higher and higher. Spiraling away from Halcyon Hills, into the clouds. Away from Quelmar. Out of a massive nebula. She streaked through space faster than the speed of thought and slammed to her hands and knees on a patch of rough, jagged rock. And looked up to a man made of stars and... dreams. Sitting upon a throne of eyes. He smiled at her. They spoke and he offered to help her master her power and show her the universe. If she would just bring the boy to him. She denied him. He simply smiled and said he'd be seeing her soon enough then flung her through the cosmos back into her body, which it turned had never left Halcyon Hills.

Carmen staggered out of the den, the door slamming shut behind her of it's own accord.

The three investigators ran out of the house to try and find Billy. They ran into Jackson and Trudy.

The clocktower rang throughout the suburb. Four hours had passed since they had arrived.

'''8. The Hour Was Upon Them'''

Jackson and Trudy explained what they had learned. Noelle, Feyre and Carmen shared their experiences as well. The community gathering was only an hour away.

They all decided it was best to make their way to the park to try and find Billy and see what the HOA was up to.

They broke into a tool shed and a club house at the park. They examined a maintenance door that led into the clocktower.

In the tool shed, Feyre found blue prints for the entire suburb. It had been built by a company named Concordia Solutions. There were notes on the blueprints about the clocktower being a critical part of something but it did not say what.

Trudy and Jackson found Billy while Noelle investigated inside the club house.

Carmen and Feyre decided to break into the clock tower.

The clock tower rang again. The suburbanites of Halcyon Hills began to approach the park. Chanting in some indecipherable tongue.

'''9. The Clock Tower Ritual'''

The investigators concluded that Concordia Solutions was a corporate front for a cult that was trying to change people into ideal, "perfect" human beings.

The head of the HOA saw Jackson and Trudy and quickly approached them. He was very friendly to Billy, insisting the boy stop bothering the couple and come with him because his mother was looking for him and very worried.

As the clock tower rang out, a phone in the club house begin to ring. Noelle answered the phone. She heard:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She resisted the intense psychic pain that the phone call caused her and ripped the phone from the wall.

Trudy and Jackson tried to hide Billy behind them, but the head of the HOA slugged Jackson in the face and shoved Trudy to the ground. He grabbed Billy and ran towards a slowly building crowd.

Carmen and Feyre broke into the clocktower and locked the door behind them as the residents of Halcyon Hills began to bang on the maintenance door. As they made their way up the stairs towards the third story of the clock tower, the structure suddenly lurched. It twisted and moved. As if it had come to life and was trying to stop them. They made a daring race to the second story just as the stairs behind them ripped free from the wall and feel to the ground.

Then the stairs that led from the second story to the third ripped free and listed low towards the ground. Carmen sensed a presence in the tower with them and when she looked. She saw Lincoln cutting words into his arm, with a piece of chipped stone. The words, though hard to read were very similar to what they were experiencing. So, Carmen decided to roll up her sleeve and used a screwdriver from Feyre's tools to do the same. She used this newly discovered power to re-write the stairs back into place long enough for her and Feyre to make it to the third story.

Outside, Noelle had suddenly become sick from the continue repetition coming from the phone. Trudy ran in and dragged her out of the club house while Jackson fought off the head of the HOA and sent Billy running to Trudy. Jackson was attacked by a frenzied mob of suburbanites and beat badly.

Carmen and Feyre began throwing every larger, hard object the could find into the gears of the clock tower. Causing them to shudder and come apart. As the third story landing began to come lose beneath them, Feyre grabbed a rope and swung into Carmen and used it to get them both to the ground. They ran out of the clocktower just in time to see Trudy grab Billy in her arms. The clocktower suddenly crumbled and the investigators woke up, in various places inside the offices of Beck's Gym. Some were lying on cots, others on the floor.

'''10. Resolution'''

When Jacen saw they were alright, he quickly picked up the manuscript [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]] that he and the investigators had been investigating (when they all lost consciousness) and threw it into his wood stove. Wanting to keep any further dangers from befalling his investigators.

When Jackson realized Trudy was in the next room over, he quickly ran and found her lying under a blanket on a small bed. She was curled in a loose ball, holding something. He pulled her blanket back and found Billy nestled in her arms, sleeping soundly.

'''9. Aftermath'''

Before they awoke, the investigators had a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]], sitting on the floor of a stone room (and Dottie Welles sitting beside him), he looked at the mediums of the group, "You did it. Now come and find us..." Before he could say more, guards in black uniforms burst into the room and grabbed both of them. Dottie was killed in an experimental machine connected to a woman, floating in a tank of murky fluid. Then they connected it to Lincoln and it worked. A woman in a lab coat looked to a man standing in shadows and said, "It worked sir. Once the last of his magickal defenses were gone we could see if you were right. He can't be killed!"

=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment may include themes of psychological distress, experimentation, altered states of consciousness, existential horror.'''''

Characters: Byron Hans Core, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, [[Mocking-Bird]], Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Sabine Dirac, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], The Dreamer

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Lincoln Renfield-Murray

District/Locations: The Soffit, O.C.O. Fort Black

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators infiltrated Fort Black and reached Lincoln in the containment chamber. Filly shut down the medical systems sustaining the experiment, and Carmen entered the dreamscape to disrupt the magick fueling the sigil around the apparatus. Their actions destabilized the transfer, and a fragment of The Dreamer’s consciousness took hold within Lincoln as the chamber began to fail. As they fled with him, pursuing guards were reduced to sparks of orange light, and the corridors twisted around them as alarms blared. Before they could fully understand what had happened, Lincoln vanished in a flash of orange light. On the road back to Newfaire, the world began to change. Farmers stood like scarecrows fighting off massive, multi-eyed crows, and the city reshaped into a living monolith of brick and steel. Beck’s Gym has been destroyed. In its place floats a writhing throne of flesh, stars, fire, and shattered masonry, with Lincoln seated above streets of kneeling figures whose palms burn with his sigil. Beneath the broken skyline, a shadowed woman chants by a fire as glyphs ignite along her forearm and she screams into the night. The world has not ended, but it no longer feels stable, and nothing about it feels right.

=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

Content Warnings: '''''Content Warning: This assignment may include themes of surveillance, institutional secrecy, Nationalism/National Rivalries and body horror.'''''

Characters: Avyaan Kumar, [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]]

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Celesta Marrow, Mila Korovin

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Research notes, photos, designs of ancient machines

District/Locations: The Pharos, Krasnytska - East Hills, Vostrya - East Hills

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:
[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-03-02T01:36:54Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum" */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Characters:

GM:

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''... my keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Byron Hans Core, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, [[Mocking-Bird]],

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, Ember Eyes, Lucian Grim, [[The Nighthawk]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel), Grand Noman Hospital, Ember Eyes' Apartment

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* The investigators were dispatched to Silverslip after James Hendrix publicly combusted in front of the Civil Tribune.
* Witness interviews in police reports conflicted, some describing a tall man lurking nearby, while the morgue confirmed Hendrix’s spontaneous combustion without accelerants.
* Recovered evidence included Hendrix’s body and a draft of an article (burned beyond recognition).

'''2. Searching the office of Editor, Mac Voss'''

* Carmen and Filly distracted Voss so Byron could search Voss' office and uncover editorial records suggesting that Hendrix’s investigation was known to upper management before his death.

'''3. Exploration and Clues'''

* The investigators tracked down Magnus Thorne, a war criminal turned informant, but found him burned to death in the motel room that was serving as his safe house.
* The safe house showed clear signs of supernatural fire damage and forced entry.
* Inside a hollowed-out radio that barely survived the fire, the investigators discovered hidden drafts of Hendrix’s article, laying out a clear connection between several suspicious deaths. These included Marie Chen, Jasper Parson, and the Merrick’s Hearth disaster. All of them connected to a secret cabal manipulating city events.

'''4. Encounter with Heath Keers'''

* As the investigators left the motel room, Dex detected bleed with his bleed detector. The investigators followed the trail all the way to The Steel.
* The trailer led them to an abandoned warehouse. Mocking-Bird reconned the warehouse and found Ember Eyes, preparing to torture a man hung from and bound by several chains. He told the already bruised and bloodied man, "The council is very disappointed in your failure Lu. And you do know how they hate loose ends..." Mocking-Bird overheard Ember Eyes say.
* Mocking-Bird dropped from the rafters of the warehouse and confronted him. The other investigators snuck into the warehouse, ready to aid her if a fight broke out.
* With a sadistic smile, he issued a warning: stop the investigation or face a similar fate to Hendrix.
* A fight started. The Heath nearly killed Mocking-bird with fire after breaking her nose and left orbital bone. Carmen slid between them and force him back with an Aether Loadstone. Byron hurled a combat ball from his utility belt at Ember Eyes and struck him in the face. Knocking out one of his teeth.
* Ember Eyes summoned a fiery door of bones and viscera and escaped before anyone could stop him.
* The investigators unchained Ember Eyes' captive then discovered his name was Lucian Grim. An enemy of Candela Obscura believed to have been taken into custody by the Noman High Command. After his arrest the year before, he had been intercepted by another group of investigators and placed in custody within The Store, inside the Pharos.
* The investigators sent him back into The Store.

'''5. Post Credits Scene'''

Jacen is pacing in his gym when the investigators return, wringing his hands. He stops and looks to each of them before stopping at Mocking-Bird.

'''''Cut to:'''''

The Nighthawk lies in a bed in Grand Noman Hospital. An oxygen mask covers her mouth.

She is barely recognizable to the only person in the room who has ever seen her face as the Investigators.

She reaches out for Mocking-Bird. Then speaks in a horse whisper…

'''''Cut to:'''''

The Nighthawk moves stealthily through Heath Keers’ apartment, searching for clues. Papers lie scattered, half-burned, detailing unknown names and ominous plans. A flicker of orange light catches their attention—too late.

They look back over their shoulder silently.

Behind them, the man with the ember eyes smiles.

“You should’ve stayed in the shadows.”

The room ignites in a burst of flame, and a strangled cry fills the night’s air.

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
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Hook:

Content Warnings:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

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GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Elias Creel (informant), Celeste Marrow, Neriah Saelis, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit, Lowel Overpass

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Lowel Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook: Nesta Acheron has asked for Candela’s help. Her late husband Lincoln’s last and unfinished manuscript was being prepared for posthumous publication. While reading through it, she discovered that the table of contents was no longer in the order she remembered from her final review before his death. The first story appears out of place, and she’s begun to suspect that something inside the manuscript has changed.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of memory distortion, recursion, disappearances, isolation, and surreal horror.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Nesta Acheron

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Cipher used to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

District/Locations: The Sidle, The Soffit, Worthington Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

The investigators were drawn into the short story ''Before It Got Weird'', assuming roles embedded in the narrative. They arrived in South Soffit moments before Jona Hendricks ran from Grady’s Low Beam (a real life bar in The Soffit) and spontaneously combusted in the street.

Police Sgt. Isabella Reyes attempted aid while her partner Cal Keene secured the perimeter. Journalist, Eve Hurst appeared almost immediately, already taking notes.

When the investigators began to question the circumstances, the day reset.

'''2. Loop One – Spontaneous Combustion'''

Hendricks died by fire outside Grady’s Low Beam.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve Hurst arrived too quickly and appeared unsurprised.
* Hendricks had been working on a big case regarding corruption within the government.

The day reset before the investigators could formally accuse anyone.

'''3. Loop Two – Printing Press Death'''

This time, Hendricks was found crushed within the South Soffit Defender printing press.

Clues uncovered:

* Typeset plates reading: “NOT AGAIN...” with a photo of an exhausted Jona Hendrix as he is falling to his death above the printing press.
* Eve was alone in the newsroom shortly before the incident.
* Security access logs had been altered manually.

The investigators had to fight of a monsterous man made of ink trying to escape the printing press. They defeated him by burying him in yards of newsprint.

The day reset again. But the investigators had started to put the pieces together.

'''4. Loop Three – Worthington Field'''

Hendricks was pummeled to death by an unnatural barrage of baseballs at Worthington Field. Percy spotted Eve, who all the investigators now suspected.

The Inkman manifested again, attempting to prevent the investigators from stopping Eve,

Then everyone was being pummeled with baseballs falling from the sky.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve positioned herself for a perfect vantage point.
* Percy and Avyaan confronted Eve and snatch her note pad from her, and discovered she had been writing the events that were happening in such a way that they were a command.

The Inkman manifested as a physical guardian entity attempting to prevent resolution.

'''5. The Reveal'''

The investigators determined that Eve Hurst was killing Hendricks repeatedly to craft the perfect sensational story. Each attempt failed to satisfy her ambitions, forcing her to reset the day through narrative manipulation.

'''6. Reward'''

Upon solving the mystery, the investigators were expelled from the story.

They retained a cipher embedded in the dark blue handwritten epigraph scrawled across the manuscript’s title page. This cipher later allowed them to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

Hook: What begins as a simple night at the theatre—a well-earned reprieve from the pressures of daily life—takes a sharp and sudden turn when a murder interrupts the performance… and the greatest detective in the city lies dead at center stage. Now, the investigation is yours to finish—whether you’re ready or not.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of murder, theatrical violence, psychological tension, and altered realities.'''''

Characters: Arthur Nook, Avyaan Kumar, [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lysera

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: An ornate wooden box bearing Shore Lock Holdings tag that contains a mask depicting a sleeping, crowned figure. The mask bears symbolic markings resembling lunar phases.

District/Locations: The Malloy Theatre - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Arrival and Opening Performance'''

The investigators attended a staged epic recounting the tale of Atycos and her companions, depicting their corruption by forces beyond the veil.

Detective Samantha Chandler rose from the audience to announce inconsistencies in the production’s funding and symbolism.

Before she could finish her accusation, she transformed into marble before the crowd.

The house lights dimmed.

'''2. Julien’s Monologue'''

Julien Alden, still in costume as Damion the Steadfast, delivered a monologue that blurred the line between performance and warning:<blockquote>“As light grows dim, so changes skin.

Stone remembers what flesh forgets…”</blockquote>He pointed directly at the investigators, establishing that they were now part of the play’s unfolding fate.

He then turned to marble.

The theatre doors sealed.

'''3. Exploration Phase I'''

The investigators realized they were trapped inside the production.

Clues uncovered:

* Lunar phase markings hidden within costume embroidery.
* Stage lighting dimming in unnatural increments.
* Jane Waller missing from her directing station.

A third actor narrowly avoided petrification when the investigators interrupted a backstage cue.

One investigator took a Body mark as the transformation process began to affect them.

'''4. Exploration Phase II'''

Further investigation revealed hidden passageways allowing Jane and Lyle to move unseen through the theatre.

The marble statues of Jane and Lyle discovered earlier were revealed to be theatrical constructs.

Clues uncovered:

* Mask of Thalos covered in geometric and astronomical markings.
* Ritual staging tied to the theatre’s lighting grid.

Another cast member was petrified.

'''5. Confrontation'''

Jane and Lyle attempted to complete the ritual through synchronized light cues and recitation of corrupted myth.

The investigators disrupted the staging mechanism, altered lighting, and exposed the ruse.

Jane was overwhelmed by backlash from the ritual energy.

Lyle fled through the catwalks before being forced to abandon the ritual.

The theatre lights returned to full brightness.

Olive took her third scar: her hand now has Marble like knuckles.

One of the cast survived!

'''6. Resolution'''

Lysera (or an apparition bearing her likeness) appeared in the aftermath.

She presented the investigators with an ornate wooden box.

Inside was a mask depicting a crowned, sleeping figure.

Attached was a Shore Lock Holdings tag (later revealed by clerks of The Circle of Mind and Might to be a shell corporation for MetaMorph).

The investigators were expelled from the narrative.

=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

Hook: A colleague went missing last week while investigating Halcyon Hills—a glossy new suburban community developed by Concordia Solutions. The hedges are freshly trimmed. The neighbors wave. The paperboy never misses a throw.

There’s just one problem: a room showed up in his house that wasn’t there yesterday.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of surveillance, bodily transformation, social conformity, and psychological horror.'''''

Characters: [[Carmen Baxter]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, [[Jackson Cunningham]], Noelle Silva

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Billy Stroud

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: BIlly Stroud and a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]].

District/Locations: The Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Cold Open – Halcyon Hills'''

Halcyon Hills is beautiful in the way a showroom is beautiful... perfectly arranged and utterly untouched.

The morning sun glints off polished chrome mailboxes. Lawns are green and close-cropped, hedges trimmed with mathematical precision. Neighbors wave with practiced warmth. A paper boy pedals by, never missing a porch. Somewhere down the block, a lawnmower hums a lazy tune beneath the stillness.

But behind the picture-perfect façades, one house feels wrong.

Inside, the air is too quiet.

Billy Stroud sits stiffly on the edge of a pristine floral couch, hands clenched into the cushions. He’s about ten years old, wiry, with sharp eyes too wary for his age. His accent—pure South Soffit—is unmistakable when he speaks.

“I wanna go home now.”

Dr. Michael Lowell, kneeling gently beside him, offers a patient smile. He’s soft-spoken and observant, the kind of man who wears concern like a well-tailored coat. He’s here as a psychologist. And as an investigator for Candela Obscura. But mostly, right now, he’s trying to be kind.

“You are home, Billy.” he says softly.

Billy shakes his head.

“My real home. Before. Before the house had a den.”

The investigator gaze flicks to the hallway, to a door that didn’t exist on the blueprints. Or when Billy and his parents first moved in.

Lowell remembers them well. Their posture was perfect, their smiles unwavering. And not a trace of the boy’s accent in either voice. Like they’d never set foot in The Soffit.

“Billy,” Lowell says, more serious now, “can you tell me what’s in the room?” Lowell's eyes never move from the door.

Billy just stares at the door.

“I think…” he whispers. His voice trails off.

Lowell rises slowly, eyes fixed on the threshold. Something is wrong here. He can’t say what. But everything in Halcyon Hills is too fine. Too neat. Too... perfect.

He reaches for the knob; feeling it's warmth before he even grasps it.

The door creaks open as if beckoning him to enter.

And outside a single beat of silence.

Then Billy bursts out of the house, sprinting across the grass, straight through the gentle arc of the sprinkler. He doesn’t look back.

The house stands perfect behind him. It's front door gently drifts shut.

The sun is shining. The breeze is sweet.

A lawnmower drones softly in the distance...

'''2. Briefing at Page & Lantern'''

Lightkeeper Libby Locke gathered the investigators at The Page & Lantern (a coffee and book shop in The Sidle) to review the Halcyon Hills file.

Her concern stemmed from multiple phone calls from a young boy asking for his father. The calls ended whenever Libby requested to speak with his parents.

The final call differed. When she pressed the boy, a woman with a pleasant voice took the line.<blockquote>“Everything is fine.”</blockquote>When pressed further, the woman repeated:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>On and on for almost a solid minute.

The call disconnected.

Libby traced the call to Halcyon Hills and dispatched the Circle of Steam and Sorrow, led by Dr. Lowell. After 24 hours of silence, she assembled a new team to investigate discreetly and extract the other investigators.

'''3. Arrival at Halcyon Hills'''

The investigators entered a pristine mid-century suburban development just as the clocktower at the center of the park rang out.

Residents displayed uniform pleasantness, emotional flattening, and uncanny consistency in behavior.

Jackson and Trudy met the head of the Home Owners Association. They posed as a young couple looking to buy a home in the community and start a family. He was friendly, though he seemed very concerned about where in the city they were from. The others overheard him telling them about the wonderful school nearby, and that the kids in the suburb were practically angels. Though one boy, Billy, was a bit of a troublemaker.

He offered to escort them to a diner just near the train station for some pie and to talk to the developments realtor about possibly buying a home. They took his offer and split from the rest of the investigators.

'''4. Discovery of the Re-written'''

Carmen, Noelle and Feyre noticed a mailbox with the name M. Lowell on it and decided to knock on the front door. discovered that members of Lowell’s Circle had been remade into Halcyon Hills residents.

A man matching the description of Lowell that Libby had given them answered the door. He was dressed in a fine suit and carried a briefcase as if he was just preparing to leave for work.

When Lowell was asked to explain what was going on, he had no clue what Feyre was talking about. After a few moments, while Noelle looked down the street, Carmen remove one of her gloves and placed it on Lowell's. She saw a maze made of paper. Black paper. As she quickly moved deeper and deeper into the maze, typewritten words slowly appeared on the paper walls, growing in concentration at the center of the maze where, a human shaped glob of white appeared over the words.

Lowell had been re-written into someone new. The old Lowell could seemingly overwritten and gone.

Shaken by the psychic connection, Lowell fell back to sitting on the front porch of the house, distressed as if suddenly realizing something was gravely wrong.

Noelle saw a young boy, watching them from down the street with a baseball and glove in hand.

The clocktower rang out again. An hour had passed since their arrival.

'''5. The Diner'''

Trudy and Jackson sat at a table, being given the sales pitch by the head of the HOA and it's realtor about a home that just came on the market.

They got the feeling that these two felt more like cult leaders than community members and lied about going to see the home and walk the neighborhood to get away.

The head of the HOA and the realtor invited Jackson and Trudy to a gathering at the park that would be taking place that evening. A pot luck. So they could really see what it was like to belong.

As they left the diner, they heard the park's clocktower ring again. Two hours had passed since their arrival.

'''6. The Stroud's'''

Feyre, Carmen and Noelle moved to speak with the little boy down the street. But he quickly ran into his house before they could reach him.

After a minute of deliberation and coming up with a cover story, the three investigators moved to the door and knocked. When no one answered, Feyre knocked a second time.

The boy answered. She knelt down and asked if he was Billy.

He nodded.

Before Feyre could speak again, a pleasant voice called from inside the house for Billy to tell them who was at the door.

When Billy just looked at the investigators for a silent moment, his mother appeared and smiled at them. She greeted them and asked if she could help them.

Feyre answered they were from Briargreen Prep and had come to meet Billy. His mother was confused, so Carmen added that Billy had come to their attention after scoring very high on a standardized test that qualified him for a scholarship to the elite prep school.

She smiled proudly at Billy and invited the investigators inside.

They asked if Mr. Stroud was home, but Mrs. Stroud said he had fallen ill recently and couldn't leave bed.

Carmen, posing as a doctor, offered to look him over and Mrs. Stroud accepted.

While Mrs. Stroud showed Carmen to the master bedroom, Feyre and Noelle tried to get Billy to answer some carefully worded questions. Noelle was very distracted. Billy told them they should leave or they'd end up like their friends.

When Carmen entered the bedroom, she saw Mr. Stroud lying in bed, staring at the ceiling a catatonic state. A rictus smile on his face. Mrs. Stroud was oblivious and thought he just had a bad cold.

Carmen quickly left the room, running down the stairs and losing a shoe on the way down. As she did so, the phone began to ring. Mrs. Stroud called from upstairs, "Billy, could you be a dear and answer that?" He did so. After a moment of quiet speaking he turned to Feyre and Noelle and told them the call was for them. Slowly Feyre took the phone...<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She lurched backward, suddenly struck with an incredible migraine, and slammed the phone onto the hook. Then cut the phone cord from the wall.

Noelle, pail and sweating, pointed out a door at the end of the hall.

Despite the protestations of Feyre, Carmen moved to the door. Billy covered his eyes clearly terrified.

Carmen opened the door and vanished into the room.

Billy ran out of the living room and through the front door.

'''7. Across Space and Time'''

The moment Carmen entered the Den, she was flung upward from the ground. Higher and higher. Spiraling away from Halcyon Hills, into the clouds. Away from Quelmar. Out of a massive nebula. She streaked through space faster than the speed of thought and slammed to her hands and knees on a patch of rough, jagged rock. And looked up to a man made of stars and... dreams. Sitting upon a throne of eyes. He smiled at her. They spoke and he offered to help her master her power and show her the universe. If she would just bring the boy to him. She denied him. He simply smiled and said he'd be seeing her soon enough then flung her through the cosmos back into her body, which it turned had never left Halcyon Hills.

Carmen staggered out of the den, the door slamming shut behind her of it's own accord.

The three investigators ran out of the house to try and find Billy. They ran into Jackson and Trudy.

The clocktower rang throughout the suburb. Four hours had passed since they had arrived.

'''8. The Hour Was Upon Them'''

Jackson and Trudy explained what they had learned. Noelle, Feyre and Carmen shared their experiences as well. The community gathering was only an hour away.

They all decided it was best to make their way to the park to try and find Billy and see what the HOA was up to.

They broke into a tool shed and a club house at the park. They examined a maintenance door that led into the clocktower.

In the tool shed, Feyre found blue prints for the entire suburb. It had been built by a company named Concordia Solutions. There were notes on the blueprints about the clocktower being a critical part of something but it did not say what.

Trudy and Jackson found Billy while Noelle investigated inside the club house.

Carmen and Feyre decided to break into the clock tower.

The clock tower rang again. The suburbanites of Halcyon Hills began to approach the park. Chanting in some indecipherable tongue.

'''9. The Clock Tower Ritual'''

The investigators concluded that Concordia Solutions was a corporate front for a cult that was trying to change people into ideal, "perfect" human beings.

The head of the HOA saw Jackson and Trudy and quickly approached them. He was very friendly to Billy, insisting the boy stop bothering the couple and come with him because his mother was looking for him and very worried.

As the clock tower rang out, a phone in the club house begin to ring. Noelle answered the phone. She heard:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She resisted the intense psychic pain that the phone call caused her and ripped the phone from the wall.

Trudy and Jackson tried to hide Billy behind them, but the head of the HOA slugged Jackson in the face and shoved Trudy to the ground. He grabbed Billy and ran towards a slowly building crowd.

Carmen and Feyre broke into the clocktower and locked the door behind them as the residents of Halcyon Hills began to bang on the maintenance door. As they made their way up the stairs towards the third story of the clock tower, the structure suddenly lurched. It twisted and moved. As if it had come to life and was trying to stop them. They made a daring race to the second story just as the stairs behind them ripped free from the wall and feel to the ground.

Then the stairs that led from the second story to the third ripped free and listed low towards the ground. Carmen sensed a presence in the tower with them and when she looked. She saw Lincoln cutting words into his arm, with a piece of chipped stone. The words, though hard to read were very similar to what they were experiencing. So, Carmen decided to roll up her sleeve and used a screwdriver from Feyre's tools to do the same. She used this newly discovered power to re-write the stairs back into place long enough for her and Feyre to make it to the third story.

Outside, Noelle had suddenly become sick from the continue repetition coming from the phone. Trudy ran in and dragged her out of the club house while Jackson fought off the head of the HOA and sent Billy running to Trudy. Jackson was attacked by a frenzied mob of suburbanites and beat badly.

Carmen and Feyre began throwing every larger, hard object the could find into the gears of the clock tower. Causing them to shudder and come apart. As the third story landing began to come lose beneath them, Feyre grabbed a rope and swung into Carmen and used it to get them both to the ground. They ran out of the clocktower just in time to see Trudy grab Billy in her arms. The clocktower suddenly crumbled and the investigators woke up, in various places inside the offices of Beck's Gym. Some were lying on cots, others on the floor.

'''10. Resolution'''

When Jacen saw they were alright, he quickly picked up the manuscript [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]] that he and the investigators had been investigating (when they all lost consciousness) and threw it into his wood stove. Wanting to keep any further dangers from befalling his investigators.

When Jackson realized Trudy was in the next room over, he quickly ran and found her lying under a blanket on a small bed. She was curled in a loose ball, holding something. He pulled her blanket back and found Billy nestled in her arms, sleeping soundly.

'''9. Aftermath'''

Before they awoke, the investigators had a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]], sitting on the floor of a stone room (and Dottie Welles sitting beside him), he looked at the mediums of the group, "You did it. Now come and find us..." Before he could say more, guards in black uniforms burst into the room and grabbed both of them. Dottie was killed in an experimental machine connected to a woman, floating in a tank of murky fluid. Then they connected it to Lincoln and it worked. A woman in a lab coat looked to a man standing in shadows and said, "It worked sir. Once the last of his magickal defenses were gone we could see if you were right. He can't be killed!"

=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment may include themes of psychological distress, experimentation, altered states of consciousness, existential horror.'''''

Characters: Byron Hans Core, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, [[Mocking-Bird]], Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Sabine Dirac, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], The Dreamer

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Lincoln Renfield-Murray

District/Locations: The Soffit, O.C.O. Fort Black

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators infiltrated Fort Black and reached Lincoln in the containment chamber. Filly shut down the medical systems sustaining the experiment, and Carmen entered the dreamscape to disrupt the magick fueling the sigil around the apparatus. Their actions destabilized the transfer, and a fragment of The Dreamer’s consciousness took hold within Lincoln as the chamber began to fail. As they fled with him, pursuing guards were reduced to sparks of orange light, and the corridors twisted around them as alarms blared. Before they could fully understand what had happened, Lincoln vanished in a flash of orange light. On the road back to Newfaire, the world began to change. Farmers stood like scarecrows fighting off massive, multi-eyed crows, and the city reshaped into a living monolith of brick and steel. Beck’s Gym has been destroyed. In its place floats a writhing throne of flesh, stars, fire, and shattered masonry, with Lincoln seated above streets of kneeling figures whose palms burn with his sigil. Beneath the broken skyline, a shadowed woman chants by a fire as glyphs ignite along her forearm and she screams into the night. The world has not ended, but it no longer feels stable, and nothing about it feels right.

=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

Content Warnings: '''''Content Warning: This assignment may include themes of surveillance, institutional secrecy, Nationalism/National Rivalries and body horror.'''''

Characters: Avyaan Kumar, [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]]

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Celesta Marrow, Mila Korovin

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Research notes, photos, designs of ancient machines

District/Locations: The Pharos, Krasnytska - East Hills, Vostrya - East Hills

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:
[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-02-25T03:14:16Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory" */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Characters:

GM:

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''... my keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Byron Hans Core, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, [[Mocking-Bird]],

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, Ember Eyes, Lucian Grim, [[The Nighthawk]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel), Grand Noman Hospital, Ember Eyes' Apartment

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* The investigators were dispatched to Silverslip after James Hendrix publicly combusted in front of the Civil Tribune.
* Witness interviews in police reports conflicted, some describing a tall man lurking nearby, while the morgue confirmed Hendrix’s spontaneous combustion without accelerants.
* Recovered evidence included Hendrix’s body and a draft of an article (burned beyond recognition).

'''2. Searching the office of Editor, Mac Voss'''

* Carmen and Filly distracted Voss so Byron could search Voss' office and uncover editorial records suggesting that Hendrix’s investigation was known to upper management before his death.

'''3. Exploration and Clues'''

* The investigators tracked down Magnus Thorne, a war criminal turned informant, but found him burned to death in the motel room that was serving as his safe house.
* The safe house showed clear signs of supernatural fire damage and forced entry.
* Inside a hollowed-out radio that barely survived the fire, the investigators discovered hidden drafts of Hendrix’s article, laying out a clear connection between several suspicious deaths. These included Marie Chen, Jasper Parson, and the Merrick’s Hearth disaster. All of them connected to a secret cabal manipulating city events.

'''4. Encounter with Heath Keers'''

* As the investigators left the motel room, Dex detected bleed with his bleed detector. The investigators followed the trail all the way to The Steel.
* The trailer led them to an abandoned warehouse. Mocking-Bird reconned the warehouse and found Ember Eyes, preparing to torture a man hung from and bound by several chains. He told the already bruised and bloodied man, "The council is very disappointed in your failure Lu. And you do know how they hate loose ends..." Mocking-Bird overheard Ember Eyes say.
* Mocking-Bird dropped from the rafters of the warehouse and confronted him. The other investigators snuck into the warehouse, ready to aid her if a fight broke out.
* With a sadistic smile, he issued a warning: stop the investigation or face a similar fate to Hendrix.
* A fight started. The Heath nearly killed Mocking-bird with fire after breaking her nose and left orbital bone. Carmen slid between them and force him back with an Aether Loadstone. Byron hurled a combat ball from his utility belt at Ember Eyes and struck him in the face. Knocking out one of his teeth.
* Ember Eyes summoned a fiery door of bones and viscera and escaped before anyone could stop him.
* The investigators unchained Ember Eyes' captive then discovered his name was Lucian Grim. An enemy of Candela Obscura believed to have been taken into custody by the Noman High Command. After his arrest the year before, he had been intercepted by another group of investigators and placed in custody within The Store, inside the Pharos.
* The investigators sent him back into The Store.

