The party escapes Hobnail Prison with Christoper. Back in the city, the Company chairwoman Melina tells the party - now Artimus, Beardy, Kazola, Vesper - that Helmholtz is missing. They discover that Helmholtz and the Admiralty Secretary Parja went to Miss Miller's weekly salon to confront her over their anti-banqueting bill, which she defeated in the Great Council. At Miss Miller's apartment, the party finds Miss Miller's butcher Umberto cutting Parja up, and Kazola kills Umberto with her mind.
Brandon joined this game, playing his cleric Beardy. The party was still in Hobnail Prison at the start of the game, so we waited a little for a chance to add Beardy.
In Game 2, the party went into Hobnail Prison to rescue Vesper's brother Christopher from the secret police. At the end of that game they'd just killed Christopher's interrogators, including the monstrous globster.
Now Vesper untied Christopher from the rack he was on. Christopher seemed coherent - no talk of being in the water. Vesper rolled a Medicine check on him but just learned that he was exhausted. He also rolled 25 on a Medicine check for Melek, but found that Melek needed special treatment from an alienist (psychologist) rather than general Medicine. He also rolled for Kazola, but rolled poorly and didn't learn anything.
Meanwhile the others looted the scene. Artimus found a plain gold ring on Alisandre, which he identified during a later rest, below.
As they finished looting, a woman wearing a black rose came in - the assassin chief Lavinia - and many sinister-looking folks filed in behind her. Surveying the scene, Lavinia told them that their fight with Durer and Guilder/Lars was tontine business and not her concern. In fact, she said that by killing them, the party had left her in control of the secret police and boosted her career.
But she said the party had taken something that belonged to the secret police, Guilder's "Lars" disguise kit, which Artimus had. Looking Artimus up and down, she commented that Artimus was actually built about the same as Guildar/Lars. When Artimus responded, Lavinia also noted that Artimus's voice was similar to the voice Guilder used for Lars.
Lavinia said that with Guidler dead, the secret police would need a new Lars, and suggested that Artimus play him. Artimus asked what his cut would be of the proceeds, and Lavinia offered 10%. Artimus was suspicious that Guilder got more, but Lavinia claimed that Guilder had only received his secret police salary. She said 10% of the Hobnail profits was potentially much more than that, especially if Artimus