'''5. Post Credits Scene'''

Jacen is pacing in his gym when the investigators return, wringing his hands. He stops and looks to each of them before stopping at Mocking-Bird.

'''''Cut to:'''''

The Nighthawk lies in a bed in Grand Noman Hospital. An oxygen mask covers her mouth.

She is barely recognizable to the only person in the room who has ever seen her face as the Investigators.

She reaches out for Mocking-Bird. Then speaks in a horse whisper…

'''''Cut to:'''''

The Nighthawk moves stealthily through Heath Keers’ apartment, searching for clues. Papers lie scattered, half-burned, detailing unknown names and ominous plans. A flicker of orange light catches their attention—too late.

They look back over their shoulder silently.

Behind them, the man with the ember eyes smiles.

“You should’ve stayed in the shadows.”

The room ignites in a burst of flame, and a strangled cry fills the night’s air.

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Elias Creel (informant), Celeste Marrow, Neriah Saelis, Iris and Lilly Vale, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit, Lowel Overpass

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Lowel Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook: Nesta Acheron has asked for Candela’s help. Her late husband Lincoln’s last and unfinished manuscript was being prepared for posthumous publication. While reading through it, she discovered that the table of contents was no longer in the order she remembered from her final review before his death. The first story appears out of place, and she’s begun to suspect that something inside the manuscript has changed.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of memory distortion, recursion, disappearances, isolation, and surreal horror.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Nesta Acheron

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Cipher used to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

District/Locations: The Sidle, The Soffit, Worthington Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

The investigators were drawn into the short story ''Before It Got Weird'', assuming roles embedded in the narrative. They arrived in South Soffit moments before Jona Hendricks ran from Grady’s Low Beam (a real life bar in The Soffit) and spontaneously combusted in the street.

Police Sgt. Isabella Reyes attempted aid while her partner Cal Keene secured the perimeter. Journalist, Eve Hurst appeared almost immediately, already taking notes.

When the investigators began to question the circumstances, the day reset.

'''2. Loop One – Spontaneous Combustion'''

Hendricks died by fire outside Grady’s Low Beam.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve Hurst arrived too quickly and appeared unsurprised.
* Hendricks had been working on a big case regarding corruption within the government.

The day reset before the investigators could formally accuse anyone.

'''3. Loop Two – Printing Press Death'''

This time, Hendricks was found crushed within the South Soffit Defender printing press.

Clues uncovered:

* Typeset plates reading: “NOT AGAIN...” with a photo of an exhausted Jona Hendrix as he is falling to his death above the printing press.
* Eve was alone in the newsroom shortly before the incident.
* Security access logs had been altered manually.

The investigators had to fight of a monsterous man made of ink trying to escape the printing press. They defeated him by burying him in yards of newsprint.

The day reset again. But the investigators had started to put the pieces together.

'''4. Loop Three – Worthington Field'''

Hendricks was pummeled to death by an unnatural barrage of baseballs at Worthington Field. Percy spotted Eve, who all the investigators now suspected.

The Inkman manifested again, attempting to prevent the investigators from stopping Eve,

Then everyone was being pummeled with baseballs falling from the sky.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve positioned herself for a perfect vantage point.
* Percy and Avyaan confronted Eve and snatch her note pad from her, and discovered she had been writing the events that were happening in such a way that they were a command.

The Inkman manifested as a physical guardian entity attempting to prevent resolution.

'''5. The Reveal'''

The investigators determined that Eve Hurst was killing Hendricks repeatedly to craft the perfect sensational story. Each attempt failed to satisfy her ambitions, forcing her to reset the day through narrative manipulation.

'''6. Reward'''

Upon solving the mystery, the investigators were expelled from the story.

They retained a cipher embedded in the dark blue handwritten epigraph scrawled across the manuscript’s title page. This cipher later allowed them to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

Hook: What begins as a simple night at the theatre—a well-earned reprieve from the pressures of daily life—takes a sharp and sudden turn when a murder interrupts the performance… and the greatest detective in the city lies dead at center stage. Now, the investigation is yours to finish—whether you’re ready or not.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of murder, theatrical violence, psychological tension, and altered realities.'''''

Characters: Arthur Nook, Avyaan Kumar, [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lysera

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: An ornate wooden box bearing Shore Lock Holdings tag that contains a mask depicting a sleeping, crowned figure. The mask bears symbolic markings resembling lunar phases.

District/Locations: The Malloy Theatre - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Arrival and Opening Performance'''

The investigators attended a staged epic recounting the tale of Atycos and her companions, depicting their corruption by forces beyond the veil.

Detective Samantha Chandler rose from the audience to announce inconsistencies in the production’s funding and symbolism.

Before she could finish her accusation, she transformed into marble before the crowd.

The house lights dimmed.

'''2. Julien’s Monologue'''

Julien Alden, still in costume as Damion the Steadfast, delivered a monologue that blurred the line between performance and warning:<blockquote>“As light grows dim, so changes skin.

Stone remembers what flesh forgets…”</blockquote>He pointed directly at the investigators, establishing that they were now part of the play’s unfolding fate.

He then turned to marble.

The theatre doors sealed.

'''3. Exploration Phase I'''

The investigators realized they were trapped inside the production.

Clues uncovered:

* Lunar phase markings hidden within costume embroidery.
* Stage lighting dimming in unnatural increments.
* Jane Waller missing from her directing station.

A third actor narrowly avoided petrification when the investigators interrupted a backstage cue.

One investigator took a Body mark as the transformation process began to affect them.

'''4. Exploration Phase II'''

Further investigation revealed hidden passageways allowing Jane and Lyle to move unseen through the theatre.

The marble statues of Jane and Lyle discovered earlier were revealed to be theatrical constructs.

Clues uncovered:

* Mask of Thalos covered in geometric and astronomical markings.
* Ritual staging tied to the theatre’s lighting grid.

Another cast member was petrified.

'''5. Confrontation'''

Jane and Lyle attempted to complete the ritual through synchronized light cues and recitation of corrupted myth.

The investigators disrupted the staging mechanism, altered lighting, and exposed the ruse.

Jane was overwhelmed by backlash from the ritual energy.

Lyle fled through the catwalks before being forced to abandon the ritual.

The theatre lights returned to full brightness.

Olive took her third scar: her hand now has Marble like knuckles.

One of the cast survived!

'''6. Resolution'''

Lysera (or an apparition bearing her likeness) appeared in the aftermath.

She presented the investigators with an ornate wooden box.

Inside was a mask depicting a crowned, sleeping figure.

Attached was a Shore Lock Holdings tag (later revealed by clerks of The Circle of Mind and Might to be a shell corporation for MetaMorph).

The investigators were expelled from the narrative.

=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

Hook: A colleague went missing last week while investigating Halcyon Hills—a glossy new suburban community developed by Concordia Solutions. The hedges are freshly trimmed. The neighbors wave. The paperboy never misses a throw.

There’s just one problem: a room showed up in his house that wasn’t there yesterday.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of surveillance, bodily transformation, social conformity, and psychological horror.'''''

Characters: [[Carmen Baxter]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, [[Jackson Cunningham]], Noelle Silva

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Billy Stroud

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: BIlly Stroud and a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]].

District/Locations: The Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Cold Open – Halcyon Hills'''

Halcyon Hills is beautiful in the way a showroom is beautiful... perfectly arranged and utterly untouched.

The morning sun glints off polished chrome mailboxes. Lawns are green and close-cropped, hedges trimmed with mathematical precision. Neighbors wave with practiced warmth. A paper boy pedals by, never missing a porch. Somewhere down the block, a lawnmower hums a lazy tune beneath the stillness.

But behind the picture-perfect façades, one house feels wrong.

Inside, the air is too quiet.

Billy Stroud sits stiffly on the edge of a pristine floral couch, hands clenched into the cushions. He’s about ten years old, wiry, with sharp eyes too wary for his age. His accent—pure South Soffit—is unmistakable when he speaks.

“I wanna go home now.”

Dr. Michael Lowell, kneeling gently beside him, offers a patient smile. He’s soft-spoken and observant, the kind of man who wears concern like a well-tailored coat. He’s here as a psychologist. And as an investigator for Candela Obscura. But mostly, right now, he’s trying to be kind.

“You are home, Billy.” he says softly.

Billy shakes his head.

“My real home. Before. Before the house had a den.”

The investigator gaze flicks to the hallway, to a door that didn’t exist on the blueprints. Or when Billy and his parents first moved in.

Lowell remembers them well. Their posture was perfect, their smiles unwavering. And not a trace of the boy’s accent in either voice. Like they’d never set foot in The Soffit.

“Billy,” Lowell says, more serious now, “can you tell me what’s in the room?” Lowell's eyes never move from the door.

Billy just stares at the door.

“I think…” he whispers. His voice trails off.

Lowell rises slowly, eyes fixed on the threshold. Something is wrong here. He can’t say what. But everything in Halcyon Hills is too fine. Too neat. Too... perfect.

He reaches for the knob; feeling it's warmth before he even grasps it.

The door creaks open as if beckoning him to enter.

And outside a single beat of silence.

Then Billy bursts out of the house, sprinting across the grass, straight through the gentle arc of the sprinkler. He doesn’t look back.

The house stands perfect behind him. It's front door gently drifts shut.

The sun is shining. The breeze is sweet.

A lawnmower drones softly in the distance...

'''2. Briefing at Page & Lantern'''

Lightkeeper Libby Locke gathered the investigators at The Page & Lantern (a coffee and book shop in The Sidle) to review the Halcyon Hills file.

Her concern stemmed from multiple phone calls from a young boy asking for his father. The calls ended whenever Libby requested to speak with his parents.

The final call differed. When she pressed the boy, a woman with a pleasant voice took the line.<blockquote>“Everything is fine.”</blockquote>When pressed further, the woman repeated:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>On and on for almost a solid minute.

The call disconnected.

Libby traced the call to Halcyon Hills and dispatched the Circle of Steam and Sorrow, led by Dr. Lowell. After 24 hours of silence, she assembled a new team to investigate discreetly and extract the other investigators.

'''3. Arrival at Halcyon Hills'''

The investigators entered a pristine mid-century suburban development just as the clocktower at the center of the park rang out.

Residents displayed uniform pleasantness, emotional flattening, and uncanny consistency in behavior.

Jackson and Trudy met the head of the Home Owners Association. They posed as a young couple looking to buy a home in the community and start a family. He was friendly, though he seemed very concerned about where in the city they were from. The others overheard him telling them about the wonderful school nearby, and that the kids in the suburb were practically angels. Though one boy, Billy, was a bit of a troublemaker.

He offered to escort them to a diner just near the train station for some pie and to talk to the developments realtor about possibly buying a home. They took his offer and split from the rest of the investigators.

'''4. Discovery of the Re-written'''

Carmen, Noelle and Feyre noticed a mailbox with the name M. Lowell on it and decided to knock on the front door. discovered that members of Lowell’s Circle had been remade into Halcyon Hills residents.

A man matching the description of Lowell that Libby had given them answered the door. He was dressed in a fine suit and carried a briefcase as if he was just preparing to leave for work.

When Lowell was asked to explain what was going on, he had no clue what Feyre was talking about. After a few moments, while Noelle looked down the street, Carmen remove one of her gloves and placed it on Lowell's. She saw a maze made of paper. Black paper. As she quickly moved deeper and deeper into the maze, typewritten words slowly appeared on the paper walls, growing in concentration at the center of the maze where, a human shaped glob of white appeared over the words.

Lowell had been re-written into someone new. The old Lowell could seemingly overwritten and gone.

Shaken by the psychic connection, Lowell fell back to sitting on the front porch of the house, distressed as if suddenly realizing something was gravely wrong.

Noelle saw a young boy, watching them from down the street with a baseball and glove in hand.

The clocktower rang out again. An hour had passed since their arrival.

'''5. The Diner'''

Trudy and Jackson sat at a table, being given the sales pitch by the head of the HOA and it's realtor about a home that just came on the market.

They got the feeling that these two felt more like cult leaders than community members and lied about going to see the home and walk the neighborhood to get away.

The head of the HOA and the realtor invited Jackson and Trudy to a gathering at the park that would be taking place that evening. A pot luck. So they could really see what it was like to belong.

As they left the diner, they heard the park's clocktower ring again. Two hours had passed since their arrival.

'''6. The Stroud's'''

Feyre, Carmen and Noelle moved to speak with the little boy down the street. But he quickly ran into his house before they could reach him.

After a minute of deliberation and coming up with a cover story, the three investigators moved to the door and knocked. When no one answered, Feyre knocked a second time.

The boy answered. She knelt down and asked if he was Billy.

He nodded.

Before Feyre could speak again, a pleasant voice called from inside the house for Billy to tell them who was at the door.

When Billy just looked at the investigators for a silent moment, his mother appeared and smiled at them. She greeted them and asked if she could help them.

Feyre answered they were from Briargreen Prep and had come to meet Billy. His mother was confused, so Carmen added that Billy had come to their attention after scoring very high on a standardized test that qualified him for a scholarship to the elite prep school.

She smiled proudly at Billy and invited the investigators inside.

They asked if Mr. Stroud was home, but Mrs. Stroud said he had fallen ill recently and couldn't leave bed.

Carmen, posing as a doctor, offered to look him over and Mrs. Stroud accepted.

While Mrs. Stroud showed Carmen to the master bedroom, Feyre and Noelle tried to get Billy to answer some carefully worded questions. Noelle was very distracted. Billy told them they should leave or they'd end up like their friends.

When Carmen entered the bedroom, she saw Mr. Stroud lying in bed, staring at the ceiling a catatonic state. A rictus smile on his face. Mrs. Stroud was oblivious and thought he just had a bad cold.

Carmen quickly left the room, running down the stairs and losing a shoe on the way down. As she did so, the phone began to ring. Mrs. Stroud called from upstairs, "Billy, could you be a dear and answer that?" He did so. After a moment of quiet speaking he turned to Feyre and Noelle and told them the call was for them. Slowly Feyre took the phone...<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She lurched backward, suddenly struck with an incredible migraine, and slammed the phone onto the hook. Then cut the phone cord from the wall.

Noelle, pail and sweating, pointed out a door at the end of the hall.

Despite the protestations of Feyre, Carmen moved to the door. Billy covered his eyes clearly terrified.

Carmen opened the door and vanished into the room.

Billy ran out of the living room and through the front door.

'''7. Across Space and Time'''

The moment Carmen entered the Den, she was flung upward from the ground. Higher and higher. Spiraling away from Halcyon Hills, into the clouds. Away from Quelmar. Out of a massive nebula. She streaked through space faster than the speed of thought and slammed to her hands and knees on a patch of rough, jagged rock. And looked up to a man made of stars and... dreams. Sitting upon a throne of eyes. He smiled at her. They spoke and he offered to help her master her power and show her the universe. If she would just bring the boy to him. She denied him. He simply smiled and said he'd be seeing her soon enough then flung her through the cosmos back into her body, which it turned had never left Halcyon Hills.

Carmen staggered out of the den, the door slamming shut behind her of it's own accord.

The three investigators ran out of the house to try and find Billy. They ran into Jackson and Trudy.

The clocktower rang throughout the suburb. Four hours had passed since they had arrived.

'''8. The Hour Was Upon Them'''

Jackson and Trudy explained what they had learned. Noelle, Feyre and Carmen shared their experiences as well. The community gathering was only an hour away.

They all decided it was best to make their way to the park to try and find Billy and see what the HOA was up to.

They broke into a tool shed and a club house at the park. They examined a maintenance door that led into the clocktower.

In the tool shed, Feyre found blue prints for the entire suburb. It had been built by a company named Concordia Solutions. There were notes on the blueprints about the clocktower being a critical part of something but it did not say what.

Trudy and Jackson found Billy while Noelle investigated inside the club house.

Carmen and Feyre decided to break into the clock tower.

The clock tower rang again. The suburbanites of Halcyon Hills began to approach the park. Chanting in some indecipherable tongue.

'''9. The Clock Tower Ritual'''

The investigators concluded that Concordia Solutions was a corporate front for a cult that was trying to change people into ideal, "perfect" human beings.

The head of the HOA saw Jackson and Trudy and quickly approached them. He was very friendly to Billy, insisting the boy stop bothering the couple and come with him because his mother was looking for him and very worried.

As the clock tower rang out, a phone in the club house begin to ring. Noelle answered the phone. She heard:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She resisted the intense psychic pain that the phone call caused her and ripped the phone from the wall.

Trudy and Jackson tried to hide Billy behind them, but the head of the HOA slugged Jackson in the face and shoved Trudy to the ground. He grabbed Billy and ran towards a slowly building crowd.

Carmen and Feyre broke into the clocktower and locked the door behind them as the residents of Halcyon Hills began to bang on the maintenance door. As they made their way up the stairs towards the third story of the clock tower, the structure suddenly lurched. It twisted and moved. As if it had come to life and was trying to stop them. They made a daring race to the second story just as the stairs behind them ripped free from the wall and feel to the ground.

Then the stairs that led from the second story to the third ripped free and listed low towards the ground. Carmen sensed a presence in the tower with them and when she looked. She saw Lincoln cutting words into his arm, with a piece of chipped stone. The words, though hard to read were very similar to what they were experiencing. So, Carmen decided to roll up her sleeve and used a screwdriver from Feyre's tools to do the same. She used this newly discovered power to re-write the stairs back into place long enough for her and Feyre to make it to the third story.

Outside, Noelle had suddenly become sick from the continue repetition coming from the phone. Trudy ran in and dragged her out of the club house while Jackson fought off the head of the HOA and sent Billy running to Trudy. Jackson was attacked by a frenzied mob of suburbanites and beat badly.

Carmen and Feyre began throwing every larger, hard object the could find into the gears of the clock tower. Causing them to shudder and come apart. As the third story landing began to come lose beneath them, Feyre grabbed a rope and swung into Carmen and used it to get them both to the ground. They ran out of the clocktower just in time to see Trudy grab Billy in her arms. The clocktower suddenly crumbled and the investigators woke up, in various places inside the offices of Beck's Gym. Some were lying on cots, others on the floor.

'''10. Resolution'''

When Jacen saw they were alright, he quickly picked up the manuscript [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]] that he and the investigators had been investigating (when they all lost consciousness) and threw it into his wood stove. Wanting to keep any further dangers from befalling his investigators.

When Jackson realized Trudy was in the next room over, he quickly ran and found her lying under a blanket on a small bed. She was curled in a loose ball, holding something. He pulled her blanket back and found Billy nestled in her arms, sleeping soundly.

'''9. Aftermath'''

Before they awoke, the investigators had a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]], sitting on the floor of a stone room (and Dottie Welles sitting beside him), he looked at the mediums of the group, "You did it. Now come and find us..." Before he could say more, guards in black uniforms burst into the room and grabbed both of them. Dottie was killed in an experimental machine connected to a woman, floating in a tank of murky fluid. Then they connected it to Lincoln and it worked. A woman in a lab coat looked to a man standing in shadows and said, "It worked sir. Once the last of his magickal defenses were gone we could see if you were right. He can't be killed!"

=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment may include themes of psychological distress, experimentation, altered states of consciousness, existential horror.'''''

Characters: Byron Hans Core, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, [[Mocking-Bird]], Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Sabine Dirac, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], The Dreamer

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Lincoln Renfield-Murray

District/Locations: The Soffit, O.C.O. Fort Black

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators infiltrated Fort Black and reached Lincoln in the containment chamber. Filly shut down the medical systems sustaining the experiment, and Carmen entered the dreamscape to disrupt the magick fueling the sigil around the apparatus. Their actions destabilized the transfer, and a fragment of The Dreamer’s consciousness took hold within Lincoln as the chamber began to fail. As they fled with him, pursuing guards were reduced to sparks of orange light, and the corridors twisted around them as alarms blared. Before they could fully understand what had happened, Lincoln vanished in a flash of orange light. On the road back to Newfaire, the world began to change. Farmers stood like scarecrows fighting off massive, multi-eyed crows, and the city reshaped into a living monolith of brick and steel. Beck’s Gym has been destroyed. In its place floats a writhing throne of flesh, stars, fire, and shattered masonry, with Lincoln seated above streets of kneeling figures whose palms burn with his sigil. Beneath the broken skyline, a shadowed woman chants by a fire as glyphs ignite along her forearm and she screams into the night. The world has not ended, but it no longer feels stable, and nothing about it feels right.

=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:
[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-02-25T03:13:42Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses" */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Characters:

GM:

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''...keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Byron Hans Core, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, [[Mocking-Bird]],

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, Ember Eyes, Lucian Grim, [[The Nighthawk]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel), Grand Noman Hospital, Ember Eyes' Apartment

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* The investigators were dispatched to Silverslip after James Hendrix publicly combusted in front of the Civil Tribune.
* Witness interviews in police reports conflicted, some describing a tall man lurking nearby, while the morgue confirmed Hendrix’s spontaneous combustion without accelerants.
* Recovered evidence included Hendrix’s body and a draft of an article (burned beyond recognition).

'''2. Searching the office of Editor, Mac Voss'''

* Carmen and Filly distracted Voss so Byron could search Voss' office and uncover editorial records suggesting that Hendrix’s investigation was known to upper management before his death.

'''3. Exploration and Clues'''

* The investigators tracked down Magnus Thorne, a war criminal turned informant, but found him burned to death in the motel room that was serving as his safe house.
* The safe house showed clear signs of supernatural fire damage and forced entry.
* Inside a hollowed-out radio that barely survived the fire, the investigators discovered hidden drafts of Hendrix’s article, laying out a clear connection between several suspicious deaths. These included Marie Chen, Jasper Parson, and the Merrick’s Hearth disaster. All of them connected to a secret cabal manipulating city events.

'''4. Encounter with Heath Keers'''

* As the investigators left the motel room, Dex detected bleed with his bleed detector. The investigators followed the trail all the way to The Steel.
* The trailer led them to an abandoned warehouse. Mocking-Bird reconned the warehouse and found Ember Eyes, preparing to torture a man hung from and bound by several chains. He told the already bruised and bloodied man, "The council is very disappointed in your failure Lu. And you do know how they hate loose ends..." Mocking-Bird overheard Ember Eyes say.
* Mocking-Bird dropped from the rafters of the warehouse and confronted him. The other investigators snuck into the warehouse, ready to aid her if a fight broke out.
* With a sadistic smile, he issued a warning: stop the investigation or face a similar fate to Hendrix.
* A fight started. The Heath nearly killed Mocking-bird with fire after breaking her nose and left orbital bone. Carmen slid between them and force him back with an Aether Loadstone. Byron hurled a combat ball from his utility belt at Ember Eyes and struck him in the face. Knocking out one of his teeth.
* Ember Eyes summoned a fiery door of bones and viscera and escaped before anyone could stop him.
* The investigators unchained Ember Eyes' captive then discovered his name was Lucian Grim. An enemy of Candela Obscura believed to have been taken into custody by the Noman High Command. After his arrest the year before, he had been intercepted by another group of investigators and placed in custody within The Store, inside the Pharos.
* The investigators sent him back into The Store.

'''5. Post Credits Scene'''

Jacen is pacing in his gym when the investigators return, wringing his hands. He stops and looks to each of them before stopping at Mocking-Bird.

'''''Cut to:'''''

The Nighthawk lies in a bed in Grand Noman Hospital. An oxygen mask covers her mouth.

She is barely recognizable to the only person in the room who has ever seen her face as the Investigators.

She reaches out for Mocking-Bird. Then speaks in a horse whisper…

'''''Cut to:'''''

The Nighthawk moves stealthily through Heath Keers’ apartment, searching for clues. Papers lie scattered, half-burned, detailing unknown names and ominous plans. A flicker of orange light catches their attention—too late.

They look back over their shoulder silently.

Behind them, the man with the ember eyes smiles.

“You should’ve stayed in the shadows.”

The room ignites in a burst of flame, and a strangled cry fills the night’s air.

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Elias Creel (informant), Celeste Marrow, Neriah Saelis, Iris and Lilly Vale, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit, Lowel Overpass

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Lowel Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook: Nesta Acheron has asked for Candela’s help. Her late husband Lincoln’s last and unfinished manuscript was being prepared for posthumous publication. While reading through it, she discovered that the table of contents was no longer in the order she remembered from her final review before his death. The first story appears out of place, and she’s begun to suspect that something inside the manuscript has changed.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of memory distortion, recursion, disappearances, isolation, and surreal horror.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Nesta Acheron

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Cipher used to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

District/Locations: The Sidle, The Soffit, Worthington Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

The investigators were drawn into the short story ''Before It Got Weird'', assuming roles embedded in the narrative. They arrived in South Soffit moments before Jona Hendricks ran from Grady’s Low Beam (a real life bar in The Soffit) and spontaneously combusted in the street.

Police Sgt. Isabella Reyes attempted aid while her partner Cal Keene secured the perimeter. Journalist, Eve Hurst appeared almost immediately, already taking notes.

When the investigators began to question the circumstances, the day reset.

'''2. Loop One – Spontaneous Combustion'''

Hendricks died by fire outside Grady’s Low Beam.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve Hurst arrived too quickly and appeared unsurprised.
* Hendricks had been working on a big case regarding corruption within the government.

The day reset before the investigators could formally accuse anyone.

'''3. Loop Two – Printing Press Death'''

This time, Hendricks was found crushed within the South Soffit Defender printing press.

Clues uncovered:

* Typeset plates reading: “NOT AGAIN...” with a photo of an exhausted Jona Hendrix as he is falling to his death above the printing press.
* Eve was alone in the newsroom shortly before the incident.
* Security access logs had been altered manually.

The investigators had to fight of a monsterous man made of ink trying to escape the printing press. They defeated him by burying him in yards of newsprint.

The day reset again. But the investigators had started to put the pieces together.

'''4. Loop Three – Worthington Field'''

Hendricks was pummeled to death by an unnatural barrage of baseballs at Worthington Field. Percy spotted Eve, who all the investigators now suspected.

The Inkman manifested again, attempting to prevent the investigators from stopping Eve,

Then everyone was being pummeled with baseballs falling from the sky.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve positioned herself for a perfect vantage point.
* Percy and Avyaan confronted Eve and snatch her note pad from her, and discovered she had been writing the events that were happening in such a way that they were a command.

The Inkman manifested as a physical guardian entity attempting to prevent resolution.

'''5. The Reveal'''

The investigators determined that Eve Hurst was killing Hendricks repeatedly to craft the perfect sensational story. Each attempt failed to satisfy her ambitions, forcing her to reset the day through narrative manipulation.

'''6. Reward'''

Upon solving the mystery, the investigators were expelled from the story.

They retained a cipher embedded in the dark blue handwritten epigraph scrawled across the manuscript’s title page. This cipher later allowed them to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

Hook: What begins as a simple night at the theatre—a well-earned reprieve from the pressures of daily life—takes a sharp and sudden turn when a murder interrupts the performance… and the greatest detective in the city lies dead at center stage. Now, the investigation is yours to finish—whether you’re ready or not.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of murder, theatrical violence, psychological tension, and altered realities.'''''

Characters: Arthur Nook, Avyaan Kumar, [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lysera

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: An ornate wooden box bearing Shore Lock Holdings tag that contains a mask depicting a sleeping, crowned figure. The mask bears symbolic markings resembling lunar phases.

District/Locations: The Malloy Theatre - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Arrival and Opening Performance'''

The investigators attended a staged epic recounting the tale of Atycos and her companions, depicting their corruption by forces beyond the veil.

Detective Samantha Chandler rose from the audience to announce inconsistencies in the production’s funding and symbolism.

Before she could finish her accusation, she transformed into marble before the crowd.

The house lights dimmed.

'''2. Julien’s Monologue'''

Julien Alden, still in costume as Damion the Steadfast, delivered a monologue that blurred the line between performance and warning:<blockquote>“As light grows dim, so changes skin.

Stone remembers what flesh forgets…”</blockquote>He pointed directly at the investigators, establishing that they were now part of the play’s unfolding fate.

He then turned to marble.

The theatre doors sealed.

'''3. Exploration Phase I'''

The investigators realized they were trapped inside the production.

Clues uncovered:

* Lunar phase markings hidden within costume embroidery.
* Stage lighting dimming in unnatural increments.
* Jane Waller missing from her directing station.

A third actor narrowly avoided petrification when the investigators interrupted a backstage cue.

One investigator took a Body mark as the transformation process began to affect them.

'''4. Exploration Phase II'''

Further investigation revealed hidden passageways allowing Jane and Lyle to move unseen through the theatre.

The marble statues of Jane and Lyle discovered earlier were revealed to be theatrical constructs.

Clues uncovered:

* Mask of Thalos covered in geometric and astronomical markings.
* Ritual staging tied to the theatre’s lighting grid.

Another cast member was petrified.

'''5. Confrontation'''

Jane and Lyle attempted to complete the ritual through synchronized light cues and recitation of corrupted myth.

The investigators disrupted the staging mechanism, altered lighting, and exposed the ruse.

Jane was overwhelmed by backlash from the ritual energy.

Lyle fled through the catwalks before being forced to abandon the ritual.

The theatre lights returned to full brightness.

Olive took her third scar: her hand now has Marble like knuckles.

One of the cast survived!

'''6. Resolution'''

Lysera (or an apparition bearing her likeness) appeared in the aftermath.

She presented the investigators with an ornate wooden box.

Inside was a mask depicting a crowned, sleeping figure.

Attached was a Shore Lock Holdings tag (later revealed by clerks of The Circle of Mind and Might to be a shell corporation for MetaMorph).

The investigators were expelled from the narrative.

=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

Hook: A colleague went missing last week while investigating Halcyon Hills—a glossy new suburban community developed by Concordia Solutions. The hedges are freshly trimmed. The neighbors wave. The paperboy never misses a throw.

There’s just one problem: a room showed up in his house that wasn’t there yesterday.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of surveillance, bodily transformation, social conformity, and psychological horror.'''''

Characters: [[Carmen Baxter]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, [[Jackson Cunningham]], Noelle Silva

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Billy Stroud

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: BIlly Stroud and a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]].

District/Locations: The Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Cold Open – Halcyon Hills'''

Halcyon Hills is beautiful in the way a showroom is beautiful... perfectly arranged and utterly untouched.

The morning sun glints off polished chrome mailboxes. Lawns are green and close-cropped, hedges trimmed with mathematical precision. Neighbors wave with practiced warmth. A paper boy pedals by, never missing a porch. Somewhere down the block, a lawnmower hums a lazy tune beneath the stillness.

But behind the picture-perfect façades, one house feels wrong.

Inside, the air is too quiet.

Billy Stroud sits stiffly on the edge of a pristine floral couch, hands clenched into the cushions. He’s about ten years old, wiry, with sharp eyes too wary for his age. His accent—pure South Soffit—is unmistakable when he speaks.

“I wanna go home now.”

Dr. Michael Lowell, kneeling gently beside him, offers a patient smile. He’s soft-spoken and observant, the kind of man who wears concern like a well-tailored coat. He’s here as a psychologist. And as an investigator for Candela Obscura. But mostly, right now, he’s trying to be kind.

“You are home, Billy.” he says softly.

Billy shakes his head.

“My real home. Before. Before the house had a den.”

The investigator gaze flicks to the hallway, to a door that didn’t exist on the blueprints. Or when Billy and his parents first moved in.

Lowell remembers them well. Their posture was perfect, their smiles unwavering. And not a trace of the boy’s accent in either voice. Like they’d never set foot in The Soffit.

“Billy,” Lowell says, more serious now, “can you tell me what’s in the room?” Lowell's eyes never move from the door.

Billy just stares at the door.

“I think…” he whispers. His voice trails off.

Lowell rises slowly, eyes fixed on the threshold. Something is wrong here. He can’t say what. But everything in Halcyon Hills is too fine. Too neat. Too... perfect.

He reaches for the knob; feeling it's warmth before he even grasps it.

The door creaks open as if beckoning him to enter.

And outside a single beat of silence.

Then Billy bursts out of the house, sprinting across the grass, straight through the gentle arc of the sprinkler. He doesn’t look back.

The house stands perfect behind him. It's front door gently drifts shut.

The sun is shining. The breeze is sweet.

A lawnmower drones softly in the distance...

'''2. Briefing at Page & Lantern'''

Lightkeeper Libby Locke gathered the investigators at The Page & Lantern (a coffee and book shop in The Sidle) to review the Halcyon Hills file.

Her concern stemmed from multiple phone calls from a young boy asking for his father. The calls ended whenever Libby requested to speak with his parents.

The final call differed. When she pressed the boy, a woman with a pleasant voice took the line.<blockquote>“Everything is fine.”</blockquote>When pressed further, the woman repeated:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>On and on for almost a solid minute.

The call disconnected.

Libby traced the call to Halcyon Hills and dispatched the Circle of Steam and Sorrow, led by Dr. Lowell. After 24 hours of silence, she assembled a new team to investigate discreetly and extract the other investigators.

'''3. Arrival at Halcyon Hills'''

The investigators entered a pristine mid-century suburban development just as the clocktower at the center of the park rang out.

Residents displayed uniform pleasantness, emotional flattening, and uncanny consistency in behavior.

Jackson and Trudy met the head of the Home Owners Association. They posed as a young couple looking to buy a home in the community and start a family. He was friendly, though he seemed very concerned about where in the city they were from. The others overheard him telling them about the wonderful school nearby, and that the kids in the suburb were practically angels. Though one boy, Billy, was a bit of a troublemaker.

He offered to escort them to a diner just near the train station for some pie and to talk to the developments realtor about possibly buying a home. They took his offer and split from the rest of the investigators.

'''4. Discovery of the Re-written'''

Carmen, Noelle and Feyre noticed a mailbox with the name M. Lowell on it and decided to knock on the front door. discovered that members of Lowell’s Circle had been remade into Halcyon Hills residents.

A man matching the description of Lowell that Libby had given them answered the door. He was dressed in a fine suit and carried a briefcase as if he was just preparing to leave for work.

When Lowell was asked to explain what was going on, he had no clue what Feyre was talking about. After a few moments, while Noelle looked down the street, Carmen remove one of her gloves and placed it on Lowell's. She saw a maze made of paper. Black paper. As she quickly moved deeper and deeper into the maze, typewritten words slowly appeared on the paper walls, growing in concentration at the center of the maze where, a human shaped glob of white appeared over the words.

Lowell had been re-written into someone new. The old Lowell could seemingly overwritten and gone.

Shaken by the psychic connection, Lowell fell back to sitting on the front porch of the house, distressed as if suddenly realizing something was gravely wrong.

Noelle saw a young boy, watching them from down the street with a baseball and glove in hand.

The clocktower rang out again. An hour had passed since their arrival.

'''5. The Diner'''

Trudy and Jackson sat at a table, being given the sales pitch by the head of the HOA and it's realtor about a home that just came on the market.

They got the feeling that these two felt more like cult leaders than community members and lied about going to see the home and walk the neighborhood to get away.

The head of the HOA and the realtor invited Jackson and Trudy to a gathering at the park that would be taking place that evening. A pot luck. So they could really see what it was like to belong.

As they left the diner, they heard the park's clocktower ring again. Two hours had passed since their arrival.

'''6. The Stroud's'''

Feyre, Carmen and Noelle moved to speak with the little boy down the street. But he quickly ran into his house before they could reach him.

After a minute of deliberation and coming up with a cover story, the three investigators moved to the door and knocked. When no one answered, Feyre knocked a second time.

The boy answered. She knelt down and asked if he was Billy.

He nodded.

Before Feyre could speak again, a pleasant voice called from inside the house for Billy to tell them who was at the door.

When Billy just looked at the investigators for a silent moment, his mother appeared and smiled at them. She greeted them and asked if she could help them.

Feyre answered they were from Briargreen Prep and had come to meet Billy. His mother was confused, so Carmen added that Billy had come to their attention after scoring very high on a standardized test that qualified him for a scholarship to the elite prep school.

She smiled proudly at Billy and invited the investigators inside.

They asked if Mr. Stroud was home, but Mrs. Stroud said he had fallen ill recently and couldn't leave bed.

Carmen, posing as a doctor, offered to look him over and Mrs. Stroud accepted.

While Mrs. Stroud showed Carmen to the master bedroom, Feyre and Noelle tried to get Billy to answer some carefully worded questions. Noelle was very distracted. Billy told them they should leave or they'd end up like their friends.

When Carmen entered the bedroom, she saw Mr. Stroud lying in bed, staring at the ceiling a catatonic state. A rictus smile on his face. Mrs. Stroud was oblivious and thought he just had a bad cold.

Carmen quickly left the room, running down the stairs and losing a shoe on the way down. As she did so, the phone began to ring. Mrs. Stroud called from upstairs, "Billy, could you be a dear and answer that?" He did so. After a moment of quiet speaking he turned to Feyre and Noelle and told them the call was for them. Slowly Feyre took the phone...<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She lurched backward, suddenly struck with an incredible migraine, and slammed the phone onto the hook. Then cut the phone cord from the wall.

Noelle, pail and sweating, pointed out a door at the end of the hall.

Despite the protestations of Feyre, Carmen moved to the door. Billy covered his eyes clearly terrified.

Carmen opened the door and vanished into the room.

Billy ran out of the living room and through the front door.

'''7. Across Space and Time'''

The moment Carmen entered the Den, she was flung upward from the ground. Higher and higher. Spiraling away from Halcyon Hills, into the clouds. Away from Quelmar. Out of a massive nebula. She streaked through space faster than the speed of thought and slammed to her hands and knees on a patch of rough, jagged rock. And looked up to a man made of stars and... dreams. Sitting upon a throne of eyes. He smiled at her. They spoke and he offered to help her master her power and show her the universe. If she would just bring the boy to him. She denied him. He simply smiled and said he'd be seeing her soon enough then flung her through the cosmos back into her body, which it turned had never left Halcyon Hills.

Carmen staggered out of the den, the door slamming shut behind her of it's own accord.

The three investigators ran out of the house to try and find Billy. They ran into Jackson and Trudy.

The clocktower rang throughout the suburb. Four hours had passed since they had arrived.

'''8. The Hour Was Upon Them'''

Jackson and Trudy explained what they had learned. Noelle, Feyre and Carmen shared their experiences as well. The community gathering was only an hour away.

They all decided it was best to make their way to the park to try and find Billy and see what the HOA was up to.

They broke into a tool shed and a club house at the park. They examined a maintenance door that led into the clocktower.

In the tool shed, Feyre found blue prints for the entire suburb. It had been built by a company named Concordia Solutions. There were notes on the blueprints about the clocktower being a critical part of something but it did not say what.

Trudy and Jackson found Billy while Noelle investigated inside the club house.

Carmen and Feyre decided to break into the clock tower.

The clock tower rang again. The suburbanites of Halcyon Hills began to approach the park. Chanting in some indecipherable tongue.

'''9. The Clock Tower Ritual'''

The investigators concluded that Concordia Solutions was a corporate front for a cult that was trying to change people into ideal, "perfect" human beings.

The head of the HOA saw Jackson and Trudy and quickly approached them. He was very friendly to Billy, insisting the boy stop bothering the couple and come with him because his mother was looking for him and very worried.

As the clock tower rang out, a phone in the club house begin to ring. Noelle answered the phone. She heard:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She resisted the intense psychic pain that the phone call caused her and ripped the phone from the wall.

Trudy and Jackson tried to hide Billy behind them, but the head of the HOA slugged Jackson in the face and shoved Trudy to the ground. He grabbed Billy and ran towards a slowly building crowd.

Carmen and Feyre broke into the clocktower and locked the door behind them as the residents of Halcyon Hills began to bang on the maintenance door. As they made their way up the stairs towards the third story of the clock tower, the structure suddenly lurched. It twisted and moved. As if it had come to life and was trying to stop them. They made a daring race to the second story just as the stairs behind them ripped free from the wall and feel to the ground.

Then the stairs that led from the second story to the third ripped free and listed low towards the ground. Carmen sensed a presence in the tower with them and when she looked. She saw Lincoln cutting words into his arm, with a piece of chipped stone. The words, though hard to read were very similar to what they were experiencing. So, Carmen decided to roll up her sleeve and used a screwdriver from Feyre's tools to do the same. She used this newly discovered power to re-write the stairs back into place long enough for her and Feyre to make it to the third story.

Outside, Noelle had suddenly become sick from the continue repetition coming from the phone. Trudy ran in and dragged her out of the club house while Jackson fought off the head of the HOA and sent Billy running to Trudy. Jackson was attacked by a frenzied mob of suburbanites and beat badly.

Carmen and Feyre began throwing every larger, hard object the could find into the gears of the clock tower. Causing them to shudder and come apart. As the third story landing began to come lose beneath them, Feyre grabbed a rope and swung into Carmen and used it to get them both to the ground. They ran out of the clocktower just in time to see Trudy grab Billy in her arms. The clocktower suddenly crumbled and the investigators woke up, in various places inside the offices of Beck's Gym. Some were lying on cots, others on the floor.

'''10. Resolution'''

When Jacen saw they were alright, he quickly picked up the manuscript [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]] that he and the investigators had been investigating (when they all lost consciousness) and threw it into his wood stove. Wanting to keep any further dangers from befalling his investigators.

When Jackson realized Trudy was in the next room over, he quickly ran and found her lying under a blanket on a small bed. She was curled in a loose ball, holding something. He pulled her blanket back and found Billy nestled in her arms, sleeping soundly.

'''9. Aftermath'''

Before they awoke, the investigators had a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]], sitting on the floor of a stone room (and Dottie Welles sitting beside him), he looked at the mediums of the group, "You did it. Now come and find us..." Before he could say more, guards in black uniforms burst into the room and grabbed both of them. Dottie was killed in an experimental machine connected to a woman, floating in a tank of murky fluid. Then they connected it to Lincoln and it worked. A woman in a lab coat looked to a man standing in shadows and said, "It worked sir. Once the last of his magickal defenses were gone we could see if you were right. He can't be killed!"

=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment may include themes of psychological distress, experimentation, altered states of consciousness, existential horror.'''''

Characters: Byron Hans Core, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, [[Mocking-Bird]], Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Sabine Dirac, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], The Dreamer

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Lincoln Renfield-Murray

District/Locations: The Soffit, O.C.O. Fort Black

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators infiltrated Fort Black and reached Lincoln in the containment chamber. Filly shut down the medical systems sustaining the experiment, and Carmen entered the dreamscape to disrupt the magick fueling the sigil around the apparatus. Their actions destabilized the transfer, and a fragment of The Dreamer’s consciousness took hold within Lincoln as the chamber began to fail. As they fled with him, pursuing guards were reduced to sparks of orange light, and the corridors twisted around them as alarms blared. Before they could fully understand what had happened, Lincoln vanished in a flash of orange light. On the road back to Newfaire, the world began to change. Farmers stood like scarecrows fighting off massive, multi-eyed crows, and the city reshaped into a living monolith of brick and steel. Beck’s Gym has been destroyed. In its place floats a writhing throne of flesh, stars, fire, and shattered masonry, with Lincoln seated above streets of kneeling figures whose palms burn with his sigil. Beneath the broken skyline, a shadowed woman chants by a fire as glyphs ignite along her forearm and she screams into the night. The world has not ended, but it no longer feels stable, and nothing about it feels right.

=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:
[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-02-25T02:51:07Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare." */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Characters:

GM:

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''...keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Carmen Baxter, Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird), Byron Hans Core (Regicide), Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Dexter "Dex" Miller

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, the Man with the Ember Eyes, Malcolm "Mac" Voss

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel)

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Elias Creel (informant), Celeste Marrow, Neriah Saelis, Iris and Lilly Vale, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit, Lowel Overpass

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Lowel Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook: Nesta Acheron has asked for Candela’s help. Her late husband Lincoln’s last and unfinished manuscript was being prepared for posthumous publication. While reading through it, she discovered that the table of contents was no longer in the order she remembered from her final review before his death. The first story appears out of place, and she’s begun to suspect that something inside the manuscript has changed.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of memory distortion, recursion, disappearances, isolation, and surreal horror.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Nesta Acheron

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Cipher used to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

District/Locations: The Sidle, The Soffit, Worthington Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

The investigators were drawn into the short story ''Before It Got Weird'', assuming roles embedded in the narrative. They arrived in South Soffit moments before Jona Hendricks ran from Grady’s Low Beam (a real life bar in The Soffit) and spontaneously combusted in the street.

Police Sgt. Isabella Reyes attempted aid while her partner Cal Keene secured the perimeter. Journalist, Eve Hurst appeared almost immediately, already taking notes.

When the investigators began to question the circumstances, the day reset.

'''2. Loop One – Spontaneous Combustion'''

Hendricks died by fire outside Grady’s Low Beam.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve Hurst arrived too quickly and appeared unsurprised.
* Hendricks had been working on a big case regarding corruption within the government.

The day reset before the investigators could formally accuse anyone.

'''3. Loop Two – Printing Press Death'''

This time, Hendricks was found crushed within the South Soffit Defender printing press.

Clues uncovered:

* Typeset plates reading: “NOT AGAIN...” with a photo of an exhausted Jona Hendrix as he is falling to his death above the printing press.
* Eve was alone in the newsroom shortly before the incident.
* Security access logs had been altered manually.

The investigators had to fight of a monsterous man made of ink trying to escape the printing press. They defeated him by burying him in yards of newsprint.

The day reset again. But the investigators had started to put the pieces together.

'''4. Loop Three – Worthington Field'''

Hendricks was pummeled to death by an unnatural barrage of baseballs at Worthington Field. Percy spotted Eve, who all the investigators now suspected.

The Inkman manifested again, attempting to prevent the investigators from stopping Eve,

Then everyone was being pummeled with baseballs falling from the sky.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve positioned herself for a perfect vantage point.
* Percy and Avyaan confronted Eve and snatch her note pad from her, and discovered she had been writing the events that were happening in such a way that they were a command.

The Inkman manifested as a physical guardian entity attempting to prevent resolution.

'''5. The Reveal'''

The investigators determined that Eve Hurst was killing Hendricks repeatedly to craft the perfect sensational story. Each attempt failed to satisfy her ambitions, forcing her to reset the day through narrative manipulation.

'''6. Reward'''

Upon solving the mystery, the investigators were expelled from the story.

They retained a cipher embedded in the dark blue handwritten epigraph scrawled across the manuscript’s title page. This cipher later allowed them to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

Hook: What begins as a simple night at the theatre—a well-earned reprieve from the pressures of daily life—takes a sharp and sudden turn when a murder interrupts the performance… and the greatest detective in the city lies dead at center stage. Now, the investigation is yours to finish—whether you’re ready or not.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of murder, theatrical violence, psychological tension, and altered realities.'''''

Characters: Arthur Nook, Avyaan Kumar, [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lysera

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: An ornate wooden box bearing Shore Lock Holdings tag that contains a mask depicting a sleeping, crowned figure. The mask bears symbolic markings resembling lunar phases.

District/Locations: The Malloy Theatre - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Arrival and Opening Performance'''

The investigators attended a staged epic recounting the tale of Atycos and her companions, depicting their corruption by forces beyond the veil.

Detective Samantha Chandler rose from the audience to announce inconsistencies in the production’s funding and symbolism.

Before she could finish her accusation, she transformed into marble before the crowd.

The house lights dimmed.

'''2. Julien’s Monologue'''

Julien Alden, still in costume as Damion the Steadfast, delivered a monologue that blurred the line between performance and warning:<blockquote>“As light grows dim, so changes skin.

Stone remembers what flesh forgets…”</blockquote>He pointed directly at the investigators, establishing that they were now part of the play’s unfolding fate.

He then turned to marble.

The theatre doors sealed.

'''3. Exploration Phase I'''

The investigators realized they were trapped inside the production.

Clues uncovered:

* Lunar phase markings hidden within costume embroidery.
* Stage lighting dimming in unnatural increments.
* Jane Waller missing from her directing station.

A third actor narrowly avoided petrification when the investigators interrupted a backstage cue.

One investigator took a Body mark as the transformation process began to affect them.

'''4. Exploration Phase II'''

Further investigation revealed hidden passageways allowing Jane and Lyle to move unseen through the theatre.

The marble statues of Jane and Lyle discovered earlier were revealed to be theatrical constructs.

Clues uncovered:

* Mask of Thalos covered in geometric and astronomical markings.
* Ritual staging tied to the theatre’s lighting grid.

Another cast member was petrified.

'''5. Confrontation'''

Jane and Lyle attempted to complete the ritual through synchronized light cues and recitation of corrupted myth.

The investigators disrupted the staging mechanism, altered lighting, and exposed the ruse.

Jane was overwhelmed by backlash from the ritual energy.

Lyle fled through the catwalks before being forced to abandon the ritual.

The theatre lights returned to full brightness.

Olive took her third scar: her hand now has Marble like knuckles.

One of the cast survived!

'''6. Resolution'''

Lysera (or an apparition bearing her likeness) appeared in the aftermath.

She presented the investigators with an ornate wooden box.

Inside was a mask depicting a crowned, sleeping figure.

Attached was a Shore Lock Holdings tag (later revealed by clerks of The Circle of Mind and Might to be a shell corporation for MetaMorph).

The investigators were expelled from the narrative.

=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

Hook: A colleague went missing last week while investigating Halcyon Hills—a glossy new suburban community developed by Concordia Solutions. The hedges are freshly trimmed. The neighbors wave. The paperboy never misses a throw.

There’s just one problem: a room showed up in his house that wasn’t there yesterday.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of surveillance, bodily transformation, social conformity, and psychological horror.'''''

Characters: [[Carmen Baxter]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, [[Jackson Cunningham]], Noelle Silva

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Billy Stroud

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: BIlly Stroud and a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]].

District/Locations: The Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Cold Open – Halcyon Hills'''

Halcyon Hills is beautiful in the way a showroom is beautiful... perfectly arranged and utterly untouched.

The morning sun glints off polished chrome mailboxes. Lawns are green and close-cropped, hedges trimmed with mathematical precision. Neighbors wave with practiced warmth. A paper boy pedals by, never missing a porch. Somewhere down the block, a lawnmower hums a lazy tune beneath the stillness.

But behind the picture-perfect façades, one house feels wrong.

Inside, the air is too quiet.

Billy Stroud sits stiffly on the edge of a pristine floral couch, hands clenched into the cushions. He’s about ten years old, wiry, with sharp eyes too wary for his age. His accent—pure South Soffit—is unmistakable when he speaks.

“I wanna go home now.”

Dr. Michael Lowell, kneeling gently beside him, offers a patient smile. He’s soft-spoken and observant, the kind of man who wears concern like a well-tailored coat. He’s here as a psychologist. And as an investigator for Candela Obscura. But mostly, right now, he’s trying to be kind.

“You are home, Billy.” he says softly.

Billy shakes his head.

“My real home. Before. Before the house had a den.”

The investigator gaze flicks to the hallway, to a door that didn’t exist on the blueprints. Or when Billy and his parents first moved in.

Lowell remembers them well. Their posture was perfect, their smiles unwavering. And not a trace of the boy’s accent in either voice. Like they’d never set foot in The Soffit.

“Billy,” Lowell says, more serious now, “can you tell me what’s in the room?” Lowell's eyes never move from the door.

Billy just stares at the door.

“I think…” he whispers. His voice trails off.

Lowell rises slowly, eyes fixed on the threshold. Something is wrong here. He can’t say what. But everything in Halcyon Hills is too fine. Too neat. Too... perfect.

He reaches for the knob; feeling it's warmth before he even grasps it.

The door creaks open as if beckoning him to enter.

And outside a single beat of silence.

Then Billy bursts out of the house, sprinting across the grass, straight through the gentle arc of the sprinkler. He doesn’t look back.

The house stands perfect behind him. It's front door gently drifts shut.

The sun is shining. The breeze is sweet.

A lawnmower drones softly in the distance...

'''2. Briefing at Page & Lantern'''

Lightkeeper Libby Locke gathered the investigators at The Page & Lantern (a coffee and book shop in The Sidle) to review the Halcyon Hills file.

Her concern stemmed from multiple phone calls from a young boy asking for his father. The calls ended whenever Libby requested to speak with his parents.

The final call differed. When she pressed the boy, a woman with a pleasant voice took the line.<blockquote>“Everything is fine.”</blockquote>When pressed further, the woman repeated:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>On and on for almost a solid minute.

The call disconnected.

Libby traced the call to Halcyon Hills and dispatched the Circle of Steam and Sorrow, led by Dr. Lowell. After 24 hours of silence, she assembled a new team to investigate discreetly and extract the other investigators.

'''3. Arrival at Halcyon Hills'''

The investigators entered a pristine mid-century suburban development just as the clocktower at the center of the park rang out.

Residents displayed uniform pleasantness, emotional flattening, and uncanny consistency in behavior.

Jackson and Trudy met the head of the Home Owners Association. They posed as a young couple looking to buy a home in the community and start a family. He was friendly, though he seemed very concerned about where in the city they were from. The others overheard him telling them about the wonderful school nearby, and that the kids in the suburb were practically angels. Though one boy, Billy, was a bit of a troublemaker.

He offered to escort them to a diner just near the train station for some pie and to talk to the developments realtor about possibly buying a home. They took his offer and split from the rest of the investigators.

'''4. Discovery of the Re-written'''

Carmen, Noelle and Feyre noticed a mailbox with the name M. Lowell on it and decided to knock on the front door. discovered that members of Lowell’s Circle had been remade into Halcyon Hills residents.

A man matching the description of Lowell that Libby had given them answered the door. He was dressed in a fine suit and carried a briefcase as if he was just preparing to leave for work.

When Lowell was asked to explain what was going on, he had no clue what Feyre was talking about. After a few moments, while Noelle looked down the street, Carmen remove one of her gloves and placed it on Lowell's. She saw a maze made of paper. Black paper. As she quickly moved deeper and deeper into the maze, typewritten words slowly appeared on the paper walls, growing in concentration at the center of the maze where, a human shaped glob of white appeared over the words.

Lowell had been re-written into someone new. The old Lowell could seemingly overwritten and gone.

Shaken by the psychic connection, Lowell fell back to sitting on the front porch of the house, distressed as if suddenly realizing something was gravely wrong.

Noelle saw a young boy, watching them from down the street with a baseball and glove in hand.

The clocktower rang out again. An hour had passed since their arrival.

'''5. The Diner'''

Trudy and Jackson sat at a table, being given the sales pitch by the head of the HOA and it's realtor about a home that just came on the market.

They got the feeling that these two felt more like cult leaders than community members and lied about going to see the home and walk the neighborhood to get away.

The head of the HOA and the realtor invited Jackson and Trudy to a gathering at the park that would be taking place that evening. A pot luck. So they could really see what it was like to belong.

As they left the diner, they heard the park's clocktower ring again. Two hours had passed since their arrival.

'''6. The Stroud's'''

Feyre, Carmen and Noelle moved to speak with the little boy down the street. But he quickly ran into his house before they could reach him.

After a minute of deliberation and coming up with a cover story, the three investigators moved to the door and knocked. When no one answered, Feyre knocked a second time.

The boy answered. She knelt down and asked if he was Billy.

He nodded.

Before Feyre could speak again, a pleasant voice called from inside the house for Billy to tell them who was at the door.

When Billy just looked at the investigators for a silent moment, his mother appeared and smiled at them. She greeted them and asked if she could help them.

Feyre answered they were from Briargreen Prep and had come to meet Billy. His mother was confused, so Carmen added that Billy had come to their attention after scoring very high on a standardized test that qualified him for a scholarship to the elite prep school.

She smiled proudly at Billy and invited the investigators inside.

They asked if Mr. Stroud was home, but Mrs. Stroud said he had fallen ill recently and couldn't leave bed.

Carmen, posing as a doctor, offered to look him over and Mrs. Stroud accepted.

While Mrs. Stroud showed Carmen to the master bedroom, Feyre and Noelle tried to get Billy to answer some carefully worded questions. Noelle was very distracted. Billy told them they should leave or they'd end up like their friends.

When Carmen entered the bedroom, she saw Mr. Stroud lying in bed, staring at the ceiling a catatonic state. A rictus smile on his face. Mrs. Stroud was oblivious and thought he just had a bad cold.

Carmen quickly left the room, running down the stairs and losing a shoe on the way down. As she did so, the phone began to ring. Mrs. Stroud called from upstairs, "Billy, could you be a dear and answer that?" He did so. After a moment of quiet speaking he turned to Feyre and Noelle and told them the call was for them. Slowly Feyre took the phone...<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She lurched backward, suddenly struck with an incredible migraine, and slammed the phone onto the hook. Then cut the phone cord from the wall.

Noelle, pail and sweating, pointed out a door at the end of the hall.

Despite the protestations of Feyre, Carmen moved to the door. Billy covered his eyes clearly terrified.

Carmen opened the door and vanished into the room.

Billy ran out of the living room and through the front door.

'''7. Across Space and Time'''

The moment Carmen entered the Den, she was flung upward from the ground. Higher and higher. Spiraling away from Halcyon Hills, into the clouds. Away from Quelmar. Out of a massive nebula. She streaked through space faster than the speed of thought and slammed to her hands and knees on a patch of rough, jagged rock. And looked up to a man made of stars and... dreams. Sitting upon a throne of eyes. He smiled at her. They spoke and he offered to help her master her power and show her the universe. If she would just bring the boy to him. She denied him. He simply smiled and said he'd be seeing her soon enough then flung her through the cosmos back into her body, which it turned had never left Halcyon Hills.

Carmen staggered out of the den, the door slamming shut behind her of it's own accord.

The three investigators ran out of the house to try and find Billy. They ran into Jackson and Trudy.

The clocktower rang throughout the suburb. Four hours had passed since they had arrived.

'''8. The Hour Was Upon Them'''

Jackson and Trudy explained what they had learned. Noelle, Feyre and Carmen shared their experiences as well. The community gathering was only an hour away.

They all decided it was best to make their way to the park to try and find Billy and see what the HOA was up to.

They broke into a tool shed and a club house at the park. They examined a maintenance door that led into the clocktower.

In the tool shed, Feyre found blue prints for the entire suburb. It had been built by a company named Concordia Solutions. There were notes on the blueprints about the clocktower being a critical part of something but it did not say what.

Trudy and Jackson found Billy while Noelle investigated inside the club house.

Carmen and Feyre decided to break into the clock tower.

The clock tower rang again. The suburbanites of Halcyon Hills began to approach the park. Chanting in some indecipherable tongue.

'''9. The Clock Tower Ritual'''

The investigators concluded that Concordia Solutions was a corporate front for a cult that was trying to change people into ideal, "perfect" human beings.

The head of the HOA saw Jackson and Trudy and quickly approached them. He was very friendly to Billy, insisting the boy stop bothering the couple and come with him because his mother was looking for him and very worried.

As the clock tower rang out, a phone in the club house begin to ring. Noelle answered the phone. She heard:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She resisted the intense psychic pain that the phone call caused her and ripped the phone from the wall.

Trudy and Jackson tried to hide Billy behind them, but the head of the HOA slugged Jackson in the face and shoved Trudy to the ground. He grabbed Billy and ran towards a slowly building crowd.

Carmen and Feyre broke into the clocktower and locked the door behind them as the residents of Halcyon Hills began to bang on the maintenance door. As they made their way up the stairs towards the third story of the clock tower, the structure suddenly lurched. It twisted and moved. As if it had come to life and was trying to stop them. They made a daring race to the second story just as the stairs behind them ripped free from the wall and feel to the ground.

Then the stairs that led from the second story to the third ripped free and listed low towards the ground. Carmen sensed a presence in the tower with them and when she looked. She saw Lincoln cutting words into his arm, with a piece of chipped stone. The words, though hard to read were very similar to what they were experiencing. So, Carmen decided to roll up her sleeve and used a screwdriver from Feyre's tools to do the same. She used this newly discovered power to re-write the stairs back into place long enough for her and Feyre to make it to the third story.

Outside, Noelle had suddenly become sick from the continue repetition coming from the phone. Trudy ran in and dragged her out of the club house while Jackson fought off the head of the HOA and sent Billy running to Trudy. Jackson was attacked by a frenzied mob of suburbanites and beat badly.

Carmen and Feyre began throwing every larger, hard object the could find into the gears of the clock tower. Causing them to shudder and come apart. As the third story landing began to come lose beneath them, Feyre grabbed a rope and swung into Carmen and used it to get them both to the ground. They ran out of the clocktower just in time to see Trudy grab Billy in her arms. The clocktower suddenly crumbled and the investigators woke up, in various places inside the offices of Beck's Gym. Some were lying on cots, others on the floor.

'''10. Resolution'''

When Jacen saw they were alright, he quickly picked up the manuscript [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]] that he and the investigators had been investigating (when they all lost consciousness) and threw it into his wood stove. Wanting to keep any further dangers from befalling his investigators.

When Jackson realized Trudy was in the next room over, he quickly ran and found her lying under a blanket on a small bed. She was curled in a loose ball, holding something. He pulled her blanket back and found Billy nestled in her arms, sleeping soundly.

'''9. Aftermath'''

Before they awoke, the investigators had a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]], sitting on the floor of a stone room (and Dottie Welles sitting beside him), he looked at the mediums of the group, "You did it. Now come and find us..." Before he could say more, guards in black uniforms burst into the room and grabbed both of them. Dottie was killed in an experimental machine connected to a woman, floating in a tank of murky fluid. Then they connected it to Lincoln and it worked. A woman in a lab coat looked to a man standing in shadows and said, "It worked sir. Once the last of his magickal defenses were gone we could see if you were right. He can't be killed!"

=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment may include themes of psychological distress, experimentation, altered states of consciousness, existential horror.'''''

Characters: Byron Hans Core, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, [[Mocking-Bird]], Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Sabine Dirac, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], The Dreamer

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Lincoln Renfield-Murray

District/Locations: The Soffit, O.C.O. Fort Black

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators infiltrated Fort Black and reached Lincoln in the containment chamber. Filly shut down the medical systems sustaining the experiment, and Carmen entered the dreamscape to disrupt the magick fueling the sigil around the apparatus. Their actions destabilized the transfer, and a fragment of The Dreamer’s consciousness took hold within Lincoln as the chamber began to fail. As they fled with him, pursuing guards were reduced to sparks of orange light, and the corridors twisted around them as alarms blared. Before they could fully understand what had happened, Lincoln vanished in a flash of orange light. On the road back to Newfaire, the world began to change. Farmers stood like scarecrows fighting off massive, multi-eyed crows, and the city reshaped into a living monolith of brick and steel. Beck’s Gym has been destroyed. In its place floats a writhing throne of flesh, stars, fire, and shattered masonry, with Lincoln seated above streets of kneeling figures whose palms burn with his sigil. Beneath the broken skyline, a shadowed woman chants by a fire as glyphs ignite along her forearm and she screams into the night. The world has not ended, but it no longer feels stable, and nothing about it feels right.

=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:
[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura Player Roster

2026-02-25T02:49:28Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Please do not update or adjust the roster */

=== Please do not update or adjust the roster ===
<center>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
![[Player]]
!Character
!Circle
!Role
!Specialty
!Assignments
!Lvl
!Scars
|-
|Matt
|Riley Lemmon
|Shade & Sinew
|Slink
|Detective
|4
|V
|
|-
|Mercedes
|Dr. Phyllis “Filly” Bailey
|Discovery
|Scholar
|Doctor
|9
|V
|
|-
|Amal
|Arthur Nook
|Secrets and Pursuits
|Muscle
|Champion
|7
|V
|I
|-
|Amia
|[[Jackson Cunningham]]
|Shade & Sinew
|Face
|Magician
|6
|V
|
|-
|Nick
|Persephone “Percy” Montgomery
|Mind and Might
|Face
|Magician
|21
|V
|I
|-
|Jay
|Byron Hans Core
|Secrets and Pursuits
|Slink
|Vigilante
|13
|V
|I
|-
|Jon
|Oslo Ryker
|Whistles and Whispers
|Scholar
|Engineer
|2
|V
|
|-
|Anna
|[[Feyre Archeron]]
|Whistles and Whispers
|Slink
|Criminal
|7
|V
|I
|-
|Nin
|Arin Kwiyn
|Mind and Might
|Scholar
|Doctor
|1
|V
|
|-
|Talia
|[[Carmen Baxter]]
|Discovery
|Weird
|Medium
|9
|V
|
|-
|Marcy
|Emily Anderson
|Secrets and Pursuits
|Face
|Journalist
|1
|V
|
|-
|Madhav
|Avyaan Kumar
|Shade & Sinew
|Muscle
|Soldier
|6
|V
|
|-
|Rhiannon
|Jessamine Gold
|Secrets and Pursuits
|Weird
|Occultist
|2
|V
|
|-
|Emma
|Hero Graham
|Whistles and Whispers
|Slink
|Detective
|1
|V
|
|-
|Sam
|[[Callum]] McVeigh
|Mind and Might
|Muscle
|Soldier
|5
|V
|
|-
|Ethan
|Dexter "Dex" Miller
|Whistles and Whispers
|Weird
|Occultist
|11
|V
|
|-
|Dove
|Clarence "Clancy" Fields
|Mind and Might
|Weird
|Occultist
|10
|V
|
|-
|Sarah (Bread)
|Noelle Silva
|Discovery
|Weird
|Medium
|5
|V
|
|-
|Tina
|Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde
|Shade & Sinew
|Weird
|Medium
|7
|V
|
|-
|Cat
|[[Mocking-Bird]]
|Discovery
|Slink
|Vigilante
|26
|V
|III
|}
</center>

== Out of Play Characters ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
!Player
!Character
!Arc
!Status
!Sessions
|-
|Julia
|Piers Corden
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Amal
|[[Steve Corden]]
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Aerin
|[[Laura Grant]]
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Aerin
|Katherine Ellenbogen
|Arc 3
|Retired
|4
|-
|Jon R
|[[Thomas MacCallum|Thomas McCallum]]
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Nikki
|Pennsylvania Jane
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Aspen
|Laurence Arkwright
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Ares
|Cassian
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Keller
|Montana Jack
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Chris
|Warren Baxter
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|[[James]]
|Dr Thaddeus
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Jonathan
|Nikolas Arkwright
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Anna
|[https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Nesta_Archeron Nesta Archeron]
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Nick
|Silas Heartwood
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Matt
|[[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]
|Arc 1
|Death
|
|-
|Aerin
|Dr Alexandria Aquino
|Arc 2
|Death
|2
|-
|Amal
|[[Jamie Hayes]]
|Arc 2
|Death
|2
|-
|Mercedes
|Tess Henry
|Arc 1, 2
|Retired
|
|-
|Emma
|[[Lula V]]
|Arc 1, 2
|Retired
|3
|-
|Talia
|[[Elizabeth Nightshade]]
|Arc 1, 2
|Retired
|7
|-
|Mercedes
|Jean Hawkeye
|Arc 2
|Retired
|1
|-
|Kade
|[[Fives]]
|Arc 1, 2
|Retired
|2
|-
|Kim
|[[Weasel]]
|Arc 1,2
|Retired
|2
|-
|Margarita
|[[James D'Arcy|James]]
|Arc 1, 2
|Retired
|3
|-
|Nick
|[[Gideon Eldermourne]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|15
|-
|Anna
|[[Sister Amaranth]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|16
|-
|Sarah (Dove)
|[[Tara Lloyd]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|15
|-
|Julia
|[[Gin Reynolds]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|14
|-
|Jon
|[[Alexander]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|3
|-
|Sam
|[[Cedric]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|2
|-
|Amal
|[[Gio Fletcher]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|9
|-
|Matt
|[[Mallory Harper|Lt. (r) Mallory Harper]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|14
|-
|Keller
|[[Father Lorrian Michaels]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|4
|-
|Aerin
|[[Verity Leon]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|8
|-
|Ashley
|Merrin
|Arc 2
|Retired
|1
|-
|Lilith
|Sybille “Bill” Eisgrau
|Arc 2
|Retired
|4
|-
|Sarah (Bread)
|Rosalynn Scott
|Arc 2
|Retired
|3
|-
|Geoff
|Grigori
|Arc 2
|Retired
|4
|-
|Marcy
|Ashley Amber
|Arc 2
|Retired
|1
|-
|Cat
|Aster Moreau
|Arc 2
|Retired
|2
|-
|Matt
|[[The Nighthawk]]
|Arc 3
|Death
|5
|}
<center></center>

[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-02-25T02:43:19Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger" */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Characters:

GM:

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''...keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Carmen Baxter, Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird), Byron Hans Core (Regicide), Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Dexter "Dex" Miller

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, the Man with the Ember Eyes, Malcolm "Mac" Voss

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel)

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Elias Creel (informant), Celeste Marrow, Neriah Saelis, Iris and Lilly Vale, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit, Lowel Overpass

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Lowel Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook: Nesta Acheron has asked for Candela’s help. Her late husband Lincoln’s last and unfinished manuscript was being prepared for posthumous publication. While reading through it, she discovered that the table of contents was no longer in the order she remembered from her final review before his death. The first story appears out of place, and she’s begun to suspect that something inside the manuscript has changed.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of memory distortion, recursion, disappearances, isolation, and surreal horror.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Nesta Acheron

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Cipher used to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

District/Locations: The Sidle, The Soffit, Worthington Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

The investigators were drawn into the short story ''Before It Got Weird'', assuming roles embedded in the narrative. They arrived in South Soffit moments before Jona Hendricks ran from Grady’s Low Beam (a real life bar in The Soffit) and spontaneously combusted in the street.

Police Sgt. Isabella Reyes attempted aid while her partner Cal Keene secured the perimeter. Journalist, Eve Hurst appeared almost immediately, already taking notes.

When the investigators began to question the circumstances, the day reset.

'''2. Loop One – Spontaneous Combustion'''

Hendricks died by fire outside Grady’s Low Beam.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve Hurst arrived too quickly and appeared unsurprised.
* Hendricks had been working on a big case regarding corruption within the government.

The day reset before the investigators could formally accuse anyone.

'''3. Loop Two – Printing Press Death'''

This time, Hendricks was found crushed within the South Soffit Defender printing press.

Clues uncovered:

* Typeset plates reading: “NOT AGAIN...” with a photo of an exhausted Jona Hendrix as he is falling to his death above the printing press.
* Eve was alone in the newsroom shortly before the incident.
* Security access logs had been altered manually.

The investigators had to fight of a monsterous man made of ink trying to escape the printing press. They defeated him by burying him in yards of newsprint.

The day reset again. But the investigators had started to put the pieces together.

'''4. Loop Three – Worthington Field'''

Hendricks was pummeled to death by an unnatural barrage of baseballs at Worthington Field. Percy spotted Eve, who all the investigators now suspected.

The Inkman manifested again, attempting to prevent the investigators from stopping Eve,

Then everyone was being pummeled with baseballs falling from the sky.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve positioned herself for a perfect vantage point.
* Percy and Avyaan confronted Eve and snatch her note pad from her, and discovered she had been writing the events that were happening in such a way that they were a command.

The Inkman manifested as a physical guardian entity attempting to prevent resolution.

'''5. The Reveal'''

The investigators determined that Eve Hurst was killing Hendricks repeatedly to craft the perfect sensational story. Each attempt failed to satisfy her ambitions, forcing her to reset the day through narrative manipulation.

'''6. Reward'''

Upon solving the mystery, the investigators were expelled from the story.

They retained a cipher embedded in the dark blue handwritten epigraph scrawled across the manuscript’s title page. This cipher later allowed them to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

Hook: What begins as a simple night at the theatre—a well-earned reprieve from the pressures of daily life—takes a sharp and sudden turn when a murder interrupts the performance… and the greatest detective in the city lies dead at center stage. Now, the investigation is yours to finish—whether you’re ready or not.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of murder, theatrical violence, psychological tension, and altered realities.'''''

Characters: Arthur Nook, Avyaan Kumar, [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lysera

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: An ornate wooden box bearing Shore Lock Holdings tag that contains a mask depicting a sleeping, crowned figure. The mask bears symbolic markings resembling lunar phases.

District/Locations: The Malloy Theatre - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Arrival and Opening Performance'''

The investigators attended a staged epic recounting the tale of Atycos and her companions, depicting their corruption by forces beyond the veil.

Detective Samantha Chandler rose from the audience to announce inconsistencies in the production’s funding and symbolism.

Before she could finish her accusation, she transformed into marble before the crowd.

The house lights dimmed.

'''2. Julien’s Monologue'''

Julien Alden, still in costume as Damion the Steadfast, delivered a monologue that blurred the line between performance and warning:<blockquote>“As light grows dim, so changes skin.

Stone remembers what flesh forgets…”</blockquote>He pointed directly at the investigators, establishing that they were now part of the play’s unfolding fate.

He then turned to marble.

The theatre doors sealed.

'''3. Exploration Phase I'''

The investigators realized they were trapped inside the production.

Clues uncovered:

* Lunar phase markings hidden within costume embroidery.
* Stage lighting dimming in unnatural increments.
* Jane Waller missing from her directing station.

A third actor narrowly avoided petrification when the investigators interrupted a backstage cue.

One investigator took a Body mark as the transformation process began to affect them.

'''4. Exploration Phase II'''

Further investigation revealed hidden passageways allowing Jane and Lyle to move unseen through the theatre.

The marble statues of Jane and Lyle discovered earlier were revealed to be theatrical constructs.

Clues uncovered:

* Mask of Thalos covered in geometric and astronomical markings.
* Ritual staging tied to the theatre’s lighting grid.

Another cast member was petrified.

'''5. Confrontation'''

Jane and Lyle attempted to complete the ritual through synchronized light cues and recitation of corrupted myth.

The investigators disrupted the staging mechanism, altered lighting, and exposed the ruse.

Jane was overwhelmed by backlash from the ritual energy.

Lyle fled through the catwalks before being forced to abandon the ritual.

The theatre lights returned to full brightness.

Olive took her third scar: her hand now has Marble like knuckles.

One of the cast survived!

'''6. Resolution'''

Lysera (or an apparition bearing her likeness) appeared in the aftermath.

She presented the investigators with an ornate wooden box.

Inside was a mask depicting a crowned, sleeping figure.

Attached was a Shore Lock Holdings tag (later revealed by clerks of The Circle of Mind and Might to be a shell corporation for MetaMorph).

The investigators were expelled from the narrative.

=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

Hook: A colleague went missing last week while investigating Halcyon Hills—a glossy new suburban community developed by Concordia Solutions. The hedges are freshly trimmed. The neighbors wave. The paperboy never misses a throw.

There’s just one problem: a room showed up in his house that wasn’t there yesterday.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of surveillance, bodily transformation, social conformity, and psychological horror.'''''

Characters: [[Carmen Baxter]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, [[Jackson Cunningham]], Noelle Silva

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Billy Stroud

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: BIlly Stroud and a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]].

District/Locations: The Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Cold Open – Halcyon Hills'''

Halcyon Hills is beautiful in the way a showroom is beautiful... perfectly arranged and utterly untouched.

The morning sun glints off polished chrome mailboxes. Lawns are green and close-cropped, hedges trimmed with mathematical precision. Neighbors wave with practiced warmth. A paper boy pedals by, never missing a porch. Somewhere down the block, a lawnmower hums a lazy tune beneath the stillness.

But behind the picture-perfect façades, one house feels wrong.

Inside, the air is too quiet.

Billy Stroud sits stiffly on the edge of a pristine floral couch, hands clenched into the cushions. He’s about ten years old, wiry, with sharp eyes too wary for his age. His accent—pure South Soffit—is unmistakable when he speaks.

“I wanna go home now.”

Dr. Michael Lowell, kneeling gently beside him, offers a patient smile. He’s soft-spoken and observant, the kind of man who wears concern like a well-tailored coat. He’s here as a psychologist. And as an investigator for Candela Obscura. But mostly, right now, he’s trying to be kind.

“You are home, Billy.” he says softly.

Billy shakes his head.

“My real home. Before. Before the house had a den.”

The investigator gaze flicks to the hallway, to a door that didn’t exist on the blueprints. Or when Billy and his parents first moved in.

Lowell remembers them well. Their posture was perfect, their smiles unwavering. And not a trace of the boy’s accent in either voice. Like they’d never set foot in The Soffit.

“Billy,” Lowell says, more serious now, “can you tell me what’s in the room?” Lowell's eyes never move from the door.

Billy just stares at the door.

“I think…” he whispers. His voice trails off.

Lowell rises slowly, eyes fixed on the threshold. Something is wrong here. He can’t say what. But everything in Halcyon Hills is too fine. Too neat. Too... perfect.

He reaches for the knob; feeling it's warmth before he even grasps it.

The door creaks open as if beckoning him to enter.

And outside a single beat of silence.

Then Billy bursts out of the house, sprinting across the grass, straight through the gentle arc of the sprinkler. He doesn’t look back.

The house stands perfect behind him. It's front door gently drifts shut.

The sun is shining. The breeze is sweet.

A lawnmower drones softly in the distance...

'''2. Briefing at Page & Lantern'''

Lightkeeper Libby Locke gathered the investigators at The Page & Lantern (a coffee and book shop in The Sidle) to review the Halcyon Hills file.

Her concern stemmed from multiple phone calls from a young boy asking for his father. The calls ended whenever Libby requested to speak with his parents.

The final call differed. When she pressed the boy, a woman with a pleasant voice took the line.<blockquote>“Everything is fine.”</blockquote>When pressed further, the woman repeated:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>On and on for almost a solid minute.

The call disconnected.

Libby traced the call to Halcyon Hills and dispatched the Circle of Steam and Sorrow, led by Dr. Lowell. After 24 hours of silence, she assembled a new team to investigate discreetly and extract the other investigators.

'''3. Arrival at Halcyon Hills'''

The investigators entered a pristine mid-century suburban development just as the clocktower at the center of the park rang out.

Residents displayed uniform pleasantness, emotional flattening, and uncanny consistency in behavior.

Jackson and Trudy met the head of the Home Owners Association. They posed as a young couple looking to buy a home in the community and start a family. He was friendly, though he seemed very concerned about where in the city they were from. The others overheard him telling them about the wonderful school nearby, and that the kids in the suburb were practically angels. Though one boy, Billy, was a bit of a troublemaker.

He offered to escort them to a diner just near the train station for some pie and to talk to the developments realtor about possibly buying a home. They took his offer and split from the rest of the investigators.

'''4. Discovery of the Re-written'''

Carmen, Noelle and Feyre noticed a mailbox with the name M. Lowell on it and decided to knock on the front door. discovered that members of Lowell’s Circle had been remade into Halcyon Hills residents.

A man matching the description of Lowell that Libby had given them answered the door. He was dressed in a fine suit and carried a briefcase as if he was just preparing to leave for work.

When Lowell was asked to explain what was going on, he had no clue what Feyre was talking about. After a few moments, while Noelle looked down the street, Carmen remove one of her gloves and placed it on Lowell's. She saw a maze made of paper. Black paper. As she quickly moved deeper and deeper into the maze, typewritten words slowly appeared on the paper walls, growing in concentration at the center of the maze where, a human shaped glob of white appeared over the words.

Lowell had been re-written into someone new. The old Lowell could seemingly overwritten and gone.

Shaken by the psychic connection, Lowell fell back to sitting on the front porch of the house, distressed as if suddenly realizing something was gravely wrong.

Noelle saw a young boy, watching them from down the street with a baseball and glove in hand.

The clocktower rang out again. An hour had passed since their arrival.

'''5. The Diner'''

Trudy and Jackson sat at a table, being given the sales pitch by the head of the HOA and it's realtor about a home that just came on the market.

They got the feeling that these two felt more like cult leaders than community members and lied about going to see the home and walk the neighborhood to get away.

The head of the HOA and the realtor invited Jackson and Trudy to a gathering at the park that would be taking place that evening. A pot luck. So they could really see what it was like to belong.

As they left the diner, they heard the park's clocktower ring again. Two hours had passed since their arrival.

'''6. The Stroud's'''

Feyre, Carmen and Noelle moved to speak with the little boy down the street. But he quickly ran into his house before they could reach him.

After a minute of deliberation and coming up with a cover story, the three investigators moved to the door and knocked. When no one answered, Feyre knocked a second time.

The boy answered. She knelt down and asked if he was Billy.

He nodded.

Before Feyre could speak again, a pleasant voice called from inside the house for Billy to tell them who was at the door.

When Billy just looked at the investigators for a silent moment, his mother appeared and smiled at them. She greeted them and asked if she could help them.

Feyre answered they were from Briargreen Prep and had come to meet Billy. His mother was confused, so Carmen added that Billy had come to their attention after scoring very high on a standardized test that qualified him for a scholarship to the elite prep school.

She smiled proudly at Billy and invited the investigators inside.

They asked if Mr. Stroud was home, but Mrs. Stroud said he had fallen ill recently and couldn't leave bed.

Carmen, posing as a doctor, offered to look him over and Mrs. Stroud accepted.

While Mrs. Stroud showed Carmen to the master bedroom, Feyre and Noelle tried to get Billy to answer some carefully worded questions. Noelle was very distracted. Billy told them they should leave or they'd end up like their friends.

When Carmen entered the bedroom, she saw Mr. Stroud lying in bed, staring at the ceiling a catatonic state. A rictus smile on his face. Mrs. Stroud was oblivious and thought he just had a bad cold.

Carmen quickly left the room, running down the stairs and losing a shoe on the way down. As she did so, the phone began to ring. Mrs. Stroud called from upstairs, "Billy, could you be a dear and answer that?" He did so. After a moment of quiet speaking he turned to Feyre and Noelle and told them the call was for them. Slowly Feyre took the phone...<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She lurched backward, suddenly struck with an incredible migraine, and slammed the phone onto the hook. Then cut the phone cord from the wall.

Noelle, pail and sweating, pointed out a door at the end of the hall.

Despite the protestations of Feyre, Carmen moved to the door. Billy covered his eyes clearly terrified.

Carmen opened the door and vanished into the room.

Billy ran out of the living room and through the front door.

'''7. Across Space and Time'''

The moment Carmen entered the Den, she was flung upward from the ground. Higher and higher. Spiraling away from Halcyon Hills, into the clouds. Away from Quelmar. Out of a massive nebula. She streaked through space faster than the speed of thought and slammed to her hands and knees on a patch of rough, jagged rock. And looked up to a man made of stars and... dreams. Sitting upon a throne of eyes. He smiled at her. They spoke and he offered to help her master her power and show her the universe. If she would just bring the boy to him. She denied him. He simply smiled and said he'd be seeing her soon enough then flung her through the cosmos back into her body, which it turned had never left Halcyon Hills.

Carmen staggered out of the den, the door slamming shut behind her of it's own accord.

The three investigators ran out of the house to try and find Billy. They ran into Jackson and Trudy.

The clocktower rang throughout the suburb. Four hours had passed since they had arrived.

'''8. The Hour Was Upon Them'''

Jackson and Trudy explained what they had learned. Noelle, Feyre and Carmen shared their experiences as well. The community gathering was only an hour away.

They all decided it was best to make their way to the park to try and find Billy and see what the HOA was up to.

They broke into a tool shed and a club house at the park. They examined a maintenance door that led into the clocktower.

In the tool shed, Feyre found blue prints for the entire suburb. It had been built by a company named Concordia Solutions. There were notes on the blueprints about the clocktower being a critical part of something but it did not say what.

Trudy and Jackson found Billy while Noelle investigated inside the club house.

Carmen and Feyre decided to break into the clock tower.

The clock tower rang again. The suburbanites of Halcyon Hills began to approach the park. Chanting in some indecipherable tongue.

'''9. The Clock Tower Ritual'''

The investigators concluded that Concordia Solutions was a corporate front for a cult that was trying to change people into ideal, "perfect" human beings.

The head of the HOA saw Jackson and Trudy and quickly approached them. He was very friendly to Billy, insisting the boy stop bothering the couple and come with him because his mother was looking for him and very worried.

As the clock tower rang out, a phone in the club house begin to ring. Noelle answered the phone. She heard:<blockquote>“Everything is fine. Everything is fine. Everything is fine.”</blockquote>She resisted the intense psychic pain that the phone call caused her and ripped the phone from the wall.

Trudy and Jackson tried to hide Billy behind them, but the head of the HOA slugged Jackson in the face and shoved Trudy to the ground. He grabbed Billy and ran towards a slowly building crowd.

Carmen and Feyre broke into the clocktower and locked the door behind them as the residents of Halcyon Hills began to bang on the maintenance door. As they made their way up the stairs towards the third story of the clock tower, the structure suddenly lurched. It twisted and moved. As if it had come to life and was trying to stop them. They made a daring race to the second story just as the stairs behind them ripped free from the wall and feel to the ground.

Then the stairs that led from the second story to the third ripped free and listed low towards the ground. Carmen sensed a presence in the tower with them and when she looked. She saw Lincoln cutting words into his arm, with a piece of chipped stone. The words, though hard to read were very similar to what they were experiencing. So, Carmen decided to roll up her sleeve and used a screwdriver from Feyre's tools to do the same. She used this newly discovered power to re-write the stairs back into place long enough for her and Feyre to make it to the third story.

Outside, Noelle had suddenly become sick from the continue repetition coming from the phone. Trudy ran in and dragged her out of the club house while Jackson fought off the head of the HOA and sent Billy running to Trudy. Jackson was attacked by a frenzied mob of suburbanites and beat badly.

Carmen and Feyre began throwing every larger, hard object the could find into the gears of the clock tower. Causing them to shudder and come apart. As the third story landing began to come lose beneath them, Feyre grabbed a rope and swung into Carmen and used it to get them both to the ground. They ran out of the clocktower just in time to see Trudy grab Billy in her arms. The clocktower suddenly crumbled and the investigators woke up, in various places inside the offices of Beck's Gym. Some were lying on cots, others on the floor.

'''10. Resolution'''

When Jacen saw they were alright, he quickly picked up the manuscript [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]] that he and the investigators had been investigating (when they all lost consciousness) and threw it into his wood stove. Wanting to keep any further dangers from befalling his investigators.

When Jackson realized Trudy was in the next room over, he quickly ran and found her lying under a blanket on a small bed. She was curled in a loose ball, holding something. He pulled her blanket back and found Billy nestled in her arms, sleeping soundly.

'''9. Aftermath'''

Before they awoke, the investigators had a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]], sitting on the floor of a stone room (and Dottie Welles sitting beside him), he looked at the mediums of the group, "You did it. Now come and find us..." Before he could say more, guards in black uniforms burst into the room and grabbed both of them. Dottie was killed in an experimental machine connected to a woman, floating in a tank of murky fluid. Then they connected it to Lincoln and it worked. A woman in a lab coat looked to a man standing in shadows and said, "It worked sir. Once the last of his magickal defenses were gone we could see if you were right. He can't be killed!"

=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:
[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura Player Roster

2026-02-25T01:17:52Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Please do not update or adjust the roster */

=== Please do not update or adjust the roster ===
<center>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
![[Player]]
!Character
!Circle
!Role
!Specialty
!Assignments
!Lvl
!Scars
|-
|Matt
|Riley Lemmon
|Shade & Sinew
|Slink
|Detective
|4
|V
|
|-
|Mercedes
|Dr. Phyllis “Filly” Bailey she/her
|Discovery
|Scholar
|Doctor
|9
|V
|
|-
|Amal
|Arthur Nook
|Secrets and Pursuits
|Muscle
|Champion
|7
|V
|I
|-
|Amia
|[[Jackson Cunningham]]
|Shade & Sinew
|Face
|Magician
|6
|V
|
|-
|Nick
|Persephone “Percy” Montgomery
|Mind and Might
|Face
|Magician
|21
|V
|I
|-
|Jay
|Byron Hans Core
|Secrets and Pursuits
|Slink
|Vigilante
|13
|V
|I
|-
|Jon
|Oslo Ryker
|Whistles and Whispers
|Scholar
|Engineer
|2
|V
|
|-
|Anna
|[[Feyre Archeron]]
|Whistles and Whispers
|Slink
|Criminal
|7
|V
|I
|-
|Nin
|Arin Kwiyn
|Mind and Might
|Scholar
|Doctor
|1
|V
|
|-
|Talia
|[[Carmen Baxter]]
|Discovery
|Weird
|Medium
|9
|V
|
|-
|Marcy
|Emily Anderson
|Secrets and Pursuits
|Face
|Journalist
|1
|V
|
|-
|Madhav
|Avyaan Kumar
|Shade & Sinew
|Muscle
|Soldier
|6
|V
|
|-
|Rhiannon
|Jessamine Gold
|Secrets and Pursuits
|Weird
|Occultist
|2
|V
|
|-
|Emma
|Hero Graham
|Whistles and Whispers
|Slink
|Detective
|1
|V
|
|-
|Sam
|[[Callum]] McVeigh
|Mind and Might
|Muscle
|Soldier
|5
|V
|
|-
|Ethan
|Dexter "Dex" Miller
|Whistles and Whispers
|Weird
|Occultist
|11
|V
|
|-
|Dove
|Clarence "Clancy" Fields
|Mind and Might
|Weird
|Occultist
|10
|V
|
|-
|Sarah (Bread)
|Noelle Silva
|Discovery
|Weird
|Medium
|5
|V
|
|-
|Tina
|Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde
|Shade & Sinew
|Weird
|Medium
|7
|V
|
|-
|Cat
|[[Mocking-Bird]]
|Discovery
|Slink
|Vigilante
|26
|V
|III
|}
</center>

== Out of Play Characters ==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
!Player
!Character
!Arc
!Status
!Sessions
|-
|Julia
|Piers Corden
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Amal
|[[Steve Corden]]
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Aerin
|[[Laura Grant]]
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Aerin
|Katherine Ellenbogen
|Arc 3
|Retired
|4
|-
|Jon R
|[[Thomas MacCallum|Thomas McCallum]]
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Nikki
|Pennsylvania Jane
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Aspen
|Laurence Arkwright
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Ares
|Cassian
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Keller
|Montana Jack
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Chris
|Warren Baxter
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|[[James]]
|Dr Thaddeus
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Jonathan
|Nikolas Arkwright
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Anna
|[https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Nesta_Archeron Nesta Archeron]
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Nick
|Silas Heartwood
|Arc 1
|Retired
|
|-
|Matt
|[[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]
|Arc 1
|Death
|
|-
|Aerin
|Dr Alexandria Aquino
|Arc 2
|Death
|2
|-
|Amal
|[[Jamie Hayes]]
|Arc 2
|Death
|2
|-
|Mercedes
|Tess Henry
|Arc 1, 2
|Retired
|
|-
|Emma
|[[Lula V]]
|Arc 1, 2
|Retired
|3
|-
|Talia
|[[Elizabeth Nightshade]]
|Arc 1, 2
|Retired
|7
|-
|Mercedes
|Jean Hawkeye
|Arc 2
|Retired
|1
|-
|Kade
|[[Fives]]
|Arc 1, 2
|Retired
|2
|-
|Kim
|[[Weasel]]
|Arc 1,2
|Retired
|2
|-
|Margarita
|[[James D'Arcy|James]]
|Arc 1, 2
|Retired
|3
|-
|Nick
|[[Gideon Eldermourne]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|15
|-
|Anna
|[[Sister Amaranth]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|16
|-
|Sarah (Dove)
|[[Tara Lloyd]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|15
|-
|Julia
|[[Gin Reynolds]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|14
|-
|Jon
|[[Alexander]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|3
|-
|Sam
|[[Cedric]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|2
|-
|Amal
|[[Gio Fletcher]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|9
|-
|Matt
|[[Mallory Harper|Lt. (r) Mallory Harper]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|14
|-
|Keller
|[[Father Lorrian Michaels]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|4
|-
|Aerin
|[[Verity Leon]]
|Arc 2
|Retired
|8
|-
|Ashley
|Merrin
|Arc 2
|Retired
|1
|-
|Lilith
|Sybille “Bill” Eisgrau
|Arc 2
|Retired
|4
|-
|Sarah (Bread)
|Rosalynn Scott
|Arc 2
|Retired
|3
|-
|Geoff
|Grigori
|Arc 2
|Retired
|4
|-
|Marcy
|Ashley Amber
|Arc 2
|Retired
|1
|-
|Cat
|Aster Moreau
|Arc 2
|Retired
|2
|-
|Matt
|[[The Nighthawk]]
|Arc 3
|Death
|5
|}
<center></center>

[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:Player Characters]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-02-23T03:50:36Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of" */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Characters:

GM:

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''...keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Carmen Baxter, Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird), Byron Hans Core (Regicide), Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Dexter "Dex" Miller

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, the Man with the Ember Eyes, Malcolm "Mac" Voss

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel)

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Elias Creel (informant), Celeste Marrow, Neriah Saelis, Iris and Lilly Vale, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit, Lowel Overpass

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Lowel Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook: Nesta Acheron has asked for Candela’s help. Her late husband Lincoln’s last and unfinished manuscript was being prepared for posthumous publication. While reading through it, she discovered that the table of contents was no longer in the order she remembered from her final review before his death. The first story appears out of place, and she’s begun to suspect that something inside the manuscript has changed.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of memory distortion, recursion, disappearances, isolation, and surreal horror.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Nesta Acheron

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Cipher used to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

District/Locations: The Sidle, The Soffit, Worthington Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

The investigators were drawn into the short story ''Before It Got Weird'', assuming roles embedded in the narrative. They arrived in South Soffit moments before Jona Hendricks ran from Grady’s Low Beam (a real life bar in The Soffit) and spontaneously combusted in the street.

Police Sgt. Isabella Reyes attempted aid while her partner Cal Keene secured the perimeter. Journalist, Eve Hurst appeared almost immediately, already taking notes.

When the investigators began to question the circumstances, the day reset.

'''2. Loop One – Spontaneous Combustion'''

Hendricks died by fire outside Grady’s Low Beam.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve Hurst arrived too quickly and appeared unsurprised.
* Hendricks had been working on a big case regarding corruption within the government.

The day reset before the investigators could formally accuse anyone.

'''3. Loop Two – Printing Press Death'''

This time, Hendricks was found crushed within the South Soffit Defender printing press.

Clues uncovered:

* Typeset plates reading: “NOT AGAIN...” with a photo of an exhausted Jona Hendrix as he is falling to his death above the printing press.
* Eve was alone in the newsroom shortly before the incident.
* Security access logs had been altered manually.

The investigators had to fight of a monsterous man made of ink trying to escape the printing press. They defeated him by burying him in yards of newsprint.

The day reset again. But the investigators had started to put the pieces together.

'''4. Loop Three – Worthington Field'''

Hendricks was pummeled to death by an unnatural barrage of baseballs at Worthington Field. Percy spotted Eve, who all the investigators now suspected.

The Inkman manifested again, attempting to prevent the investigators from stopping Eve,

Then everyone was being pummeled with baseballs falling from the sky.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve positioned herself for a perfect vantage point.
* Percy and Avyaan confronted Eve and snatch her note pad from her, and discovered she had been writing the events that were happening in such a way that they were a command.

The Inkman manifested as a physical guardian entity attempting to prevent resolution.

'''5. The Reveal'''

The investigators determined that Eve Hurst was killing Hendricks repeatedly to craft the perfect sensational story. Each attempt failed to satisfy her ambitions, forcing her to reset the day through narrative manipulation.

'''6. Reward'''

Upon solving the mystery, the investigators were expelled from the story.

They retained a cipher embedded in the dark blue handwritten epigraph scrawled across the manuscript’s title page. This cipher later allowed them to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

Hook: What begins as a simple night at the theatre—a well-earned reprieve from the pressures of daily life—takes a sharp and sudden turn when a murder interrupts the performance… and the greatest detective in the city lies dead at center stage. Now, the investigation is yours to finish—whether you’re ready or not.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of murder, theatrical violence, psychological tension, and altered realities.'''''

Characters: Arthur Nook, Avyaan Kumar, [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lysera

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: An ornate wooden box bearing Shore Lock Holdings tag that contains a mask depicting a sleeping, crowned figure. The mask bears symbolic markings resembling lunar phases.

District/Locations: The Malloy Theatre - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Arrival and Opening Performance'''

The investigators attended a staged epic recounting the tale of Atycos and her companions, depicting their corruption by forces beyond the veil.

Detective Samantha Chandler rose from the audience to announce inconsistencies in the production’s funding and symbolism.

Before she could finish her accusation, she transformed into marble before the crowd.

The house lights dimmed.

'''2. Julien’s Monologue'''

Julien Alden, still in costume as Damion the Steadfast, delivered a monologue that blurred the line between performance and warning:<blockquote>“As light grows dim, so changes skin.

Stone remembers what flesh forgets…”</blockquote>He pointed directly at the investigators, establishing that they were now part of the play’s unfolding fate.

He then turned to marble.

The theatre doors sealed.

'''3. Exploration Phase I'''

The investigators realized they were trapped inside the production.

Clues uncovered:

* Lunar phase markings hidden within costume embroidery.
* Stage lighting dimming in unnatural increments.
* Jane Waller missing from her directing station.

A third actor narrowly avoided petrification when the investigators interrupted a backstage cue.

One investigator took a Body mark as the transformation process began to affect them.

'''4. Exploration Phase II'''

Further investigation revealed hidden passageways allowing Jane and Lyle to move unseen through the theatre.

The marble statues of Jane and Lyle discovered earlier were revealed to be theatrical constructs.

Clues uncovered:

* Mask of Thalos covered in geometric and astronomical markings.
* Ritual staging tied to the theatre’s lighting grid.

Another cast member was petrified.

'''5. Confrontation'''

Jane and Lyle attempted to complete the ritual through synchronized light cues and recitation of corrupted myth.

The investigators disrupted the staging mechanism, altered lighting, and exposed the ruse.

Jane was overwhelmed by backlash from the ritual energy.

Lyle fled through the catwalks before being forced to abandon the ritual.

The theatre lights returned to full brightness.

Olive took her third scar: her hand now has Marble like knuckles.

One of the cast survived!

'''6. Resolution'''

Lysera (or an apparition bearing her likeness) appeared in the aftermath.

She presented the investigators with an ornate wooden box.

Inside was a mask depicting a crowned, sleeping figure.

Attached was a Shore Lock Holdings tag (later revealed by clerks of The Circle of Mind and Might to be a shell corporation for MetaMorph).

The investigators were expelled from the narrative.

=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

Hook: A colleague went missing last week while investigating Halcyon Hills—a glossy new suburban community developed by Concordia Solutions. The hedges are freshly trimmed. The neighbors wave. The paperboy never misses a throw.

There’s just one problem: a room showed up in his house that wasn’t there yesterday.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of surveillance, bodily transformation, social conformity, and psychological horror.'''''

Characters: [[Carmen Baxter]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, [[Jackson Cunningham]], Noelle Silva

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Billy Stroud

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: BIlly Stroud and a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]], sitting on the floor of a stone room (and Dottie Welles sitting beside him), he looked at the mediums of the group, "You did it. Now come and find us..." Before he could say more, guards in black uniforms burst into the room and grabbed both of them. Dottie was killed in an experimental machine connected to a woman, floating in a tank of murky fluid. Then they connected it to Lincoln and it worked. A woman in a lab coat looked to a man standing in shadows and said, "It worked sir. Once the last of his magickal defenses were gone we could see if you were right. He can't be killed!"

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:
[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-02-23T03:48:35Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of" */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Characters:

GM:

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''...keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Carmen Baxter, Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird), Byron Hans Core (Regicide), Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Dexter "Dex" Miller

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, the Man with the Ember Eyes, Malcolm "Mac" Voss

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel)

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Elias Creel (informant), Celeste Marrow, Neriah Saelis, Iris and Lilly Vale, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit, Lowel Overpass

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Lowel Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook: Nesta Acheron has asked for Candela’s help. Her late husband Lincoln’s last and unfinished manuscript was being prepared for posthumous publication. While reading through it, she discovered that the table of contents was no longer in the order she remembered from her final review before his death. The first story appears out of place, and she’s begun to suspect that something inside the manuscript has changed.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of memory distortion, recursion, disappearances, isolation, and surreal horror.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Nesta Acheron

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Cipher used to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

District/Locations: The Sidle, The Soffit, Worthington Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

The investigators were drawn into the short story ''Before It Got Weird'', assuming roles embedded in the narrative. They arrived in South Soffit moments before Jona Hendricks ran from Grady’s Low Beam (a real life bar in The Soffit) and spontaneously combusted in the street.

Police Sgt. Isabella Reyes attempted aid while her partner Cal Keene secured the perimeter. Journalist, Eve Hurst appeared almost immediately, already taking notes.

When the investigators began to question the circumstances, the day reset.

'''2. Loop One – Spontaneous Combustion'''

Hendricks died by fire outside Grady’s Low Beam.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve Hurst arrived too quickly and appeared unsurprised.
* Hendricks had been working on a big case regarding corruption within the government.

The day reset before the investigators could formally accuse anyone.

'''3. Loop Two – Printing Press Death'''

This time, Hendricks was found crushed within the South Soffit Defender printing press.

Clues uncovered:

* Typeset plates reading: “NOT AGAIN...” with a photo of an exhausted Jona Hendrix as he is falling to his death above the printing press.
* Eve was alone in the newsroom shortly before the incident.
* Security access logs had been altered manually.

The investigators had to fight of a monsterous man made of ink trying to escape the printing press. They defeated him by burying him in yards of newsprint.

The day reset again. But the investigators had started to put the pieces together.

'''4. Loop Three – Worthington Field'''

Hendricks was pummeled to death by an unnatural barrage of baseballs at Worthington Field. Percy spotted Eve, who all the investigators now suspected.

The Inkman manifested again, attempting to prevent the investigators from stopping Eve,

Then everyone was being pummeled with baseballs falling from the sky.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve positioned herself for a perfect vantage point.
* Percy and Avyaan confronted Eve and snatch her note pad from her, and discovered she had been writing the events that were happening in such a way that they were a command.

The Inkman manifested as a physical guardian entity attempting to prevent resolution.

'''5. The Reveal'''

The investigators determined that Eve Hurst was killing Hendricks repeatedly to craft the perfect sensational story. Each attempt failed to satisfy her ambitions, forcing her to reset the day through narrative manipulation.

'''6. Reward'''

Upon solving the mystery, the investigators were expelled from the story.

They retained a cipher embedded in the dark blue handwritten epigraph scrawled across the manuscript’s title page. This cipher later allowed them to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

Hook: What begins as a simple night at the theatre—a well-earned reprieve from the pressures of daily life—takes a sharp and sudden turn when a murder interrupts the performance… and the greatest detective in the city lies dead at center stage. Now, the investigation is yours to finish—whether you’re ready or not.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of murder, theatrical violence, psychological tension, and altered realities.'''''

Characters: Arthur Nook, Avyaan Kumar, [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lysera

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: An ornate wooden box bearing Shore Lock Holdings tag that contains a mask depicting a sleeping, crowned figure. The mask bears symbolic markings resembling lunar phases.

District/Locations: The Malloy Theatre - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Arrival and Opening Performance'''

The investigators attended a staged epic recounting the tale of Atycos and her companions, depicting their corruption by forces beyond the veil.

Detective Samantha Chandler rose from the audience to announce inconsistencies in the production’s funding and symbolism.

Before she could finish her accusation, she transformed into marble before the crowd.

The house lights dimmed.

'''2. Julien’s Monologue'''

Julien Alden, still in costume as Damion the Steadfast, delivered a monologue that blurred the line between performance and warning:<blockquote>“As light grows dim, so changes skin.

Stone remembers what flesh forgets…”</blockquote>He pointed directly at the investigators, establishing that they were now part of the play’s unfolding fate.

He then turned to marble.

The theatre doors sealed.

'''3. Exploration Phase I'''

The investigators realized they were trapped inside the production.

Clues uncovered:

* Lunar phase markings hidden within costume embroidery.
* Stage lighting dimming in unnatural increments.
* Jane Waller missing from her directing station.

A third actor narrowly avoided petrification when the investigators interrupted a backstage cue.

One investigator took a Body mark as the transformation process began to affect them.

'''4. Exploration Phase II'''

Further investigation revealed hidden passageways allowing Jane and Lyle to move unseen through the theatre.

The marble statues of Jane and Lyle discovered earlier were revealed to be theatrical constructs.

Clues uncovered:

* Robes resembling Lysera, adorned with symbols of the Verdant Will.
* Mask of Thalos covered in geometric and scientific markings.
* Ritual staging tied to the theatre’s lighting grid.

Another attempted petrification was prevented..

'''5. Confrontation'''

Jane and Lyle attempted to complete the ritual through synchronized light cues and recitation of corrupted myth.

The investigators disrupted the staging mechanism, altered lighting, and exposed the ruse.

Jane was overwhelmed by backlash from the ritual energy.

Lyle fled through the catwalks before being apprehended or forced to abandon the ritual.

The theatre lights returned to full brightness.

The remaining actors survived.

Olive took her third scar - her hand now has Marble like knuckles.

'''6. Resolution'''

Lysera (or an apparition bearing her likeness) appeared in the aftermath.

She presented the investigators with an ornate wooden box.

Inside was a mask depicting a crowned, sleeping figure.

Attached was a Shore Lock Holdings tag (later revealed by clerks of The Circle of Mind and Might to be a shell corporation for MetaMorph).

The investigators were expelled from the narrative.

=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

Hook: A colleague went missing last week while investigating Halcyon Hills—a glossy new suburban community developed by Concordia Solutions. The hedges are freshly trimmed. The neighbors wave. The paperboy never misses a throw.

There’s just one problem: a room showed up in his house that wasn’t there yesterday.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of surveillance, bodily transformation, social conformity, and psychological horror.'''''

Characters: [[Carmen Baxter]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, [[Jackson Cunningham]], Noelle Silva

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Billy Stroud

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: BIlly Stroud and a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]], sitting on the floor of a stone room (and Dottie Welles sitting beside him), he looked at the mediums of the group, "You did it. Now come and find us..." Before he could say more, guards in black uniforms burst into the room and grabbed both of them. Dottie was killed in an experimental machine connected to a woman, floating in a tank of murky fluid. Then they connected it to Lincoln and it worked. A woman in a lab coat looked to a man standing in shadows and said, "It worked sir. Once the last of his magickal defenses were gone we could see if you were right. He can't be killed!"

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:
[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-02-23T03:40:07Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of" */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Characters:

GM:

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''...keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Carmen Baxter, Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird), Byron Hans Core (Regicide), Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Dexter "Dex" Miller

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, the Man with the Ember Eyes, Malcolm "Mac" Voss

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel)

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Elias Creel (informant), Celeste Marrow, Neriah Saelis, Iris and Lilly Vale, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit, Lowel Overpass

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Lowel Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook: Nesta Acheron has asked for Candela’s help. Her late husband Lincoln’s last and unfinished manuscript was being prepared for posthumous publication. While reading through it, she discovered that the table of contents was no longer in the order she remembered from her final review before his death. The first story appears out of place, and she’s begun to suspect that something inside the manuscript has changed.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of memory distortion, recursion, disappearances, isolation, and surreal horror.'''''

Characters: [[Jackson Cunningham]], [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Nesta Acheron

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Cipher used to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

District/Locations: The Sidle, The Soffit, Worthington Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

The investigators were drawn into the short story ''Before It Got Weird'', assuming roles embedded in the narrative. They arrived in South Soffit moments before Jona Hendricks ran from Grady’s Low Beam (a real life bar in The Soffit) and spontaneously combusted in the street.

Police Sgt. Isabella Reyes attempted aid while her partner Cal Keene secured the perimeter. Journalist, Eve Hurst appeared almost immediately, already taking notes.

When the investigators began to question the circumstances, the day reset.

'''2. Loop One – Spontaneous Combustion'''

Hendricks died by fire outside Grady’s Low Beam.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve Hurst arrived too quickly and appeared unsurprised.
* Hendricks had been working on a big case regarding corruption within the government.

The day reset before the investigators could formally accuse anyone.

'''3. Loop Two – Printing Press Death'''

This time, Hendricks was found crushed within the South Soffit Defender printing press.

Clues uncovered:

* Typeset plates reading: “NOT AGAIN...” with a photo of an exhausted Jona Hendrix as he is falling to his death above the printing press.
* Eve was alone in the newsroom shortly before the incident.
* Security access logs had been altered manually.

The investigators had to fight of a monsterous man made of ink trying to escape the printing press. They defeated him by burying him in yards of newsprint.

The day reset again. But the investigators had started to put the pieces together.

'''4. Loop Three – Worthington Field'''

Hendricks was pummeled to death by an unnatural barrage of baseballs at Worthington Field. Percy spotted Eve, who all the investigators now suspected.

The Inkman manifested again, attempting to prevent the investigators from stopping Eve,

Then everyone was being pummeled with baseballs falling from the sky.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve positioned herself for a perfect vantage point.
* Percy and Avyaan confronted Eve and snatch her note pad from her, and discovered she had been writing the events that were happening in such a way that they were a command.

The Inkman manifested as a physical guardian entity attempting to prevent resolution.

'''5. The Reveal'''

The investigators determined that Eve Hurst was killing Hendricks repeatedly to craft the perfect sensational story. Each attempt failed to satisfy her ambitions, forcing her to reset the day through narrative manipulation.

'''6. Reward'''

Upon solving the mystery, the investigators were expelled from the story.

They retained a cipher embedded in the dark blue handwritten epigraph scrawled across the manuscript’s title page. This cipher later allowed them to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

Hook: What begins as a simple night at the theatre—a well-earned reprieve from the pressures of daily life—takes a sharp and sudden turn when a murder interrupts the performance… and the greatest detective in the city lies dead at center stage. Now, the investigation is yours to finish—whether you’re ready or not.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of murder, theatrical violence, psychological tension, and altered realities.'''''

Characters: Arthur Nook, Avyaan Kumar, [[Mocking-Bird]], Noelle Silva, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lysera

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: A mask

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

Hook: A colleague went missing last week while investigating Halcyon Hills—a glossy new suburban community developed by Concordia Solutions. The hedges are freshly trimmed. The neighbors wave. The paperboy never misses a throw.

There’s just one problem: a room showed up in his house that wasn’t there yesterday.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of surveillance, bodily transformation, social conformity, and psychological horror.'''''

Characters: [[Carmen Baxter]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, [[Jackson Cunningham]], Noelle Silva

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Billy Stroud

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: BIlly Stroud and a vision of [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray|Lincoln]], sitting on the floor of a stone room (and Dottie Welles sitting beside him), he looked at the mediums of the group, "You did it. Now come and find us..." Before he could say more, guards in black uniforms burst into the room and grabbed both of them. Dottie was killed in an experimental machine connected to a woman, floating in a tank of murky fluid. Then they connected it to Lincoln and it worked. A woman in a lab coat looked to a man standing in shadows and said, "It worked sir. Once the last of his magickal defenses were gone we could see if you were right. He can't be killed!"

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:
[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-02-23T03:26:22Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird" */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Characters:

GM:

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''...keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Carmen Baxter, Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird), Byron Hans Core (Regicide), Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Dexter "Dex" Miller

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, the Man with the Ember Eyes, Malcolm "Mac" Voss

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel)

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Elias Creel (informant), Celeste Marrow, Neriah Saelis, Iris and Lilly Vale, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: Jackson Cunningham, [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit, Lowel Overpass

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Lowel Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook: Nesta Acheron has asked for Candela’s help. Her late husband Lincoln’s last and unfinished manuscript was being prepared for posthumous publication. While reading through it, she discovered that the table of contents was no longer in the order she remembered from her final review before his death. The first story appears out of place, and she’s begun to suspect that something inside the manuscript has changed.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of memory distortion, recursion, disappearances, isolation, and surreal horror.'''''

Characters: Avyaan Kumar, [[Mocking-Bird]], Percy Montgomery, Noelle Silva

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Nesta Acheron

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Cipher used to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

District/Locations: The Sidle, The Soffit, Worthington Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

The investigators were drawn into the short story ''Before It Got Weird'', assuming roles embedded in the narrative. They arrived in South Soffit moments before Jona Hendricks ran from Grady’s Low Beam (a real life bar in The Soffit) and spontaneously combusted in the street.

Police Sgt. Isabella Reyes attempted aid while her partner Cal Keene secured the perimeter. Journalist, Eve Hurst appeared almost immediately, already taking notes.

When the investigators began to question the circumstances, the day reset.

'''2. Loop One – Spontaneous Combustion'''

Hendricks died by fire outside Grady’s Low Beam.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve Hurst arrived too quickly and appeared unsurprised.
* Hendricks had been working on a big case regarding corruption within the government.

The day reset before the investigators could formally accuse anyone.

'''3. Loop Two – Printing Press Death'''

This time, Hendricks was found crushed within the South Soffit Defender printing press.

Clues uncovered:

* Typeset plates reading: “NOT AGAIN...” with a photo of an exhausted Jona Hendrix as he is falling to his death above the printing press.
* Eve was alone in the newsroom shortly before the incident.
* Security access logs had been altered manually.

The investigators had to fight of a monsterous man made of ink trying to escape the printing press. They defeated him by burying him in yards of newsprint.

The day reset again. But the investigators had started to put the pieces together.

'''4. Loop Three – Worthington Field'''

Hendricks was pummeled to death by an unnatural barrage of baseballs at Worthington Field. Percy spotted Eve, who all the investigators now suspected.

The Inkman manifested again, attempting to prevent the investigators from stopping Eve,

Then everyone was being pummeled with baseballs falling from the sky.

Clues uncovered:

* Eve positioned herself for a perfect vantage point.
* Percy and Avyaan confronted Eve and snatch her note pad from her, and discovered she had been writing the events that were happening in such a way that they were a command.

The Inkman manifested as a physical guardian entity attempting to prevent resolution.

'''5. The Reveal'''

The investigators determined that Eve Hurst was killing Hendricks repeatedly to craft the perfect sensational story. Each attempt failed to satisfy her ambitions, forcing her to reset the day through narrative manipulation.

'''6. Reward'''

Upon solving the mystery, the investigators were expelled from the story.

They retained a cipher embedded in the dark blue handwritten epigraph scrawled across the manuscript’s title page. This cipher later allowed them to decode portions of Abernathy’s journal.

=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:
[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-02-23T03:05:13Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #21 - "Marionette" */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Characters:

GM:

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''...keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Carmen Baxter, Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird), Byron Hans Core (Regicide), Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Dexter "Dex" Miller

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, the Man with the Ember Eyes, Malcolm "Mac" Voss

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel)

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Elias Creel (informant), Celeste Marrow, Neriah Saelis, Iris and Lilly Vale, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: Jackson Cunningham, [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit, Lowel Overpass

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Lowel Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

Hook:

Content Warnings:

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GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

Hook:

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GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

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=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

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GM: Jay

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

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GM: Matt

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=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

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GM: Jay

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=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

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GM: Jay

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

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[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]

Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far

2026-02-23T03:04:10Z

MattyFerdyWordy: /* Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day" */

{{Worldbuilders}}
== The Story So Far ==
Below, feel free to add personal accounts of assignments.

== Arc One - The Illusionist and the Alchemist ==

=== Assignment #1 - 12/02/23 "The Devil's Well." ===
[[Session]] Tags:

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GM:

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=== Assignment #2 - 12/16 "The Light Eater of Bridleborn" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], Nesta [[Acheron]], [[Elizabeth]] [[Nightshade]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #3 - 12/21 - "The Gift of the Magi" ===

=== Assignment #4 - 12/31 - "The Night Plays On" ===
Session Tags: #NewYearParty

Characters: [[Steve]], Lincoln Renfield-Murray, [[Orla Martinez]], Warren

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #5 - 1/13/2024 - "Extra Credit" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Lula V, [[Steve Corden]]

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment # 6- 1/20- “The Hand That Feeds” ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers, Weasel, [[James]], Tess, Laurence Awrkright

GM: @OGFlaya (Matt)

Important NPCs: Anthony Romano, Michael Romano, Maggy Ferguson, [[Martin]] Ferguson

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: [[Human]]/phenomenon hybrid

District/Locations: South Soffit, Nine Irons, The Sidle

Important Things that Happened: Notorious mob enforcer and racketeer, Tommy Romano, was murdered by Martin Ferguson. A member of a family of mob enforcers possessing unique abilities due to being to having phenomenon intermingling in their blood line long ago in their ancestry. The youngest of the Ferguson's, Maggy had fallen in love with Tommy's nephew and the scion of the Romano crime family, Michael. The investigators diligently found, through an examination of Tommy's body in the city morgue that he was murdered, that he had been murdered rather than the purported suicide that that the Periphery was trying to say his death was. During a climactic confrontation with Martin and a flock of eldritch birds under his command, the investigators helped Maggy and Michael flee the city and place Martin into Grayslate Sanatorium for safe keeping and protection from the Romano family. The rest of the Ferguson clan watched as their son was taken into custody but did not end their relationship with Romano.

=== Assignment #7 - 1/27 - "Fairest of Them All" ===

=== Assignment #8 - 2/9 - "The Ancient Tomb of His Bride" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, [[Thomas]] MacCallum, Madge

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Jean Hawkeye

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

# Mr. Malcolms Alchemical Reference Guide (+1 Focus on rolls that have to do with alchemy or magick)
# Morphine Vial (Soak 1 Body, 1 use)
# Phosphenes' Lights (Handheld illuminators that produce a glow only the holder can see)
# Smelling Salts (Soak 1 Brain, 1 use)

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 2/17 - "A Prince’s Gifts" ===

=== Assignment #10 - 2/24 - "A Needlepoint to Hear Me Through" ===

=== Assignment # 11 - 2/25 - “The Illusionist” ===

=== Assignment #12 - 3/2 - "Auction Victors" ===
Session Tags: #Auction

Characters: Steve Corden, Lizzy Nightshade, Weasel, Silas Heartwood, [[Laura Grant]]

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #13 - 3/9 - "The Ring to Stand Strong and True" ===

=== Assignment #14 - 3/15 - "Lost and Found" ===

=== Assignment #15 - 3/23 - "The Allure of Perpetual Beauty" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Warren Baxter, [[Laura]] Grant

GM: @wardenwinter (Talia)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #16 - 3/27 - "Under the Truth" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Piers Corden, Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Tess Henry, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Acheron,

GM: @jontheteach (JonTheTeach)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 4/6 - "The Kingdom in the Steel" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Steve Corden, Silas Heartwood, Lizzy Nightshade, Madge, Laura Grant

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 4/13 - "The Gem to Persuade the Unwilling" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, Nesta Achron, Montana Jack

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: THE TWINS, Gio

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gem

District/Locations: The Steel, EONs Headquarter

Important Things that Happened: Steve gets kidnapped opps.

=== Assignment #19 - 4/27 - "The Prince’s Final Curtain" ===
Session Tags:
Characters: Steve Corden, Piers Corden, James, Lincoln Renfield-Murray, "Fives", Warren Baxter,

GM: @jaelthejust (Mercedes)

Important NPCs: Nathaniel

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #20 - 4/27 - "The Alchemist’s Final Call" ===

=== Assignment #21 - 5/28 - "In the Arms of the Evolved" ===

=== Assignment #22 - 6/18 - "Grant Me One Request [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

=== Assignment #23 - 6/29 - "Long Lost Blood [Player Catalyst Finale]" ===

== Arc Two - The Herald and the Fang ==

=== Assignment #1 - 06/15/2024 "Toll the Dead" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, Ascendency

Characters: James by Margarita, Gin Reynolds by Julia, [[Jamie Hayes]] by Amal,

GM:

Important NPCs: Imelda [[Frances]], Victor Jenkins the DEAD Divine Herald, Mr. Woods

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: List of next Divine Herald

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

6 months after what happened in the theater has passed, newspapers has talked about :

# A deadly sickness, the dead rash, with symptoms of oozing red rashes on limps, cough, and fever. It effected 30% of population. Some people just… don’t get it.
# ''Recent death of the Divine Herald.''

Candela was called by Ascendancy when Cardinal Reynolds, and Cardinal Zeroth died after ineracting with the Divine Herald corpse. Candela investigators went to shiverline to talk to holy [[mother]]

//—//

investigators found:

# Bleed on body and the face itself. Not coming from the mask.
# Mask will let the [[soul]] out. Mask is fixed to face, will be hard to take off.
# MAKEUP ON HERALD. A specific woman does this. '''Leslie Daulphin'''.
# THERE IS. AT THE BASE OF THE HERALD NECK. An incision mark. NO BLOOD? connected to the artery. The blood is poisoned, they knew its gonna be removed.

/—/ Baxter the head of OUP came by and stopped Candela's investigation

//—//

The team found this list for '''interviews. THIS IS FOR NEW HERALD DIVINE.'''

'''Aarons, Sawyer (Cardinal in the Eves districts), Howard, Levins,'''

'''Fournier(not familiar to GIN? Who is this? Not usual surname for new-faire)'''

They also found a necklace that has a bleed, this necklace is used by the hauled and high ranking church members. The team didn't touch or take the necklace.

/-/

The team headed to Melody Wildes house in the sidle. WILDES Melody is new to the area, moved from the west. [[LaCroix|Lacroix]], moved from there. Family is a refuge. Dad started the funeral business from Mister woods. Brother and husband live upstairs. Dad is old now.

The team went together to the house of grief, Melody is frozen in place, when approached, the team noticed a pair of puncture marks on the side of her neck. Not like the herald, this is more of….. bite…. Two teeth?

Picture of her and a man. They are shaken hands, this is Mr. Woods. He seems happy and sure. She looked…. Off.

Someone sneaking inside? The team try to hide from them, the older gentleman is now here. Asks why she’s here. She looks nervous talking to what it can be seen now as Mr. wood?

Mr. Woods, has the same bleed as melody, STRONGER. So strong. It radiates from him.

After going to his Mind Palace, Jamie figured out that Melody is under control from Mr. Woods. He must have been the one to miss with the makeup. When Gin left the house of grief, she noticed Mr. Woods watching the team at the top of the building…..

=== Assignment #2 - 06/15/2024 "The Ruby Rapture" ===
Session Tags: Red Rash, Fangs

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), [[Gideon]] (Nick), Luliana (Emma), Henry (Geoff), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Harris/Lawrence, Pensive the Cat, Lorenzo of the Ruby Rapture, the Fanged Creature that Attacked Lizzy

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Pensive the Fanged Cat

District/Locations: Red Lamp, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* A worker from the Ruby Rapture has been sick an abnormal amount of time, neck still red, violent outbursts
* A doctor came to visit his home while he was sick and performed "blood letting", his roommate said it was A LOT of blood and the doctor didn't clean up
* The cat lapped up some of the blood and now also showing violent outbursts
* The doctor gave an address and contact to Lawrence's roommate in case he needed more info. He went to the address during the day and found nothing
* Going at night, they found strange symbols and then were attacked by a fanged woman who when shot, survived and ran away.
* Later, the symbols were discovered to mean "Feed"

=== Assignment #3 - 06/21/2024 “The Last Lightkeeper of Seasway" ===
Session Tags: Eldritch Horror, City of the Resplendent , Local Legends

Characters: Tara (Sarah), [[Malory Harper]] (Matt), Cedric (Sam), Alexander (Jon), Mara (Anna)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Lightkeeper's Doll, Gherman the Last Lightkeeper

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Lightkeeper's Doll

District/Locations: Seasway

Important Things that Happened:

* There is an underwater city in the Glass Sea
* The People of Seasway seemed to be under some kind of hypnosis
* They are desperate to show you 'The Great One'
* The Lighthouse is destroyed and empty on the bottom
* At the top of the Lighthouse, Gherman has destroyed his entrance to the Pharos
* He begs to keep the Doll safe
* On the West side of the Island, the investigators see the remains of the Great One
* The child of the Great one waits to feast
* The investigators take barrels of oil and molotov cocktails to the child of the Great One
* While it feasts on the hypnotized villagers, the investigators fight it until it dies

=== Assignment #4 - 06/22/2024 "Interview with a Deaconess" ===
Session Tags: Knight of the Pyre, the Pyre, the Ascendency

Characters: Alexandria, Gideon, Jamie, Amaranth

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Baxter White, Ariel Kelly, Diego Parris, [[Lorelei]] Pennywhistle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

* A Deaconess is being held by the OUP after her brother Reggie called them when he found her missing
* The Deaconess touched an artifact and ended up gaining telekinesis and the Pyre wanted to kill her for it
* While interviewing her and trying to plan a way to help her escape, a knight of the Pyre appeared to kill her.

-- We met the knight of the pyre for the first time! '''Diego Parris.'''

-- Deaconess Lorelei was killed by him tho sad ):

=== Assignment #5 - 06/26/2024 "Something Different About You" ===
Session Tags: Developers.

Characters: Gin Reynolds (Julia), Lulianna Vaerstrom (Emma), [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Malory “Mal” Harper] (Matt), Tara Lloyd (Sarah), Alexandria Aquino (Aerin), Cedric Margrave (Sam)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment I

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Steel

Important Things that Happened:

* Investigators entered an abandoned factory and immediately felt off
* A mixture of pain, anguish, joy and malice were felt on the walls
* Bleed was felt from a hallway, and the door opened itself mysteriously
* A scream was heard from within the building, and the team began to look for the source
* They entered the hallway, which had several decomposing bodies of developers
* The end of the hallway had an odd green light, and a man was seen standing there
** He began approaching the group, rambling somewhat
** Dr. Aquino approached him, with Lulianna also offering a way to help
** He responded with "I am Perfection" and snapped the neck of the Doctor
* The rest of the crew unloaded and retreated, then leveling the building on top of the experiment

=== Assignment #6 - 07/06/2024 "Petals of Protection" ===
Session Tags: The Cure, Owl Wain, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Amaranth (Anna), Luliana (Emma)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely [[Iris]]

District/Locations: Scarlet Woods / Bridleborn

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators are sent to retrieve timely iris to assist with making a cure for the fanged disease and red rash
* Scarlet runners are seen traveling this edge of the wood, tell you of a local legend of a [[ghost]] who requires you to be [[silent]] or she'll kill you
* When entering the area, if any sound is made, the investigators are quite immediately met with an attack of owls and among the owls, they see a young girl in a large feathery cloak, commanding the owls
* The young girl approaches when the investigators are brought to the ground but they all manage to get away to the Iris field
* They gather Iris and find a smugglers crate buried inside that contains the body of a young child, they think the same age as the Owl Wain's spirit appears. It is wearing a similar but less feathery cloak
* When leaving, the group attempts to console the Owl Wain. The Wain is distraught when Mara sings her the song and then when she goes to cry, she covers her mouth to keep herself quiet
* The investigators leave as the Wain is distracted and no longer attacking them.

=== Assignment #7 - 07/07/2024 "Assisting the Gumshoe" ===
Session Tags: The Ascendancy, The Pyre, Fangs, Dive Herald, Knight of the Pyre

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Jamie (Amal), and Gin (Julia)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:''Jonathan Aarons, '''[[Sister]] Fournier'''''

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: --

District/Locations: Shriveline, Briar Green, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

-- The people from the List are now dying! The team believes someone not on the list are killing them to benefit someone who is on the list.

-- Jamie Dies!

-- Candela managed to save the future Divine Herald!

=== Assignment #8 - 07/14/2024 "The Crimson River" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Malory_Harper Mal Harper] (Matt), Amaranth Cyrus (Anna), Tara (Sarah)

GM: Nick

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #9 - 07/17/2024 "We Can Take Your Pain" ===
Session Tags: Developers

Characters: [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Tess Henry (Mercedes), Gideon (Nick), Verity Leòn (Aerin), Amaranth Cyprus (Anna)

GM: Jon

Important NPCs: Set VII Experiment II

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: Briar Green

Important Things that Happened:

* The party arrived at the college campus, trying to understand what happened
* Used bleed detectors to find the source of the phenomenon
** It was determined to be the dormitory building
* The investigators entered and felt cold oppression and it got worse the higher they went
* As investigators spread out through the building, each began to see images of their fears.
* These fears pulled them towards the top floor, or sent them away depending on the person
* Eventually, the group saw the experiment on the third floor, and he feasted on their fear and found it delicious
* He wanted to feast on more than just fear, and turned to advance on the group
** They immediately opened fire as he tried to get closer, but he managed to get close
* He was wounded severely, retreating through a rift in the Flare

=== Assignment #10 - 07/19/2024 “The New Divine Herald" ===
Session Tags: Divine Herald, The Ascendancy, Red Rash, Quarantine, Fangs, [[Vampyre]]

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Father Lorrian (Keller), Gin (Julia), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Divine Herald Siobhan Fournier

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Vampyre Dust

District/Locations: The Shriveline, South Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

* The new Divine Herald states there will be a quarantine of South Soffit (indefinite), as well as a two-week hold on Hallowharbor, The Steel, and Red Lamp
* Desperate to find the reason behind the Red Rash, the investigators head to ground zero, South Soffit, before the [[midnight]] Quarantine begins
* In Gin's church in South Soffit, a few of those with the long version Red Rash state they got it from a soup kitchen where they saw the Divine Herald when she was just a Cardinal
* They are approached by a pair of doctors looking for those with long-lasting Red Rash to "assist" them
* Gin recognizes them as fanged creatures, like what attacked Lizzy
* They kill the pair, using symbols of the Ascendancy or a Ghostblade to turn them to dust
* They go the hospital the pair represented and find a "Vampyre Nursery" with a Nursery worker there, overseeing 5 newborns preparing to wake and 5 sedated [[humans]], ready to be feasted on when the newborns awake
* The journal from the Vampyre Nursery states that they were going to wake up in 3 days. It takes 5 days fully from bite to awaking.
* The investigators kill the Nursery Worker but not until they learn from him that the Divine Herald is a High Priestess from Lacroix, where she is known as the Countess Fournier
* She brought the Red Rash to [[Newfaire]] to show the vampyres who will be the most susceptible to being turned into a vampyre vs. who will be the food for those new vampyres

=== Assignment #11 - 07/27/2024 "The Owl Wain" ===
Session Tags: Local Legends, Owl Wain, The Cloud, The Cure, [[Player]] Catalyst

Characters: Lizzy (Talia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal), Gin (Julia), and Gideon (Nick)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: Owl Wain

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Timely Iris

District/Locations: Scarlet Wood, Bridleborn Mountains

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators returned to put the Owl Wain to rest and also seek out more timely Iris
* They take a side road and find a cloud that is giving off bleed
* The cloud feels like it is watching them and then it creates a dust [[devil]] and slurps up a pair of wild stallions before dispensing the bones and blood in front of them
* Going back to the main road, they find the Owl Wain and use the nursery rhyme song about her to plea to her and Gideon uses a spirit board to have her speak without speaking
* She tells them she has to be quiet because of Pa and she is afraid of the passing Smuggler wagons
* The riders on the wagon tell the investigators of a man who used to have his children travel with him and was unkind to them if they were not quiet and one by one the children went missing before the man retired because no one would work with him
* The investigators find the box with the Owl Wain's body, Gin performing her last rites and her spirit being laid to rest. On the Box they see the name Hildebrand and a location
* Going to the location, they find a cabin and inside, the body of the man, Hildebrand. The evidence shows he was murdered by his eldest daughter's fiance after she told him they couldn't be married because her father was refusing to let her go.
* The investigator's find the Owl Wain's room and her name before she became legend, Mary.
* Her eldest sister, Vanessa, seems to have escaped with her fiance.
* There is a third bed with the name Alyssa on it. The investigators find no evidence to lead them to her demise.
* Heading back, they have adequate amounts of Timely Iris

=== Assignment #12 - 07/30/2024 "The Sunken City" ===
Session Tags: City of the Resplendent, Eldritch Horror, Local Legends

Characters: Gideon (Nick), [[Malory Harper|Mal]] (Matt), Mara (Anna), Tara (Sarah), Alex (Jon)

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs: The Resplendent One, Alex's Visitor

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Gift of the Resplendent One

District/Locations: The Glass Sea

Important Things that Happened:

* The Investigators delved into the sea to find the city lost below
* In the Glass sea, they found what was once an island town now sunken and still inhabited
* The Glimmers are jellyfish like folk who were gifted their undersea bodies by their goddess, the Resplendent One
* The Glimmers share with Alex and Mallory that they found the Resplendent One by digging in a well that brought forth the gift.
* The gift works like oil, but uses much less to burn brightly
* They heard singing at the bottom of the well and went on a [[campaign]] to dig until they could find *her*
* The resplendent one, uncovered, pulled the village of Anchorwash down to be with her in the ocean
* The glimmers take the investigators to see the Resplendent one who they have chained because she threatened to leave them. The investigators can tell she is not truly locked in place though, but playing along with her followers.
* Alex is called to take some of the Resplendent Gift but breaks free of it at the last moment
* Gideon uses the Aetherstone to force the Glimmers back when they try to force Alex, but as it harms the Glimmers, it angers the Resplendent One who frees herself from her bonds to chase the investigators away.

=== Assignment #13 - 08/03/2024 "The Fanged" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #14 - 08/09/2024 "Happily Ever After" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Julia (Guest)

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #15 - 011/2024 "Shadow Protocols" ===
Session Tags: Intrigue, The Forge of Renewal, Disavowed

Characters: Gideon (Nick), Tara (Sarah), Amaranth (Anna)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Lucian Grim, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne, Felicity Ashcroft, Jackson "The Jackal" MacKey

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Partial rubbing of an Oldfairen tablet

District/Locations: The Steel, The Eaves, Hallowharbor, The N.P.S. Aurora

Important Things that Happened:

* The investigators received unmarked packages that contained a very small cylinder phonograph with a briefing for an assignment.
** As well as a chest that containing:
*** A device with a tag that notes the device as the Arcane Resonance Emitter (A.R.E.) - disables wards
*** A pair of wire frame glasses identified as Spectral Identified Glasses - identifies individuals
*** Each receives a first [[class]] ticket and an invitation to the gala aboard the [[airship]] Aurora during it's maiden voyage.
*** An envelope of cash for use during the assignment

* The assignment is to intercept notorious smuggler, Felicity Ashcroft and keep her from selling an ancient Oldfairen relic to wanted war criminal, Lucian Grim. The transaction is set to take place aboard The Aurora. Little is known about Grim due to his military records being completely redacted. The investigators are to conduct the assignment with the utmost secrecy but are instructed to stop the transaction no matter what (short of damaging the airship or harming passangers).
* The investigators procure disguises and false identities from Candela's Junior Quartermaster, Quinnavyr Sinclaire.
* The investigators board the Aurora without incident.
* Mara and Gideon head to the dance floor to survey the room in an attempt to spot Ashcroft. Tara spots her and calls the team's attention to the bar where Ashcroft is being flirted with by several powerful members of Newfairen society.
** As Gideon and Mara head towards the bar, Tara notices they Ashcroft exchanges looks with a large man, Magnus Thorne, from across the ballroom then makes an excuse and departs to meet with him.
* Tara follows Ashcroft and Thorne and sees them disappear into a stateroom, guard by a formidable man in the corridor, Jackson MacKey.
* Gideon remote views into the room once Tara identifies the room number. He sees:
** A wooden crate sits in the middle of the living area of the luxury room. It has been opened, but Gideon cannot see inside of it.
** Ashcroft sits on a couch across from a man, Lucian Grim. A woman, Mockingbird, stands behind Grim - ready to spring into action if needed.
** Ashecroft demands more money, despite their prior agreement. This angers Grim and he refuses. Ashcroft pulls a gun on Grim in response.
** Grim approaches her in an attempt to calm her down and agrees they should renegotiate. Once Ashcroft lowers her pistol, Grim grabs her and breaks her neck.
** He tells Mockingbird to take care of MacKey and be quick about it.
* Tara sees Mockingbird make fast work of MacKey then quickly drag him into the state room and close the door behind her.
* Gideon tells Mara he is going to join Tara.
* Tara devices a plan and performs a song from the stage and wows the attendees of the gala. It is under the ruse that she is singing it to her fiance.
* Gideon and Tara encounter ship's security and act lost in order to remove any suspicion and keep the guards patrolling.
* During Mara's song, Gideon and Tara use the A.R.E. to disable a word on the stateroom door. As they attempt to quietly open the door, Mockingbird hears the knob turning and pulls the door open.
** Tara draws her pistol and shoots at Mockingbird.
*** Using the shot at Mockingbird, Gideon runs past her to try and get to the crate.
** Magnus is preparing charges on the wall of the stateroom to create an escape route from the ship.
*** Grim is wearing a parachute and has strapped a light green stone tablet to himself.
* Gideon tries to bend a knife at Grim as Tara fights with Mockingbird. Thorne blows the charges on the wall and blows a hole in the wall to the outside of the ship, causing the exterior envelop of the airship to catch fire.
** Gideon's knife misses Grim, but it cuts a strap on his parachute and causes the tablet to slide towards the opening in the wall.
** Gideon dives for the tablet, but as the ship lurches, is thrown through the hole as well.
*** He fails to get the tablet, which falls into the sea below the airship.
**** Given manges to grab a hold of a metal rod to keeping from plummeting to his death.
**** As Grim moves to the opening, Gideon spots a piece of paper hanging out of Grim's jacket pocket.
***** Gideon tries to grab it but only gets a scrap of the paper, which is later discovered to be a rubbing of the tablet.
* Grim, Thorne and Mockingbird escape by parachute.
* Mara arrives in time to help Tara pull Gideon back into the airship.
* The airship returns to port and the investigators disappear into a crowd of evacuees.
* Later researching with their circle resources, they discover that the paper is a rubbing of the tablet. It speaks of something only named in part as "The Forge".
** Gideon spends several days researching The Forge and concludes it must be in relation to The Forge of Renewal. An ancient device capable of rewriting reality as the user of the machine sees fit.

=== Assignment #16 - 08/17/2024 "Missing Persons" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #17 - 08/18/2024 "Engines of Compromise" ===
Session Tags:

Characters: Tess Henry (Mercedes), Cedric (Sam), Gin (Julia), Verity (Aerin), Gio (Amal)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Prof. Alfred Greene, Jacob Wallace, Mockingbird, Magnus Thorne

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None, but the investigators encountered three pale men in black suits that emitted bleed and possessed some kind of psychic ability that remains unidentified.

District/Locations: South Soffit - The Monarch Theater, Briar Green - Professor Greene's home, Hallowharbor - Freighter docks

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #18 - 08/20/2024 "We Move in the Dark" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:\

=== Assignment #19 - 08/25/2024 "The Healing Church" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened

=== Assignment #20 - 08/27/2024 "Blood-Starved Beasts" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #21 - 09/04/2024 "... vestus ardeat debet" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Matt

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #22 - 09/12/2024 "Where My Brother Rests" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Jon

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #23 - 09/14/2024 "The First Lightkeeper of LaCroix" ===
Session Tags:

Characters:

GM: Mercedes

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== Assignment #00 - 10/12/2024 "Failure at Thunderdawn" ===
Session Tags: Guest GM Session, Qandela Obscura: War Stories

Hook: A recent land development project near the remote town of Meridian has gone suddenly quiet. The Noman High Command has lost contact with a team of military operatives that was sent to investigate. An officer within the High Command has gone around their superiors and asked Candela Obscura to investigate. The reason for their concern? The land was once home to the war time research facility, Thunderdawn.

Characters: Aster Moreau, Piers Corden, Silas Heartwood

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Caleb Zener, Emily Zener, Dr. Sabine Dirac, Dr. Joshua Lackwell, Lt. Heartwood

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: No phenomenon or artifacts were recovered during the assignment. The investigators did gather enough information to allow Candela Obscura to resolve the situation in 36 CR. They also set in motion the recovery of hundreds of ancient artifacts and brought The Reliquary into the Pharos as the keeper of these items.

District/Locations: The Pharos, Operation: Thunderdawn (Noman Military Installation, 29 CR)

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are chosen for their ability to think creatively under pressure. Their assignment involves the use of a prototype temporal device known as The Resonator. It was constructed using fragments of ancient designs uncovered at several archeological sites. Dr. Heywood built the Resonator deep within the Pharos in a secured research wing known internally as The Foundry. This assignment marks the first (and potentially only) time the device has ever been used, and no one can guarantee the safety of the process or even whether the investigators will return unharmed. Dr. Heywood believes the Resonator was originally created for powerful psychic individuals who could send minds back along the stream of time and into the bodies of those who once lived. The purpose of the machine was always meant to be observation, not interference.

Emily and Caleb Zener serve as psychic focal points for the device. Caleb is kept in a cold glass chamber to maintain stability during attunement, while Emily connects directly to the investigators as the Resonator activates. Once the machine engages, Aster, Piers, and Silas are projected into the bodies of three people stationed at Thunder Dawn in 29 CR.

Silas finds himself inside the mind and life of Sergeant Danny Fogerty, a member of the base security team who is secretly in love with a test subject named Samantha Dawes. Aster takes Emily Zener’s place years before her future involvement with Candela. Piers arrives in the body of Dr. Sabine Dirac, who is working to create a militarized version of the Resonator that will turn the tide of the war. If successful, her work will secure her a coveted position on the Council.

Life at the base is shaped by two competing research projects. Dr. Lackwell oversees experiments that attempt to contain and control a powerful entity of living flame known by the guards as The Burner. His work depends heavily on Emily, and he keeps her motivated with the promise that she may someday see her long lost twin brother again. Dr. Dirac conducts her own series of experiments using Samantha as her primary subject. Samantha is terrified of her and carries several bruises, although the nature of the injuries is never made explicit.

Silas quickly realizes that his father is stationed at the base as its second in command. The knowledge hits him hard because he knows exactly how these events are supposed to end. His directive is to observe, but that becomes more difficult with every passing hour.

The collapse begins during one of Emily’s experiments. Aster, trapped inside her mind, loses control of Emily’s psychic abilities. The Burner breaks free of containment and the entire base erupts into chaos. Alarms fill the halls. Security teams mobilize. Scientists scatter as fire cuts through the laboratory wings.

Before the breach, Piers experiences a private conversation between Dr. Lackwell and Dr. Dirac while occupying her body. They speak openly about their competition to complete their work first. Either outcome would secure the remaining Council seat that both believe they deserve.

During the breach, Silas helps Samantha escape the base and promises that he will follow. He then joins Lt. Heartwood in an effort to slow the Burner’s advance. Aster regains enough control over Emily’s abilities to hold the creature in place for a few precious moments. The soldiers use this brief window to force it back toward containment, although none of them survive the attempt.

Aster collapses from the strain of holding the Burner at bay. Silas drags her to the elevator on his father’s orders. He and Aster watch from the lift, along with Samantha, while the security forces make their final stand and seal the blast doors. Dr. Lackwell is consumed by the creature. The Burner is locked inside the deepest section of the base but only temporarily.

Whether Fogerty and Samantha escaped in the original timeline is unknown. The investigators never receive a clear answer and the records from 29 CR remain incomplete.

Emily Zener in the present pulls the investigators back to 36 CR. Once they regain their senses, Candela deploys a follow up team to the ruins. They learn that modern construction crews disturbed the sealed chamber and released the Burner again. The Noman High Command unit that followed was the last group to encounter the creature before it fled the ruins.

After returning to the present, Silas recalls a vivid moment from his youth. Shortly after the war ended, a man in a Noman uniform arrived at his family home with a young pregnant woman. Together they delivered a pair of dog tags and a wedding band to Silas’s mother. He never understood the meaning of the gesture until now, and the memory settles over him with new weight.

While occupying Sgt. Fogerty’s body, Silas also encounters a strange being that guards a vault filled with ancient relics and texts. It appears as a floating jar of smoke with bright green eyes and calls itself The Reliquary. When Candela sends their follow up team, they retrieve the vault and bring the being back to the Pharos. The Reliquary now serves as the keeper of all recovered artifacts entrusted to Candela by investigators across the world.

== '''Arc 3 - The Shadow and The Dream''' ==

=== '''Assignment #1 - 01/18/25 "Nothing Left but Teeth and Bones..."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Two weeks ago a gas explosion destroyed a bakery in The Sidle. Recently several residents report sightings of smoldering apparitions resembling loved ones lost in the tragedy. Lightkeeper Harrison Park has summoned you to determine if a phenomenon is behind the sightings and if they are related to the explosion.''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of death, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Characters: Feyre Acheron, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter "Dex" Miller, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, and Mocking-bird

GM: Matt

Session Date: 01/18/25

Important NPCs: Harry Park, Clara Sutton, Eleanor Sutton, Nikoli Sorell

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Nikoli Sorell's journal, Sorell's key ring, Sorell's wallet w/ identification, a magickal exlposive device (rendered useless)

Assignment Date: December 24, 36 CR

District/Locations: The Sidle

Important Things that Happened:

The investigators are called to The Sidle by Lightkeeper Harrison Park to investigate a mysterious explosion that destroyed Merrick’s Hearth bakery two weeks earlier. The team begins their investigation at the ruins of the bakery, where they find scorch marks and shadows of the victims burned into the walls, clear evidence of the tragedy’s intensity. The remains of the bakery are unstable, with debris threatening to collapse at any moment.

Carmen places a bare hand against the door frame of the bakery and experiences past emotions of horror and malevolence. As the investigators explore the basement of the bakery, both Carmen and Clancy feel someone’s sheer terror and wicked glee through a psychic emanation.

Ultimately, the timing of the explosion and the appearance of reported sightings of the fury apparitions suggest some kind of connection, and that the explosion was no accident though things seem unclear at first.

A strange man is spotted across the street from the bakery, taking notes. Mockingbird manages to sneak up on him and discover that his notes are for that very night and time and that he is writing the description of someone - later discovered to be Feyre. The man makes a scene and uses Mocking-bird’s desire to avoid drawing undo attention to herself to leave.

During a visit to The Sidle Community Center, where residents have gathered to share their grief, the investigators learn from Clara Sutton, a grieving mother, that her daughter Eleanor, who died in the explosion, now appears as a ghostly figure following her wherever she goes. Eleanor’s smoldering form does not enter buildings or harm anyone, but her presence fills Clara with confusion and sorrow, as she believes her ghostly figure is the spirit of her beloved daughter. Eleanor’s flickering figure is spotted outside the window.

Feyre learns of the death of her brother-in-law, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]], from Lincoln’s sister Ellie. He was one of the victims of the explosion.

Dex leaves the community meeting to speak with Eleanor - joined shortly there after by the rest of the investigators and Clara.

Clancy and Mocking-bird catch sight of the strange man that Mocking-bird saw taking notes walking past the community center’s park from where he was first seen across from the bakery. When he realizes he has been spotted, he runs. Both Clancy and Mocking-bird make chase and are joined shortly thereafter by Carmen.

Working together, Feyre and Dex piece together that Eleanor’s spirit is tied to the explosion and the unsettling presence that Carmen felt tied to Eleanor. As the rest of the team tackle Nikoli nearby in the street and wrestle him to the ground. Where Carmen enters his mind to determine who he is and why he was following them. In his mind, she sees glimpses of memories:

''Terror on a bearded man’s face when he sees a tall, thin man. The tall man exudes a malevolent energy.''

''Bakers, dead on the ground near the ovens of the bakery.''

''The tall man, joined by pale men in black suits walking out of the bakery as the tall man snaps his fingers and causes the bakery to explode behind them.''

As Carmen explored the man’s mind, Mockingbird maintained an iron hold on the man’s neck so Clancy could frisk and search him. They find a notebook showing that he had been following someone referred to as “L.M.” under order from a person known only as “K”. In the journal they see that he was notating:

''Lincoln’s day-to-day activities, business meetings, transcripts from recordings of personal conversations in Lincoln’s home with his family and friends and photos of Lincoln.''

In total, there is nearly three months of data leading up to the explosion. As well as an entry stating that, “...the package is in place.” with a date from the night before the bakery explosion. The evidence points to Lincoln being a target in the explosion, raising suspicions that it was not an accident but an assassination.

Comparing the photos in the man’s journal to his memories, Carmen shows the photos to Feyre and asks if the photos are of her brother-in-law, Feyre helps Carmen confirm that L.M. in the journal was, in fact, Lincoln.

Carmen is also able to determine that the man was trying to crush a poison tooth in his mouth but Mocking-bird’s hold hand locked his mouth open so he could not bite down.

The investigators destroy the remnants of a device that is covered in Oldfairen markings, dispersing the residual bleed energy and freeing Eleanor’s spirit from its tether to the physical world.

Found in the man’s satchel is also a wallet with documents identifying him as Nikoli Sorell and a small key ring with three keys.

''Key #1: A vehicle key of some kind''

''Key #2: A deadbolt key''

''Key #3: A padlock key''

Nikoli is rendered unconscious by Mocking-bird and taken to the headquarters of The Circle of Whistles and Whispers to be held in their vault for identification and removal of the poison tooth and questioning.

After putting Nikoli into containment in the vault, the team investigates an address found on the driver's license found in Nikoli's wallet. It leads to an apartment directly across the street from the book store Verbatim, which is below a pair of apartments where Lincoln had lived with his family.

When searching the apartment, Feyre, Clancy and Mocking-bird discover a cardboard box containing In the cardboard box, there are a lot of newspaper clippings and three books, “Summer at Silverslip”, “The Day the Veil Was Torn” and “Mud and Bones”. All novels written by Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

The news clippings were all from local papers about book signings, public readings, his activities as a member Newfaire Arts Council and as a volunteer at the South Soffit Public Library.

Both the books and news articles had notations in them in Sorell's handwriting; further detailing the lengths he went to in following Lincoln.

Mocking-bird searched a desk in the apartment that contained unopened rolls of camera film as well as a small camera to go with them. Behind a false panel in the lower right hand drawer are three spools of audio film from a radio device on top of the desk as well as notes in a set of leather notebooks containing transcriptions of conversations recorded with the device on the desk since labels on and in the notebooks appear to correspond to labels on the reels.

Feyre searched a steamer trunk at the foot of the studio apartment's bed and, after a few minutes of rummaging through a stack of pants and shirts, she noticed a small separation between the bottom the trunk and the inner wall of it - a false bottom to the trunk.

Beneath this false bottom were a collection of guns, knives, piano wire, what could be several small explosive devices, small bottles labeled as various poisons, thieves tools, several forms of identification under several different names but all with Sorell’s photograph in them (business cards, a periphery badge, OUP identification, an ID for The Noman Army’s Division of Legal Investigation and several passports in different names - each with Nikoli's photograph), large sums of cash in various currencies and several single person, one way tickets aboard the railroad, airship liners and sea going vessels.

There was also a date book with various appointments, dates and notes all written in Hillian (the language of East Hills). Within the date book Feyre found a business card for a business in The Varnish, Parson’s Paraphernalia - Antiquities • Books • Spiritual Consultant. A phone number was printed on the back of the card along with the business address and the name of the owner and proprietor, Jasper Parson.

On the card in Sorell’s handwriting was a time and date, 11:30 AM, 11/22/36.

Lastly, Clancy found a loose floorboard concealing another, leather bound journal. The entire [[The Strange Journal|journal]] was written in a strange language.

=== '''Assignment #2 - 01/19/25 "In The Light of the New Year"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''With the new year rapidly approaching, invitations are being sent out for the dozens of First Light parties being hosted around the city. Piers Corden has received several for one of the most famous and most coveted- the one hosted by Metamorph Industries. What a better way to celebrate First Light than go to a famous party?''

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains depictions of [[alcohol]], and violence at a public gathering.'''''

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #3 - "Cornered"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Investigation, Memory Manipulation, Monster Hunt, Paranormal Activity, Hidden Threats

Hook: The Investigators were summoned to Noman Grand Hospital to investigate the murder of Marie Chen, a freshman at Briargreen College, who was slain by her best friend who is temporarily being held under psychiatric observation after he told his doctor of shadows that "crawl into your head and steal your thoughts".

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain themes of death, mental illness, grief and depictions of gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 01/14/37 CR

Characters: [[Callum]] McVeigh, Feyre Acheron, Mocking-bird, Persephone "[[Percy]]" Montgomery, Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Arthur "[[Artie]]" Lemmon, Dr. Sylvia Harlow, The Hallow, Shard

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Blood and tissue samples from The Shadow Man, mucus sample from the black sedan

District/Locations: Silverslip, The Sidle, South Soffit, Eastreek, Nine Irons

Important Things that Happened:

Upon their arrival at Grand Noman Hospital, the investigators met Dr. Sylvia Harlow, a psychiatrist who had been treating a young man accused of murder named Artie Lemmon. Artie, a 20-year-old former butcher, had been charged with the murder of his best friend, Marie Chen. Artie’s account of the incident was disjointed and fragmented, with several days of his memory completely blank until shortly after Marie’s murder.

Artie recalled trying to eat a turkey sandwich during his lunch on Friday, but nothing after that. Marie was murdered the following Monday night. He remembers being unable to finish it and comments it tasted bitter to him. He also states that he thinks he might have given it to a local unhoused man known only in The Soffit as Jones.

Lastly, he drew a picture for the investigators of the monster he was certain he had seen in the butcher shop, crawling into Marie’s head, stealing her thoughts. Referring to the creature only as The Shadow Man.

The investigators’ search for clues led them to Cunningham’s Butcher Shop where Artie had worked. Mocking-bird bought a sandwich, a bottle of pop and a paper bag of thinly sliced, fried potatoes that Mr. Cunningham referred to as ‘crisps’. Percy scanned for bleed in the butcher shop but only found residual traces of bleed energy. Feyre broke into the shop after Mr. Cunningham had closed up for the night and surveyed the turkey’s in the walk-in cooler. She took an accounting of numbered tags on each turkey and looked through Cunnigham’s ledger.

After determining everything looked to be in order, Feyre placed some money into the butcher’s safe with a note reading ''‘Invest in some new locks buddy.”''

The investigators left the Sidle to find Jones in the undercity to see if he was adversely affected by the turkey sandwich Artie might have shared with him. When investigating a park that Artie frequented during his lunches to practice his drawing, Percy noticed a woman watching them from an alley across the street. A man approached her from within the alley and they left in a black sedan.

Mocking-bird, being a resident of The Soffit, had run into Jones as well as other unhoused individuals in her work trying to get Scarlet off the street. The trio they found were users of the drug, not distributors. After a bit of conversation, it is determined that while the team had thought that perhaps the turkey was tainted, it appeared to be fine because Jones had not experienced anything strange after eating the sandwich.

The team then made their way to Nine Irons to examine the body of Marie in the city morgue, but also noticed the black sedan from The Sidle. Mocking-bird and Filly decided to head into the morgue while Callum, Feyre and Percy approached the black sedan. Filly distracted the clerk as Mocking-bird snuck into the morgue. Once inside, she found an open cold chamber with a label indicating that it had been where Marie’s body had once been. It was empty. The window of the morgue was broken and indicated that someone or something had escaped through it from the inside.

As Feyre approached the black sedan, she noticed it was running but it did not sound like a normal automobile. When attempting to unlock the car, it revved its engine and drove down the street from her; even though the vehicle was empty. An attempt to shim the lock of the car open revealed no apparent locking mechanism within the door. When she removed the shim from the door, it was covered in some sort of mucus.

As she attempted to wipe it clean, the man the investigators had seen in The Sidle called out to her and approached the car. Which turned out to be his. It purred when he stepped up to the trunk and opened up for him. The trunk shifted and revealed a selection of weapons. Percy held the man at gunpoint, but he was unimpressed and removed a large rifle from the trunk.

As Mocking-bird and Filly joined the investigators outside, the woman from The Sidle joined the man at the car. Filly asked them if they were members of Candela Obscura to which the man replied, “No ma’am. We’re professionals.”

Then offered to team up with the investigators in tracking down what actually killed Marie.

Mockingbird and FIlly confirmed that Marie’s body was missing.

Begrudgingly, the investigators join the two strangers and venture into Eastreek to find whatever had killed Marie and possibly absconded with her body.

When asked by Callum who the man and woman were, the man replied, “We’re the Nightkeepers.”

Their plan was simple. The investigators would serve as bait to draw out the creature and the Nightkeepers, known as Shard and The Hollow, would ambush it and kill it.

Shortly after entering the labyrinthian landfill, a mysterious figure in a mask that introduced themself as the greatest [[thief]] in the world made a distraction atop a hill of trash and was almost instantly attacked from the shadows by a creature made of flesh and shadow, seemingly made of both male and female genders. The female part resembling Artie’s description of Marie.

The masked woman known as, later understood to be known as Lady Phantasma, was subdued by the monster as it dug into her mind.

The investigators tried to stop the monster from attacking the masked woman, but were overcome with a sudden terror from the sight of the creature slipping its fingers beneath the newcomer's scalp. All but Filly.

The Doctor attempted to appeal to whatever common ground might dwell within the monster in the hopes that some piece of Marie was still inside there. And while her courageous attempt to persuade the monster seemed to work, it turned out that Filly had just drawn the monster's attention. As it approached her, the Nightkeepers arrived and attacked with a combination of magikal and technological attacks.

The Hollow was injured in the fight with the monster, but between Callum, Mocking-bird physically assailing the [[beast]] while Feyre and Filly tried to keep it from killing The Hollow. Lady Phantasma managed to find The Hollow’s gun and repeatedly fired at the creature, killing it.

As the fog of disorientation began to clear from Phantasma’s mind, she shared some information she had learned when her mind was connected to The Shadow Man’s.

The Shadow Man had been fed upon the memories of Artie, Marie and Phantasma. It had been born of some kind of accident in a strange lab where it merged with a technician that was checking on the body of an unconscious woman in a hospital bed.

The feeding process always leaves The Shadow Man’s victims disoriented and afraid. In Artie’s disoriented state, he attacked Marie in a misguided attempt to stop The Shadow Man. His wild attacks left Marie dead on the floor of the butcher’s shop where she had found Artie reeling from being attacked by The Shadow Man.

As the sounds of police sirens filled the air, the investigators gathered their wounded and quickly selected a sample of The Shadow Man’s tissue and blood for study by Candela Obscura. The Hollow reassured them they could smooth things over with the Periphery.

They also hoped to use the sample to persuade the courts that Artie was unwillingly under the effects of a psychoactive substance that caused him to lose control of himself and kill Marie. His fate currently remains unclear.

In the aftermath, the team now gone, The Hollow and Shard Examined The Shadow Man’s body.

The Hollowed looked on as Shard knelt beside the creature, her hand lightly resting on its form, crystalline veins glowing faintly along her arm in the dim light.

The Hollow kept his voice low, “Anything?”

Shard replied quietly, almost mournful. “It’s still alive.”

The Hollow paused, his expression grim as he spoke: “Box it up and let The Boss know we bagged another one.”

=== '''Assignment #4 - "Heart of Steel"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: The investigators are once again sent to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate theft of medical supplies, organic materials, and the energy source of an experimental healing device created by EONS; as well as several cases of patients experiencing a relapse of a serious illness.

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment will contain body horror and gore.'''''

Assignment Date: 02/07/37 CR

Characters: Arin Kwyin, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Katherine Ellenbogen, Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dr. Lucy Franklin, Jacob Franklin, Dr. David Franklin, Dr. Eliza Morgan, Detective Irene Mathers, Detective Joe Brandt, Ezekial Graves, Nichelle

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Actium-77 (Synthesized Isotope)

District/Locations: Silverslip, Grand Noman Hospital

Important Things that Happened:

# '''Setting and Initial Observations'''
#* The investigators were dispatched to Grand Noman Hospital to investigate thefts of medical supplies, organic fluids, and the energy source of the Vitae Reconstructor, a device developed by Holthorne Biologics.
#* They found evidence of tampered supply rooms, scorch marks near the Vitae Reconstructor, and dangerous residual bleed energy left behind.
#* Tensions rose quickly with the arrival of two Periphery detectives, Mathers and Brandt, who were openly hostile to the investigators' involvement and focused solely on recovering Actium-77.
#* Amid the chaos, several patients were found horribly mutated by exposure to unstable bleed energy.
#* Suspicious behavior from Dr. Lucy Franklin led the investigators to track her movements through the hospital, ultimately uncovering a secret sub-basement where Lucy and her brother Jacob were conducting unauthorized experiments.
# '''Recovery of Items and Information'''
#* In the sub-basement workshop, the investigators found Lucy and Jacob tending to a grotesque mechanical womb sustaining their dying brother David.
#* The device was leaking dangerous amounts of bleed energy, amplified by the unstable Actium-77 housed improperly in the core.
#* When the investigators confronted the siblings, a violent struggle broke out: Jacob shot Mocking-bird in the shoulder, injuring her.
#* Byron cracked the reinforced glass porthole of the mechanical suit during the skirmish, causing irradiated amniotic fluid to spill out into the workshop and exposing everyone present to bleed contamination.
#* As tensions flared, Jacob and Lucy revealed their desperation: the military had cut off David’s medical services following the war’s end, leaving them with no other way to save him. Jacob, weeping, begged Byron for help.
#* Bound by the magickal compulsion of his curse, Byron aided them.
# '''Confrontation with the Periphery'''
#* Moments later, Detectives Mathers and Brandt arrived with a group of police officers, prepared to make arrests.
#* The investigators warned the officers not to enter the contaminated workshop and agreed to submit to arrest once safely outside the bleed exposure zone.
#* However, when they attempted to explain the situation, Detective Brandt grew aggressive, pushing the investigators against a wall in an attempt to forcibly arrest them.
#* Byron resisted arrest, leading to a brutal confrontation between the investigators and the officers.
#* Mathers attempted to shoot Mocking-bird, but missed narrowly during the melee.
#* Mocking-bird shattered Brandt’s knee with a savage blow, and Byron incapacitated Mathers by stabbing her gun hand with a concealed knife.
# '''Escape and Aftermath'''
#* The investigators fled the hospital amidst the chaos, wounded and pursued.
#* Outside, they witnessed operatives from the secretive Nightkeepers—specifically Shard and The Hollow—loading the Franklin siblings and the mechanical womb onto a large flatbed truck.
# '''Legal Fallout'''
#* In the aftermath, warrants were issued for the arrest of Regicide (Byron Core) and Mocking-bird (Olive Horvat) on charges including assaulting officers, resisting arrest, and fleeing custody.
#* The incident left the situation at Grand Noman Hospital deeply unsettled, with lingering bleed contamination, a growing antagonism between vigilantes and the Periphery.

=== '''Assignment #5 - "Good Night, Sleep Tight"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #6 - "The Devil Doctor of South Soffit"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Power and Corruption, Bleed Exposure, Spiritualism, Supernatural Deception

Hook: After rumors spread of a mysterious figure solving supernatural problems for the people of South Soffit—at no charge—investigators are assigned by Harry to look into it. Descriptions of the so-called "Devil Doctor" eerily match photographs of Lincoln, a retired and deceased investigator. With growing reports of unexplained phenomena and bleed energy spikes, the investigators are tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Devil Doctor’s rise.

Content Warnings: Themes of bleed exposure, manipulation of spiritual beliefs, exploitation of the poor

Characters: Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Byron Core (Regicide), Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird)

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: The Devil Doctor (The Dark Half), Lila Marchand (The Light Half), Joaquin Reyes, Sophia Reyes, Periphery Sergeant Isabela Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: The Book, “Compacts and Covenants” was destroyed except for part of the cover

District/Locations: South Soffit, Meyers Storage, O'Malley's Pub, Robinson Field

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

* Investigators were briefed at O’Malley’s Pub by Harry, who revealed a new figure in South Soffit known as the Devil Doctor—a supernatural problem solver matching Lincoln’s appearance.
* Percy, Byron and Olive traveled to South Soffit, noting the district’s eerie, heavy atmosphere—still scarred by the Red Rash plague of the year prior.

'''2. First Encounter with the Devil Doctor'''

* In an old crowded warehouse, the investigators witnessed the Devil Doctor dramatically pulling a ghostly figure from an old woman. She had claimed to be haunted by her deceased husband and was suffering blindness caused from the moment that her husband’s ghost appeared. The ghost, content that his wife would be alright vanished and her sight returned.
* A dark-haired woman (Lila Marchand) watched from the edge of the gathering, carrying a worn messenger bag.
* Joaquin Reyes, a retired dock worker who lost an arm in an accident when a crane buckled due to a lack of safety related maintenance, was seen assisting the elderly woman and speaking with the Devil Doctor.
* Byron and Percy were in disguise as unhoused and given meals to eat and welcomed warmly by those gathered to witness the “miracle”.
* Olive spoke with Sgt. Reyes after Joaquin left with Sophia so she could finish her homework. Isabela, who was already suspicious of the group her brother had “fallen in with” immediately grew suspicious of their presence. She warned them to stay away from her people, or she’d put them behind bars.
* They were invited to join the congregants three days later where another “helper” in the flock, Thomas “Jonsey” Jones, had been given permission to use a small area of their place of employment (Robinson Field, home of the South Soffit Sluggers) for the group to meet as they were never able to find a permanent place to meet.
* Percy detected lingering, non-harmful bleed energy radiating from Joaquin and the room in which the ghost had been banished.

'''3. Confrontation with Isabela Reyes'''

* Isabela Reyes, dressed out of uniform, was caught tailing the investigators by Byron.
* After a tense exchange, Olive persuaded Isabela to let them help.
* Isabela reluctantly agreed, but promised if they stepped out of line, she’d run them in.

'''4. Robinson Field'''

* On the night when the trio would reconvene, Olive tailed Lila Marchand and cornered her and learned that her relationship with The Devil Doctor was, “complicated”. Before they could learn more, Jonesy informed them that they had been invited to meet with the Devil Doctor privately before that evenings gathering.

* Percy successfully identified that Joaquin, Jonesy and the elderly woman from the night before (all “healed” by the Devil Doctor) carried faint traces of bleed.

'''5. The Devil Doctor’s Ultimatum'''

* In the Slugger’s locker room, the Devil Doctor confronted the investigators directly.
** He revealed he was a manifestation of a compact that Lila had made to help The Soffit under the pressure of the Red Rash.
** The being she formed the compact with manifested on this [[plane]] of existence and could draw Lila’s supernaturally gifted abilities to solve supernatural problems that he created. This cycle only served to make him stronger and Lila weaker.
** He gripped a book with the title “Compacts and Covenants” in his hand, which had been used by Lila to forge the compact.
** She had been given the book by a friend that had trusted her to guard it - Lincoln. His use of the book to forge his own compact had left a magickal imprint on the book. Resulting in the Devil Doctor’s resemblance to Lincoln.
* He offered to help Percy recover her missing memories in exchange for their silence—but Percy rejected the offer.

* The investigators learned that the Devil Doctor’s strength was tied to a book he carried.
* The Devil Doctor summoned twisted supernatural creatures to fight alongside him.
* Mocking-bird and Regicide directly engaged the minions in hand-to-hand combat, taking heavy bleed exposure in the process, knocking the book from the Devil Doctor’s grasp. Percy and Mocking-bird worked quickly to destroy it.
** When Percy stabbed the book with a knife from Byron’s utility belt, she had a vision:
*** ''In a city of ruin and rebirth, towers of brick and steel crumble only to be rebuild themselves as a massive figure rests upon an undulating throne; drifting idly through the a sky of stars. Beneath this watching ruler, a woman, shrouded in shadow sits at a fire with their sleeves rolled up. They chant softly in an ancient tongue; casting golden powder into the fire. Slowly a series of glyphs begin to pulse with orange light along their right forearm, a Sigil blazing to life in their palm. She screams into the night.''

'''7. Resolution'''

* Destroying the book unraveled the compact, causing the Devil Doctor to disintegrate in a screaming vortex of smoke and bleed.
* Lila survived, freed from the compact's control.
* Jonesy and Jaoquin took up the roles of leadership of their flock, realizing the power of the faith was in each other and their community, not a person possessing supernatural power.
** Byron bought them a building where they would be able to operate from indefinitely.
** The group begins official operations of community outreach under the banner of ''The Lantern Society'' and the motto, ''“Where light is needed, we bear the flame.”''

=== '''Assignment #7 - "Vanishing Act"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #8 - "Faulty Memory"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Judicial Corruption, Occult Conspiracy

Hook: After receiving a private request from Dr. Sylvia Harlow, Artie Lemmon’s psychiatrist, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to discreetly assist in Artie’s defense. Dr. Harlow fears that Artie’s fragile mental state has been weaponized against him and that a larger, darker plot is at work. With evidence mounting against Artie, the investigators must move quickly to uncover the truth before Artie is sent to the hangman's noose.

Content Warnings: Themes of injustice, Political Corruption

Characters: Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Olive Horvat ([[Mocking-Bird]]), Katherine Ellenbogen, Noelle Silva, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Artie Lemmon, Riley Lemmon, James [[Hendrix]], Judge Marcus Donnelly, Ellie Carlson, District Attorney Miles Lah

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence of conspiracy by The City Medical Examiner of chemical contaminants causing Artie to kill Marie Chen without his knowledge.

District/Locations: Silveslip, City Courthouse

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* Dr. Sylvia Harlow privately contacted Candela Obscura, expressing concern that Artie Lemmon’s trial was compromised by supernatural manipulation.
* Investigators attended the first day of Artie's trial, noting Judge Donnelly’s aggressive posture and the unnerving tension saturating the courthouse.
* The presiding Medical Examiner presented forensic evidence aligning Artie with the murder, though inconsistencies were noted.
** The investigators suspected tampering with evidence as there was no mention of [[Qandela Obscura/The Story So Far#Assignment #3 - "Cornered"|Marie Chen’s body having disappeared or the presence of foreign substances that could also Artie’s mental state and cause him to kill his best friend]].

* Katherine went directly to the City Morgue (her place of employment) and began reading through case files from both the medical examiner overseeing the autopsy of Marie Chen’s body as well as the case files from The Periphery.

'''2. Complications with Witnesses'''

* Nathanial Cunningham (Artie’s employer), under legal obligation, reluctantly testified about discovering Artie bloodied and dazed next to Marie’s body when he arrived the morning after Marie’s killing.
* Mathers and Brandt, ex-detectives once assigned to the case, were overheard by the investigators to be privately discussing suspicions of a larger conspiracy at work as their case work had lead them to think that Artie murdering Marie didn’t add up as there was no apparent motive.

'''3. Conclusion of Day 1'''

* Riley Lemmon approaches Filly, stating she knows that Dr. Bailey and her comrades are more than what they seem and that they work with [[The Nighthawk]] and Mocking-bird. She asks Filly if the doctor would ask the masked vigilantes to help Artie escape police custody because she knows he isn’t going to get a fair trial. No one from The Soffit does. Filly delicately tells Riley that breaking Artie out of prison would only make the young man’s life harder and says she cannot help.
** Riley denounces Filly and storms away, determined to solve the problem on her own.
** Filly discusses the matter with Olive in the hopes that they might be able to figure out a way to help Artie.

'''4. Uncovering the Occult Conspiracy'''

* Olive changed into her disguise as Mocking-bird and shadowed Judge Donnelly.
** She hid outside the fourth story window of the study at his home and overheard him discussing manipulation of the case with a man, whos eyes glowed like hot embers and that his “''...keepers wanted Lemmon taken care of or they would find a judge who would follow their instructions.''” Donnelly was promised significant wealth and political power in exchange for his services.
* After the Man with the Ember Eyes left, and Donnelly retired for the evening, Mocking-bird searched his home and found recordings and accounting documents revealing that Donnelly was taking bribes. There was also a tape recorder of conversations with the Man with the Ember Eyes clearly meant for use if Donnelly needed to black mail the group who was controlling his work as a judge.

'''5. Meeting with Ellie Carlson'''

* Percy went to Ellie and told her of her encounter with The Shadow Man that killed Marie and had taken over a portion of her body.
* She agreed to take the stand, but to leave the topics of monsters out of her testimony

'''6. Mocking-bird Goes to Lah'''

* Mocking-bird meets Ellie and Percy at the District Attorney’s office and agrees to turn herself in if Lah will accept the evidence she found at Donnelly’s house.
** Lah deputizes Mocking-bird and gets her charges dropped so he can legitimize the evidence she has brought to him.
* Katherine finds evidence that the coroner’s report has been tampered with and sends copies to D.A. Lah’s office.
* Carlson and Lah agree to enter all evidence and new testimony into the record the following morning.

'''7. Trial Outcome and Final Gambits'''

* Percy takes the stand and says that they suffered an attack in Eastreek similar to what Arite reported.
* Lah confronts Donnelly publicly in front of the court and plays the recordings of Donnelly accepting bribes.
* Donnelly was arrested on corruption charges and removed from office.
'''8. Resolution'''
* Artie was found not guilty and released, though the full healing process would be long and difficult.
* The group that was bribing Donnelly remains hidden, though their immediate plans in South Soffit were disrupted.
* Report, James Hendrix began deeper investigations into the secretive groups manipulating events behind the scenes.
* Riley thanks Filly for getting Mocking-bird involved, even if she didn’t break Artie out of jail and apologizes to Filly.

=== '''Assignment #9 - "No Rest for the Wicked"''' ===
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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #10 - "Hot off the Presses"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Spontaneous Combustion, Conspiracy

Hook: After the public death of reporter James Hendrix by spontaneous combustion, Candela Obscura dispatches investigators to determine whether supernatural forces were involved. As they uncover the truth, they find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy tied to a supernatural enforcer and a secretive cabal seeking to control Newfaire's future.

Content Warnings: Graphic death (spontaneous combustion), Themes of suppression of truth, Political conspiracy, Supernatural and physical violence

Characters: Carmen Baxter, Olive Horvat (Mocking-bird), Byron Hans Core (Regicide), Dr. Phyllis "Filly" Bailey, Dexter "Dex" Miller

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: James Hendrix, the Man with the Ember Eyes, Malcolm "Mac" Voss

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Evidence that Hendrix's story was being suppressed, Learning Worms, Bones used in the forming of a portal

District/Locations: The Civil Tribune (Silverslip), The No Tell Motel - Room #17 (The Red Lamp), An Abandoned Warehouse (The Steel)

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #11 - "Behind Closed Doors"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

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GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

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=== '''Assignment #12 - "The Root of All Evil"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Briargreen, Nightkeepers, Plant Horror, Ecoterrorism, Periphery Tension, Moral Dilemma

Hook: Investigators are called to a secret meeting with the Director of the OUP, who slides them a file detailing the recent killings. They have become well known in the papers but have been attributed to the work of criminals from South Soffit—a result of criminal escalation in response to the rise in vigilante activity. Within this sealed and complete file are witness accounts of bodies twisted and broken into strange vegetation. Police efforts to cover up the inexplicable nature of the deaths are detailed in an OUP file. As the Director urges them to look deeper, the question lingers: what truth is the Periphery so desperate to conceal?

Content Warnings: Body horror, graphic violence, ecological trauma, vengeance, corruption

Characters: Feyre Acheron, Byron Hans Core, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery, Jessamine Gold, Arthur Nook

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Wally Ferris, Quentin Arkwright (Agent Wright), Dr. Lucy Franklin (Agent Steele), Director Donovan Rockwell, Lt. Mike Kowalski, Sergeant Isabella Reyes

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: Voracian Maw

District/Locations: The Winstone Estate - Briargreen, Minstrel’s Grove - Briargreen, The Four Points Hotel - The Varnish

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Briefing with Director Rockwell:'''

* Investigators were summoned to a clandestine meeting with Director Donovan Rockwell of the OUP on the roof of an abandoned warehouse in The Steam.
* Rockwell presented a confidential case file documenting bizarre deaths attributed publicly to criminal unrest.
* The file contained photographs, Periphery suppression efforts, and early reports of plant-based anomalies.
* Rockwell specifically referenced the recent Winston family murder—bodies discovered ruptured and overtaken by unnatural flora. Witnesses described the scene as a grotesque greenhouse of carnivorous vines, sealed off by Periphery officers within hours.
* Rockwell tasked the investigators with discovering the truth and keeping it from being buried by political spin.

'''2. Arrival at the Winston Estate:'''

* The investigators arrive at the Winston estate to investigate, which is crawling with The Periphery.
* They investigate the interior of the home and discover a massive plant that resembles a venus fly trap.
* They meet Agents Steele and Wright, who suggest a temporary alliance between them and the investigators.

'''3. Discovery of the Safe and Legal Connections:'''

* Feyre and Percy crack a hidden safe in the floor, unnoticed at first by the agents.
* Percy suggests keeping the discovery secret, but Feyre convinces the team to share the information.
* Inside the safe are legal and accounting documents connecting Winston to Klein & Vogler through a law firm.

'''4. Exploring the Greenhouse:'''

* Byron discovers Wally's greenhouse and notes.
* The investigators inspect the basement and uncover that the large plant is a creature of Wally's creation called a Voracian Maw.
* They learn Wally’s hometown, Hollow End, was destroyed by polluted runoff from Klein & Vogler’s chemical plant, killing his sister.
* Wally's journal details his doctoral research and how he engineered plants using human genetic material and alchemical methods to become predatory.

'''5. Uncovering the Past:'''

* The investigators find newspaper clippings detailing the destruction of Hollow End.
* Among the articles are notes on Radcliffe’s War Orphan Gala, suggesting Wally’s next target.

'''6. Gala Infiltration and Confrontation:'''

* The investigators plan to infiltrate the gala and collaborate with Agents Wright and Steele to prevent another mass killing.
* Wally reveals himself and attacks with disguised plant creatures integrated into the gala’s décor and catering.
* Another Voracian Maw emerges, and the investigators fight using fire, molotovs, and improvised weapons.
* Percy protects Radcliffe while Byron confronts the Maw; Jessamine discovers Wally uses a magical song as a focus.
* Feyre confronts and persuades Wally to stop, appealing to his grief and conscience.

'''7. Turning Point:'''

* Wally tries to stop the plants but loses control; the Maw consumes him as it feeds on his rage.
** Arthur and Feyre managed to cut him loose of the Maw before he is killed.
* The investigators defeat the Maw and allow the OUP to take Wally into custody.

'''8. Final Revelations:'''

* After reporting to Donovan, they learn no agents were officially assigned by the OUP.
** Someone was posing as OUP agents with incredibly well made forged identification and has made off with Wally.

'''Post-Credits Scene:'''

The rhythmic echo of Wally Ferris’ boots against the packed salt floor is nearly swallowed by the damp, subterranean silence. Clad in dark blue prison garb, his last name and identification number stamped into the fabric, as well as a crescent moon partially eclipsing a sun, with jagged, claw-like edges, he moves methodically down the row of plants, clipboard in hand. He scribbles notes with a stubby pencil, pausing now and then to take precise cuttings, tucking them into the small leather pouch at his hip.

The underground greenhouse is immense, stretching far beyond the dim glow of the overhead lamps. The matte grey walls of the salt mine enclose a lush, unnatural paradise, vines creeping up supports like they had always belonged here, like they had been waiting to grow in the dark. The air is thick with humidity, a rich loamy scent mingling with something older, something primal.

Wally hums as he works, the melody slipping into words—an old language, thick and weighty on his tongue, yet flowing like water. The plants seem to respond, their leaves shifting in the still air, reaching ever so slightly toward him.

He stops before a particular vine, its deep green tendrils coiled tightly around the iron framework. His hand hovers just shy of taking a clipping when, almost imperceptibly, the plant moves. Its tip brushes against his outstretched forefinger, a whisper of contact.

Wally stills, watching intently as he continues to sing. Slowly, from within the vine, a small blue bud pushes forth, unfurling in time with his voice. The petals quiver, stretching open with a deliberate, almost sentient grace.

He inhales sharply, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Then, a grin creeps across his face, slow and knowing.

He does not take a cutting.

Instead, he leans in closer and sings just a little louder.

=== '''Assignment #13 - "The Purple Plague"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

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Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #14 - "Now You See Me"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: Arc 3, Act 1 - Finale

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #15 - "Ohe Sleifo Titrfn geog"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Memory Loss, Survival, Supernatural Phenomena, Lost Time

'''Hook:''' The Investigators awaken with no memory of their identities, washed ashore on a strange, dreamlike coastline scattered with the wreckage of a destroyed ship and dozens of unconscious survivors. The world seems caught between day and night, and the only thing they are certain of is that they are not alone—and something unseen may be watching.

'''Content Warnings:''' Themes of memory loss, psychological disorientation, injury, fire/burn trauma, and mild body horror.

'''Characters:''' Callum McVeigh, Clancy Fields, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Feyre Acheron, Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Harrison Park, The Embered Man, Lysera

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Lysera

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''
* The investigators awoke on a mysterious beach with injuries and no memory of their identities, surrounded by other unconscious individuals.
* They were on a strange island with a [[dusky]] gray sky, a thick forest, a large mountain deep within the forest and a shipwreck on fire, with luggage scattered along the shoreline.
* The investigators began exploring the beach and shipwreck, searching for clues and resources, while observing the behavior of other individuals who were wandering into the forest.

'''2. Recovery of Items and Information'''

* Feyre searched the wreckage while Callum and Percy searched luggage, recovering items such as passports, tickets, and personal belongings, which helped some regain their identities.
* Feyre found a dossier detailing the disappearance of the Lightkeeper, Piers Corden, and the order from the Council of Lightkeepers for investigators, to travel across the continent of [[Osugbo]] to rescue him or, in the event that he was dead, recover his body and determine who had taken him and why.
* Percy discovered a ticket for the SS Everywhere, revealing the ship’s origin and destination.
* Feyre found a set of coordinates on a navigational chart, revealing that they were headed for the coordinates that Lincoln had intended to go to a few days before his death.

'''3. Encounters with Phenomena and Wraiths'''

* The Investigators encountered mysterious shadowy figures and wraiths, which were progressively becoming more corporeal and threatening.
* The investigators successfully fought and destroyed several wraiths using weapons like Clancy’s Ghostblade and Callum’s pickaxe haft, with the wraiths releasing memories upon their destruction.
* The team realized that the wraiths were consuming memories and that defeating them restored lost memories.

'''4. Exploration of the Isle of Forgetting'''

* Through the discovery of an ancient stele with Vaelonic inscription as well as geometric design at it’s head, Percy identified the island as the legendary Isle of Forgetting, where individuals lose themselves and their memories.
* The group discovered a ruined palace carved into the side of the mountain, with Vaelonic runes and a large chamber containing shadowy figures and a base relief depicting Lysera and Atikos.
* The team debated the significance of Lysera, the queen of the island, and her connection to the phenomena they were facing.

'''5. Confrontation with Lysera and the Man with Amber Eyes'''

* Participants confronted Lysera, who they discovered was under the control of the Man with Amber Eyes.
* Ember Eyes command Lysera to “make it quick” at which point, the strongest of the wraiths the team had confronted attacked them - a Shadow Woman.
* Feyre berated Lysera, weakening her connection to the Shadow Woman, while Callum and Clancy attacked and destroyed the Shadow Woman.
* Bored with the confrontation and Candela’s constant interloping, Ember Eyes set Lysera ablaze. She screamed for the team to run.
* Feyre used a magickal artifact to absorb Lysera’s scream and unleashed it upon Ember Eyes and took a scar as a result of its use. Used in concert with Dex’s command of magick, Ember Eyes fled from the palace.
* Dex successfully extinguished the magical fire engulfing Lysera, saving her from destruction, but collapsed from the strain.

'''6. Escape and Loss of Harry'''

* The palace began to collapse, forcing participants to flee while carrying unconscious members like Lysera, Dex, and Feyre.
* Percy successfully made the jump across a chasm opening up in the floor, but slipped at the last second. Harry grabbed her and swung her to Callum. Callum caught her, but hurt his shoulder in the process. Harry slid along the floor as it tilted and fell into the chasm.
* Percy and Clancy repelled down to Harry’s location only to discover he was crushed beneath the debris of the collapsing palace. Percy tried to stabilize Harry, but was unable to do so and Harry died as a result of his injuries.
** Among Harry’s final words were his instructions to get his files to Jacen Beck.

=== '''Assignment #16 - "Smoke and Mirrors"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, Act II premiere

'''Hook:''' Having defeated Ember Eyes and rescued an unconscious Lysera, the investigators must now search the rest of the island for Piers as the mountain at the center of the island erupts into a massive volcano causing the entire island to quake.

'''Content Warnings:''' This assignment contained a hostage situation, gore, and the potential of death. This was a high stakes assignment.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Dexter "Dex" Miller, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Mocking-bird]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Piers Corden, Ember Eyes, Caleb Zener, Emily Zener

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' None, but Caleb and Emily Zener were rescued along with Piers Corden

'''District/Locations:''' The Isle of Forgetting, The Island Lab

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Initial Team Movements'''
* Clancy, Dex, and Percy were the only conscious members of the team from the prior investigation.
* After encountering Jacen Beck setting up a triage response from their ship’s explosion, they left Callum and Feyre with Jacen while Clancy stayed behind to assist with the wounded.

'''2. Discovery of the Cave and First Team Exploration'''

* Trudi, Byron, and Mocking-Bird discovered a cave powered by a generator, with a power conduit bolted into the stone wall and running deeper inside.
* They regrouped with Dex and Percy, and the five investigators ventured together into the cave.

'''3. Encounter with Wraiths'''

* Using her psychic abilities, Trudi helped the team navigate a series of forks within the tunnel system.
* The team encountered two wraiths guarding the passage and successfully fought and destroyed them.
* During the encounter, Dex spoke to one of the wraiths, who stated it served “The Dream.”

'''4. Gathering Intelligence and the Hidden Laboratory'''

* After defeating the wraiths, the investigators split their efforts:
** Trudi remote-viewed one fork, revealing a man shackled to a cot bolted to the wall.
** Dex sensed a nearby presence filled with overwhelming anger.
** Byron, after drinking Witches Brew tea to become invisible, scouted the second fork.
* Byron discovered a hidden laboratory where Ember Eyes supervised scientists transforming the recently dead into wraiths using a magickal serum.
* Piers Corden, visibly battered and cuffed to a chair, was being used to pressure the woman working with the scientists.

'''5. Rescue of Caleb Zener'''

* The team prioritized freeing the man seen in the cell.
* Upon reaching him, they battled a flaming gargoyle-like creature.
* Byron wrestled with the creature while Mocking-Bird and Percy worked to break the prisoner’s shackles.
* Trudi used filthy water to douse the flames in the gargoyle’s eyes, splashing Byron in the process.
* The prisoner was revealed to be Caleb Zener, a researcher for Candela Obscura.
* The woman still in the lab was identified as his twin sister, Emily Zener, previously referenced in Lincoln’s journal.

'''6. The Rescue Plan and the Confrontation'''

* Percy planned to cut the generator’s power while Mocking-Bird distracted Ember Eyes.
* Dex, Trudi, and Byron prepared to rescue Emily and Piers during the confusion.
* Mocking-Bird successfully lured Ember Eyes away from the lab by calling him out.
* Byron and Dex attempted to ambush Ember Eyes but were overpowered and thrown aside.

'''7. Mocking-Bird’s Sacrifice'''

* Ember Eyes offered Mocking-Bird a bargain: surrender herself, and he would spare Trudi’s life.
* Tearfully, Mocking-Bird agreed, on the condition that Dex and Byron would also be allowed to leave safely.
* Byron and Dex disregarded her wishes and attacked Ember Eyes.
* Byron was set on fire during the struggle but managed to break Ember Eyes’ arm, allowing the team to flee.

'''8. Escape from the Isle of Forgetting'''

* The volcano erupted into a pyroclastic flow as the team fled the collapsing cave system.
* Following Caleb and Emily’s directions, they reached a hidden boat.
* The investigators escaped the Isle of Forgetting moments before it was consumed by the sea.

=== '''Assignment #17 - "Liber Aeternum"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Red Hand, Nightkeepers

'''Hook:''' An ancient manuscript is being auctioned off by the Red Hand in the glamorous underworld beneath Silverslip. The investigators are assigned to retrieve the artifact without exposing Candela’s involvement before it can fall into the wrong hands.

'''Content Warnings:''' Supernatural coercion, captivity, psychological manipulation, forced combat, psychic phenomena and bleed exposure.

'''Characters:''' Byron Hans Core, Clarence "Clancy" Fields, Gertrude "Trudi" Clyde, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]], Persephone "Percy" Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Elias Creel (informant), Celeste Marrow, Neriah Saelis, Iris and Lilly Vale, Shard, The Hollow

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' ''The Aegises'' - Once per assignment, on a successful Move attempt, take an immediate scar. Place The Aegises on one phenomena's wrists. While worn, these manicles suppress all supernatural abilities and bleed-related effects of the individual bound in this way.

'''District/Locations:''' The Morrow Estate, The Eaves

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. The Assignment'''

Candela Obscura receives a tip from an informant embedded within the Red Hand: an ancient magickal manuscript will be sold at a secret gala. Little is known about the manuscript other than it was of great enough importance to The Red Hand, that two security guards at Hallowharbor were killed when The Red Hand came in after hours to receive it. A surviving security guard reported Mocking-bird showed up in an attempt to stop the people who killed his co-workers, Mocking-bird and Jacen confirm that Olive was not involved. Suggesting a new vigilante has appeared within the city. Jacen instructs the investigators to recover the artifact, but not to allow their or Candela’s involvement be known. They’re informant will find them and be known by a red and white rose in their lapel.

'''2. A Disappearance and a Growing Threat'''

The team succeeds at infiltrating the auction thanks to invitations provided by Candela’s informant. However, the informant fails to appear at the auction. The team proceeds into the auction and quickly realizes that the manuscript is supernatural in nature. It’s rink, scarlet in color, constantly shifts from one language to another, making it impossible to read. Clancy extends his sense outward and discovers that the manuscript is inhabited by an unnamed feminine presence. Clancy is mentally shaken by this encounter and Trudy helps steady him. Byron and Mocking-bird explore the gala and do their best to blend in while Percy searches in an attempt to identify the highest rollers and who they will have to compete with during the auction. Percy and Mocking-bird both spot The Hallow is being escorted into a pit in the center of the floor.

'''3. The Bloodsport Ring'''

Byron and Olive discover that The Red Hand has captured two members of The Nightkeepers - Shard and The Hallow. The Hallow is forced to fight a monstrous shapeshifter in front for entertainment while the members of The Hand gamble on who will win. Shard, meanwhile, is shackled with enchanted manacles that suppress her abilities and pacify her. Byron places a wager on the fight while Mocking-bird pretends to drop a disguised taser into the ring so that The Hallow can use it to defeat the beast-man.

'''4. The Manuscript and the Rival Bidder'''

At the heart of the auction, displayed under glass and flanked by guards, rests the manuscript. Despite the Byron and Percy's best efforts, the artifact is ultimately claimed by a composed and mysterious figure named Neriah Saelis, who wears a lapel pin engraved with an unknown sigil. The team overhears Neriah whispering to Celeste Marrow that they will be departing ''immediately for the Verge''. Trudy and Percy discover that the informant has been discovered and is set to be interrogated to find out who he is working for.

'''5. Rescue and Confrontation'''

Byron, Percy and Trudy follow Celeste and her twin body guards, Iris and Lilly, to the another wing of the mansion to try and aid the informant while Mocking-bird and Clancy go to try and rescue The Hallow and Shard. Mocking-bird and Clancy make easy work of the guards watching over the two Nightkeepers while Byron, Trudy and Percy formulate a plan and draw out the bodyguards from the interrogation. The twins immediately engage Byron who is on the ropes while Trudy and Percy work to stop Celeste from getting involved and free the informant, Elias Creel.

Byron and Clancy return with The Hallow and Shard, but Shard is still mollified. The confrontation grows as Mocking-bird goes after Celeste who fires a gun into the group and tries to flee with a magical relic. Clancy focuses on helping Shard while The Hallow joins the fight with the twins and helps Byron defeat them.

Percy and Trudy ensure that Elias is unharmed and mentally sound as Mocking-bird knocks out Celeste, taking a bullet to the thigh in the process.

'''6. The Escape and Aftermath'''

With the informant and the Nightkeepers safe, the team calls the periphery and reports Celeste for smuggling then extracts themselves from the gala without exposing Candela’s hand. Though the Liber Aeternum was not secured, Jacen Beck praises the Circle for their discretion, their bravery, the intelligence they gained and returning mostly in one piece. Now, knowing Neriah’s destination allows Candela to take the next step and try to both recover the Liber and discover who Neriah is working for.

'''7. Post-Credit Revelation'''

A post credit scene follows:

''The rooftops of Newfaire are quiet. A low fog creeps between the smokestacks and broken gargoyles as moonlight flickers off slate tile and wet stone. The Hollow stands at the edge of a building overlooking Hallowharbor in the distance — a silhouette wrapped in motionless shadow.''

''Footsteps approach. Slow. Familiar. They keep their distance, sticking to shadows.''

'''The Hollow:''' “Hey boss.”

'''The Boss:''' “You okay?”

'''The Hollow:''' “I always land on my feet. You know that.”

'''''(beat)'''''

'''The Hollow:''' “Maybe we should come to the table… they saved us.”

'''The Boss:''' “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

'''The Hollow:''' “It’s getting worse. The Hand is involved now. And they’ve got a phenomenon.”

'''The Boss:''' “I read your after action repo-”

'''The Hollow:''' “They killed a Lightkeeper.” (Impatient)

''The shadowy figure says nothing, looks down at his feet.''

'''The Boss:''' “I know.” (Regretful)

'''The Hollow:''' “So? What’s the play?”

''The Boss steps into the light — hands tucked into the pockets of a worn leather flight jacket. On the breast a stitched patch reads:''

'''''LT. MALORY “WINGCLIPPER” HARPER'''''

'''The Boss:''' “I’ll make a call. Form a circle.”

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #18 -''' '''"Head in the Clouds"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook:

Content Warnings:

Characters:

GM: Julia

Important NPCs:

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:

District/Locations:

Important Things that Happened:

=== '''Assignment #19 - "The Door of Bones"''' ===
'''[[Session]] Tags:''' Arc 3, The Verge, The Spark, The Arcanum

'''Hook:''' Jacen Beck assembles the Circle in his workshop above Beck's Gym before dawn. Nearly 80 people across Newfaire have fallen into sudden comas, all while listening to the same frequency on their radios. Beck believes a supernatural broadcast may be involved and instructs the Circle to head to the outskirts of The Verge, where an ancient monolith has begun emanating strange energies. They're to investigate the site, discover its cause, and recover any artifacts or phenomena.

'''Content Warnings:''' Captivity, fire, glassified human remains, supernatural coercion, sadism, vivisection (implied), and mental domination.

'''Characters:''' Arthur Bellamy, [[Carmen Baxter]], Dexter “Dex” Miller, [[Mocking-Bird|Olive Horvath]]

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, [https://quelmarwiki.com/wiki/Lincoln_Renfield-Murray#History Heath Keers (the Man with the Ember Eyes)], Neriah Saelis

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' The Liber Aeternum

'''District/Locations:''' Monolith, The Verge

'''''Important Things that Happened:'''''

'''1. Aboard the N.A.S. Dauntless'''

Jacen assembles a team of investigators and, through Candela’s contacts within the Noman Air Service and accompanies them aboard the N.A.S. ''Dauntless'', bound for the Verge. After a briefing with the investigators and during their approach on The Verge, an airman escorts them from the briefing room to a bay of MV-9 Combat Descent Capsules—nicknamed “Gravemaulers”—but suddenly turns and draws a pistol on the team. Jacen and Arthur spring into action, attempting to disarm him, while Carman, Mocking-bird, and Dex scatter as gunfire erupts. The large airman hurls Arthur into a catwalk railing, nearly sending him over; Arthur catches himself but accidentally triggers the drop bay doors as flames spark and spread rapidly. Jacen seizes the airman and throws him into the open bay, and with the situation escalating, the team scrambles into the Gravemaulers to escape before an explosion consumes the ship.

'''2. Arrival at the Verge'''

The investigators rappelled down into the monolith, descending by rope into ancient corridors carved from the same black stone as the towering structure above. These halls, once silent and forgotten, had been retrofitted into a research facility, though the technology was now broken and lifeless. The air hung thick with soot and decay, as if the disaster that struck had scorched more than just the walls.

The first floor resembled the ruins of a hospital abandoned during a catastrophe. The walls, still formed of sandstone, bore no signs of glassification yet. Scorched paint peeled from their surfaces, and metal equipment—gurneys, IV poles, cabinets—lay warped or half-melted. Faint drag marks trailed through the ash-coated tile. Burned-out fire extinguishers rested near overturned beds, their contents used far too late. Every detail suggested a desperate and chaotic retreat.

As the team made their way toward the stairs, they began to notice blackened silhouettes on the walls—human outlines scorched into the stone, as though bodies had been burned away in an instant. Ash clung to every step. Carmen, uneasy, removed her glove and knelt beside one of the outlines. She pressed her bare palm into the ash and spread her fingers. The moment her skin touched the remnants, a vision overtook her.

She saw the facility’s security team frantically assembling a barricade at the stairwell using overturned hospital beds, filing cabinets, and gurneys. The air was frantic with shouted orders and panicked breath. Then, through the smoke, a barefoot figure emerged from the first floor—tall, shirtless, and blonde, his expression twisted in grief. He raised one hand, eyes glowing like hot coals. Tears streamed down his face as flames erupted outward from his palm, engulfing the barricade and the men behind it in an instant. The vision ended as suddenly as it began, Carmen gasping as she pulled her hand away.

'''Clues Recovered on the First Floor:'''

* Melted ID badge: “Dr. R. Vahl – Containment Lead”
* Bloodied checklist: “Subterranean vault - containment integrity compromised”
* Burned containment pod
* Ritual circle: Faintly glowing with residual bleed
* Patient charts: Labeled only by number
* Door labeled 'Observation Ward – Level 2': Cracked off its hinges
* Ash outlines: Human-shaped scorch marks burned into the stone, suggesting instantaneous combustion

'''3. Second Descent – Glassification Begins'''

As the investigators descended to the second floor, the sandstone beneath their feet grew darker, streaked with black glass veining through the walls like spreading roots. The temperature rose sharply—not from any flame or airflow, but from the stone itself, which radiated a steady, unnatural heat. The corridor opened into what had once been a research ward, now gutted and burned. The remains of a shattered sensory tank dripped slowly onto the floor, while melted cabinet doors sagged against scorched walls. Ash blanketed every surface, and the shadows stretched strangely across the room, too long and too still.

Their attention was drawn to a skeletal body fused into a blackened alcove—its surface partially glassified, smooth and obsidian-like. As they watched, the corpse twitched. Without warning, cracks spidered across its form, and a red glow pulsed from its chest as intense heat flooded the corridor. With a shriek of shattering glass, the first Cinderman tore itself free. Its body resembled blackened wood, glowing veins visible beneath the surface, fire spilling from its eyes and mouth. It lunged, and the Circle was forced into a violent, close-quarters battle before managing to subdue the creature and press onward.

'''Clues Recovered on the Second Floor:'''

* Scorched journal: ''“Subject 7’s awareness is beginning to fragment—memories drifting across hosts. The transfer has begun, though identity remains unstable.”''
* Damaged sensory deprivation tank: Interior slick with condensation, exterior partially melted.
* Cracked mirror: The phrase ''“We’re all Dreamers here...”'' scratched into its fractured surface.
* Observation logs: Notes describing behavior merging and memory confusion among test subjects.

'''4. Third Descent – The Hall of the Glassbound'''

As the investigators descended to the third floor, the transformation of the facility had become complete. The stone had fully turned to glass—smooth, dark, and rippled like frozen waves, as though the entire level had been flash-heated into a molten state and then rapidly cooled. Every surface reflected their warped and distorted forms. The stairs clinked beneath their boots, glass striking glass with each step. The heat had intensified, radiating steadily from the walls and floor. The environment was eerily still—silent, devoid of any functioning machinery or recent signs of life.

The hallway they entered was lined with four glassified figures—three embedded in the walls and one partially fused into the floor. The bodies were preserved in translucent crystal, their limbs contorted and faces locked in expressions of agony or terror. At first, the figures appeared dormant. But as the team advanced, the ambient temperature spiked, and faint pulses of light began to accelerate from within the corpses. Without warning, cracks spiderwebbed across the nearest figure, then another. Glass exploded outward in a blast of heat as the dormant Cindermen reanimated. Flames leaked from their eye sockets and mouths as two burst from the walls and charged.

Mocking-bird and Arthur moved to intercept, striking quickly while the others sought cover. When the first Cinderman fell, it shattered violently, sending shards of searing obsidian outward—cutting into skin and fabric alike. Dex suffered a sprained ankle while evading the Cinderman half-submerged in the floor. Despite the tight corridor and extreme heat, the investigators fought their way through all four. Once the final Cinderman fell, they gathered themselves and moved toward the stairwell leading to the final level of the monolith.

'''Clues on the Third Floor:'''

* Dormant Cindermen: Three embedded in walls, one in the floor, all initially inert until internal heat buildup triggers awakening.
* Fully Glassified Architecture: The complete vitrification of walls and floor suggests a sudden, catastrophic heat event related to the Spark.
* Residual Thermal Radiation: Surfaces continue to radiate warmth, implying the cause of the transformation remains active or unstable.
* Absence of Operational Equipment or Logs: No signs of recent occupation or functioning systems indicate a sudden and irreversible collapse of the facility.

'''5. Final Descent – The Forked Choice'''

The investigators descended the final stretch of the monolith. The stairs steepened, their footfalls muffled against the unnaturally smooth floor. The air felt warmer, but not from any active flame—rather, it was as if the stone itself remembered burning. Every reflective surface mirrored them back in strange, warped forms that didn't quite match. A pull, subtle but insistent, tugged at them from below. It was not just a place they were walking into, but a mind. One presence felt wild and furious; the other, vast and still. They had reached the lowest level of the monolith—and two choices lay ahead.

A fork in the corridor forced a decision. To the left stood Heath, his eyes glowing with inner fire, flanked by summoned Cindermen before an ominous structure known only as the Bone Door. To the right, Neriah stood in a ritual chamber, deep in concentration as they attuned themselves to the Liber Aeternum. The group turned right. Carmen stepped forward first, met by Neriah’s calm demeanor and the warm, humming presence of the artifact. The ritual chamber was spherical, its walls carved with sacred geometry pulsing in sync with the glow of the Liber. Neriah stood shirtless, marked in copper symbols across their arms, chest, and temples, the Liber resting on a pedestal of the same black stone as the monolith.

Neriah extended their hand to Carmen, offering her the chance to master her abilities through their guidance. Carmen approached, her gloves removed—then acted. She clamped the Aegises around Neriah’s wrists and reached into their mind, accessing their memories and subduing them in a single, due to their powers being suppressed by the Aegises. Neriah collapsed, unconscious, and the ritual came to an abrupt halt. From across the monolith, a guttural scream echoed—Heath’s fury made manifest. The investigators moved quickly, gathering the unconscious Neriah and the Liber Aeternum, preparing to flee before Heath could retaliate.

'''Environmental Clues – Fourth Floor:'''

* Forked Path: Indicates the presence of two powerful supernatural forces—Heath near the Bone Door, Neriah performing a ritual.
* The Ritual Chamber: Sacred geometric patterns pulsing with red energy, tied to the Liber Aeternum’s energy and Neriah’s ritual.
* Neriah’s Markings: Copper-painted sigils on arms, face, and chest—indications of ritual attunement to the Liber.
* The Bone Door (Unexplored): A sealed, unknown structure where Heath stood with Cindermen, possibly a threshold to another realm or a prison.

'''Memories Discovered by Carmen in Neriah’s Mind:'''

* The streets of Ostrom were slick with rain as Neriah closed in. Their target—a scroll. The thief—a man they hadn’t expected to be charmed by. But Heath ran like he was daring them to catch him. And they tried.
* After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Their blood mixed with his on the floor of the ritual chamber. After the ritual, they found a scorch mark where he’d touched them on the shoulder. It didn’t hurt. It never healed. They kept it hidden, but it was never far from thought.
* Heath is a phenomenon but has not always been one. He did the bidding of an entity known as The Spark, after an incident in Dunhurst.

'''6. Recovery and Extraction'''

The Circle made their way back to the surface of the monolith, bringing both Neriah and the Liber Aeternum with them. Heath, enraged by Neriah’s capture, gave chase from the lower levels, flames in his wake. As they reached the exit, Arthur deployed an elemental device drawn from his Circle’s resources—triggering a controlled collapse that sealed the shaft behind them. It was meant to bury Heath beneath tons of stone. And yet, somehow, he survived.

Faced with the reality that Heath had murdered two of their own and countless others, the investigators found themselves at a crossroads. Kill him outright, leave him buried beneath the ruin, or find a way to bring him in alive. In the end, they chose containment. One of the Aegis manacles, meant to suppress supernatural ability, was locked onto Heath’s wrist—surprisingly, it worked. With both Heath and Neriah subdued, the Circle commandeered the nearby sky yacht—later confirmed to be Neriah’s—and recovered Jacen before making their escape.

On the flight home, Dex managed to successfully create a new pair of Aegises manacles and place them on Heath so that both captives could be adequately contained. Neriah and Heath were placed in a section of the Pharos known as The Store. A strange place that looked just like a furniture store. With one exception. If someone enters it without a guide known only as The Reliquary, they would be forever lost in an ever shifting labyrinth of furniture displays.

'''''By managing to recover the Liber and take both Heath and Neriah captive, all members of the community campaign are able to ask Heath 3 questions and Neriah 3 questions.'''''

'''7. Further Interrogation and Disturbing Revelations'''

At a Candela facility, investigators conducted interviews:

'''Arthur -'''

Asks Heath: If his threats were general and made in the heat of the moment? How can you kill an element?

Asks Neriah: what they knows about Candela, and Arthur specifically

Heath: "I don't know what you mean. But I am a man of my word. And you can't kill an element. Not without killing everything else."

Neriah: "You and your lightkeepers have stood against the dark for thousands of years. You've won battles. And lost some. But the world is struggling after the great war. Darkness spreads. Corruption has taken root and is rampant. As for you... gifted athlete... and there more to you than what is on the surface. Whatever it is, it's well hidden."

'''Talia -'''

For Neriah - Who did you bind Heath to?

For Heath - Why did you want to kill Lincoln? (If he remembers that at all)

Heath: "I didn't ''want'' to kill Lincoln. We're connected. Or at least we were. He served The Unspoken and I served The Spark."

Neriah: "I bound him to the service of the Arcanum. To keep him safe. I couldn't reign him in... They would have killed him."

'''Olive -'''

For Heath: how do you know Lucien Grimm, Magnus, and Evelyn?

For Neriah: (I would like to hold off on my questions until others have asked theirs)

Heath: "They came after me in Delvin. Wanted me for one of the army's experiments. I got away, but I knew I'd see them again."

'''Dex -'''

For Neriah - What is the Spark?

For Heath - How did you become a phenomenon/how did you come into contact with this Spark?

Neriah: "The Spark Isn't just a phenomena. It's from another plane. It chose him as its champion. That's all I know. He doesn't speak about it much."

Heath: "I used to be a geological engineer. Managed a mining town, Dunhurst. One day we dug a new shaft in the hopes of finding a larger load of coal. They found fire in the mountain. Floating. Have you ever seen fire floating in the air? It's almost like liquid. I didn't realize it, but I was reaching for it. It burned. From that point on, I was never alone."

'''Percy -'''

For Heath: Do you recognize the symbol on this card (Percy found it on the body of the guy at the cemetery and then saw it again during the Purple Plague incident.)? Is it the Arcanum’s symbol? Who else is on his hit list and what is Arcanum really up to?

Heath: (Regarding the symbol) * ''He knits his brow, concentrating, trying to remember.'' “It’s familiar—but like a name half-remembered in a dream. I’ve seen it… somewhere. A long time ago, maybe.”

Heath: (Regarding if it is Arcanum’s symbol) ''He sighs heavily.'' “I don’t… know. That word means something. It’s important. But I can’t remember.” ''He shrugs, the manacles around his wrists clanking loudly as he does so.''

Heath: (Regarding his hit list.) ''He chuckles a bit and lies back on the couch in the furniture display he has been confined to.'' “If only I knew… at this point you all probably have a better idea than I do.” ''He holds up his shackled hands.'' “Of course… you could always take these off and we could find out together.”

For Neriah: ''Shows him the symbol from the business card found in the graveyard guy.'' Do you recognize this symbol? Does this mean anything to you? ''Percy recites the poem she found on the stele.'' Who else was Heath ordered to kill or kidnap?

Neriah: ''They study the symbol with cool detachment, fingertips brushing it briefly.'' “It’s both a façade… and a symbol of change. But no. It means nothing to me.”

Neriah: After listening to Percy recite the stele’s inscription, they tilt their head slightly in thought.* “No… I’ve never heard that before. Sounds like some kind of epic though. Grand… old… unfinished. Like most things worth remembering.”

Neriah: ''Their expression remains placid.'' “You assume that all the death he’s wrought was ordered. That there’s a list or a master. But Heath… he is more storm than soldier. As far as I know, there’s no one else he was ordered to kill.”

=== '''Assignment #20 - "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day"''' ===
[[Session]] '''Tags:''' Arc 3, The Sidle, GRDC, Bleed

'''Hook:''' At midnight, as GRDC’s final jazz notes faded into silence and the sign-off echoed across the city, something strange happened. Radios crackled… then hissed… and then fell quiet. By morning, seventy-eight people had fallen into comas. No injuries. No signs of struggle. Just silence—and every victim found beside a radio, tuned to the same midnight broadcast.

Now, with another night fast approaching, Candela dispatches a Circle to investigate the station at the heart of it all.

What began as a routine sign-off may have opened a door that was never meant to be heard.

'''Content Warnings:''' Death, supernatural horror, hallucinations, bleed exposure, audio-based psychological manipulation, grief, depictions of corpses and death

'''Characters:''' Oslo Ryker, Olive “Mocking-Bird” Horvath, Byron “Regicide” Core, Persephone “Percy” Montgomery

'''GM:''' Matt

'''Important NPCs:''' Jacen Beck, Thomas Greaves, Raymond Bell, Victoria Lang, The Whisperer

'''Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered:''' Bleed contaminated tape, used as a vessel by The Whisperer to interact with our world.

'''District/Locations:''' GRDC Radio Tower (The Sidle), Beck’s Gym (The Steam)

'''Important Things That Happened:'''

'''1. The Briefing'''

At 4:00 AM, Jacen Beck assembles the Circle at Beck’s Gym. He reports 78 simultaneous comas throughout Newfaire, all victims found beside radios tuned to GRDC. With a storm rolling in and another midnight hour approaching, he tasks the Circle with investigating the source and stopping the spread. Specialized gear—an EF scanner, bleed detector, and ritual implements—are distributed.

'''2. Infiltrating GRDC'''

The Circle divides to infiltrate the station through different angles.

* Percy attempts to gain access as a reporter but quickly shifts tactics, disguising herself as a janitor and entering through service corridors.
* Mocking-Bird and Regicide sneak in through a back entrance and ascend to the upper floors.
* Oslo approaches the building openly and impresses Victoria Lang with his engineering knowledge. She hires him as a temporary assistant, introducing him to lead engineer Raymond Bell.

'''3. The Broadcast Booths & Hallucinations'''

Mocking-Bird and Regicide reach the upper floors where they encounter Thomas Greaves, the GRDC host. He attempts to compliment Mocking-Bird, falsely claiming she stopped a recent bank robbery while wearing yellow. Suspicious, she brushes him off.

Percy soon joins them, having made her way up disguised as staff. As they regroup, a nearby speaker suddenly plays a portion of the mysterious broadcast.

Mocking-Bird and Percy are both struck by visceral hallucinations of lost loved ones dying again before their eyes. They collapse, paralyzed, slowly slipping into unconsciousness. Regicide, initially unaffected, scrambles to help—until he too hears the signal and begins to fall under.

'''4. Oslo Identifies the Threat'''

Oslo arrives with Victoria and Raymond and uses the EF scanner from Beck to detect dangerous electromagnetic output from the nearby tape. A secondary scan confirms elevated bleed presence.

Before he can intervene, the tape unspools and forms into a humanoid figure—its eyes burning like red stars. Reacting swiftly, Oslo sets it ablaze. The entity dissolves into ash, freeing Percy, Mocking-Bird, and Regicide.

Oslo collects a sample and the Circle regroups, preparing to report back to Beck. GRDC announces plans to resume operations, and Oslo is asked to stay on as night engineer. The rest return to their respective homes.

'''5. Lightning on the Roof'''

Hours later, as Oslo and Victoria eat hot dogs near the station, they spot lightning arcing from the radio tower. EF scans match the earlier tape’s readings. Victoria urges Oslo to reach the roof while she runs for Raymond.

Simultaneously across Newfaire, the team converges:

* Percy sees the lightning and begins sprinting across rooftops toward the station.
* Byron sees it on his jog through the Soffit.
* Olive watches from her apartment window and bolts for Beck’s Gym.

At the gym, Olive and Byron inform Jacen. He tosses her a key ring with a cat’s eye charm and says, “Don’t scratch the paint.” In the basement, they uncover a pristine red-and-black motorcycle. Olive drives. Both race to GRDC, suited only in civilian clothes and utility belts.

'''6. Rooftop Battle'''

As they arrive, Lady Phantasma leaps from a nearby rooftop, descending toward Oslo. A dark figure with a glowing pistol moves to ambush him.

* Phantasma tackles the attacker.
* Olive throws a baton, missing—but it ricochets and returns.
* Byron slides across the roof, disarming the attacker and seizing the pistol.

As chaos ensues, the phenomenon reforms—this time even more unstable. The vigilantes engage physically while Percy confronts Raymond, seeking answers.

'''7. The Feedback Loop'''

Oslo panics, realizing the phenomenon is feeding off the station’s equipment. He formulates a plan to collapse it by overloading it on itself, but needs help.

Raymond insists he assist or they'll all die. Despite her reservations, Percy allows it. Together, Oslo and Raymond prepare the loop.

Raymond tells Oslo to move to another console. As Oslo opens it and finds it useless, he turns—just in time to see Raymond pull the main switch. A surge of electricity hits him. The feedback loop triggers.

The phenomenon implodes—taking the district’s power grid with it.

'''8. The Betrayal & Aftermath'''

Victoria stumbles onto the rooftop, injured and dazed. She was ambushed before she could warn Oslo.

Percy rushes to Raymond’s side. As he dies, he rasps, ''“Metamo…”''—cut off before he can finish.

When Victoria asks what happened, Olive calmly offers, ''“Faulty wiring.”'' as the circle regroups and departs for the Gym for a second debriefing.

'''9. Post-Credit Revelation'''

Beneath the city, inside a silent underground lab marked with a butterfly like insignia, a young woman floats unconscious in a fluid-filled tank. Sigils glow faintly on the glass.

Her mouth twitches.

A whisper leaks through:

''“Help… me…”''

A nearby technician watches her expression, then shuts off the monitor.

'''''Cut to black.'''''

=== '''Assignment #21 - "Marionette"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: Qandela Obscura

Hook: The editor of the South Soffit Defender has been killed by her star reporter the night before tomorrow’s edition could go to print. The homicide is under investigation by the Periphery. However, the OUP has requested the aid of Candela Obscura due to the presence of a strange eyewitness account as well as the presence of bleed in the printing plant. Can you find Dottie Wells before the Periphery’s net closes in on her?

Content Warnings: '''''This assignment contains themes of political corruption, abduction, violence, death, and psychological manipulation.'''''

Characters: Jackson Cunningham, [[Mocking-Bird]], [[Feyre Archeron|Feyre Acheron]], Gertrude Clyde, Percy Montgomery

GM: Matt

Important NPCs: Dorothy "Dottie" Welles, [[Lincoln Renfield-Murray]]

Phenomenon/Artifact Recovered: None

District/Locations: The Soffit

Important Things that Happened:

'''1. Setting and Initial Observations'''

Candela Obscura was brought into the case after the editor of the ''South Soffit Defender'' was killed inside the printing plant the night before a major exposé was set to run. The Periphery had already identified Dorothy Welles as the primary suspect. However, the Office of Unexplained Phenomena requested Candela’s involvement after bleed was detected.

At the scene, the investigators noted signs of violent impact near the paper spool and printing press. There were no clear signs of a struggle beyond the argument witnesses reported between Dottie and her editor earlier that evening.

Gertrude used her abilities to look into the recent past. She saw Dottie arguing with her editor moments before the incident. In the vision, the massive spool of paper feeding the press suddenly unraveled. The paper lashed outward as if alive, coiled around the editor, and dragged her into the machinery. Dottie fled in shock. Trudy could not see any indication that Dottie physically pushed her.

The Circle knew that this was not a simple act of violence but a case of magickal manipulation staged to frame Dottie.

'''2. Locating Dottie Welles'''

Believing Dottie might return somewhere familiar, the investigators searched her apartment in The Soffit. Their intuition proved correct.

After several tense minutes preventing her from running, they convinced Dottie they were not working with the Periphery. She insisted she did not kill her editor. She explained that her article exposed Prime Minister McAslyn was a fraud. He has falsified background, fabricated education and had massive shell campaign donations. She had evidence that McAslyn was not who he claimed to be and that powerful interests were protecting him.

Dottie also revealed that her investigation built upon earlier work done by James Hendrix, who had been looking into corruption that extended beyond Newfaire and possibly across all of Noma.

'''3. Escalation and Abduction'''

Before the investigators could safely move Dottie, several black sedans arrived outside her building. Armed men and women in civilian clothing exited the vehicles in a coordinated formation.

The team escaped down the fire escape into the alley. Mocking-Bird engaged several operatives while the others boosted Dottie over a fence. Percy went with her.

Percy and Dottie were intercepted by another vehicle. Percy attempted to bluff the kidnappers by trying to use a magic trick to fake killing Dottie, but they shot during the exchange. Dottie was taken and forced into the trunk of the car.

Jackson and Gertrude created a distraction that caused one of the kidnappers’ vehicles to collide and roll, buying the team precious seconds.

'''4. The Chase Through South Soffit'''

After disabling the remaining kidnappers, Feyre and Mocking-Bird commandeered a nearby police motorcycle. Jackson, Percy, and Gertrude seized one of the attackers’ cars. A high speed chase tore through South Soffit and eventually onto the unfinished Millner Overpass.

Jackson brought the stolen car to a halt at the broken span. However, Feyre and Mocking-Bird accelerated and jumped the gap on the motorcycle, landing cleanly on the opposite side. They intercepted the vehicle transporting Dottie just as she was being transferred into a disguised milk truck.

They crashed into the kidnappers car. They were injured but Mocking-bird managed to disable the last kidnapper that had just pulled out a gun. She quickly disabled the gunman and ran for the milk truck.

'''5. The Revelation in the Milk Truck'''

When Feyre and Mocking-bird got close the milk truck, as Dottie was being forced into the back, they found another prisoner inside.

Lincoln Renfield-Murray.

Lincoln had been officially declared dead and buried. His body had been examined by the city medical examiner and identified through dental records. Yet he was alive, restrained, and being transported under heavy guard.

This confirmed that Lincoln’s murder had been an elaborate cover up.

They could not stop the milk truck before it peeled out and speed off into the city.

'''6. Resolution'''

The investigators search the body of the fallen kidnapper at the over pass and search their car. Their search revealed that Dottie Welles was taken by members of the Noman Military’s Office of Clandestine Operations. Despite Candela’s intervention, the scale and organization of the response made clear that powerful forces were actively moving to contain the situation.

The investigators returned to Beck's Gym to report that Lincoln’s death had been staged and that the conspiracy surrounding McAslyn and the suppressed article was far larger than a single corrupt official. They also managed to get Dottie's article to Beck so Candela could try to publish it.

The murder at the Defender was a calculated and magickal act. Meant to silence a story and discredit the reporter writing it.

=== '''Assignment #22''' '''- "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #23 - "Before It Got Weird"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscure

Hook:

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GM: Matt

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=== '''Assignment #24 - "The Places I Dreamed Of"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]], Qandela Obscura

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GM: Matt

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=== '''Assignment #25 - "And Then It Got Stranger"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags: [[List of Books|Collected Fictions and Other Mistakes]]

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GM: Matt

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=== '''Assignment #26 - "The Heart of the Pack"''' ===
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GM: Julia

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=== '''Assignment #27 - "Not a Dream, but a Nightmare."''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''You’ve discovered where Lincoln is being held. A hidden facility beneath a series of abandoned warehouses… and a secret the Arcanum has been willing to kill to protect.''

''Your task: get inside, get him out, and stop whatever they’re about to do.'' ''But take care... what you find there may not want to stay asleep.''

Content Warnings:

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GM: Matt

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=== '''Assignment #28 - "East Hills"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''The investigators are dispatched to East Hills, the former enemy of Noma during the Great No Man’s War, to'' '''''[REDACTED]''''' .

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GM: Matt

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=== '''Assignment #29 - "Perchance to Dream"''' ===
[[Session]] Tags:

Hook: ''Answers to The Arcanum's and plans and what role The Dreamer plays lie just within Candela Obscura’s grasp. But at what cost to the investigators?''

Content Warnings:

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GM: Jay

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=== '''Assignment #30 - "The Transformed"''' ===
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GM: Jay

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=== '''Assignment #31 - "Resonance"''' ===
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Characters:

GM: Matt

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=== '''Assignment #32 - "Inkpot Gods"''' ===
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Hook:

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Characters:

GM: Jay

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=== '''Assignment #33 - "A New Dawn, A New Day"''' ===
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Hook:

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Characters:

GM: Jay

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Important Things that Happened:
[[Category:Qandela Obscura]]
[[Category:CR]]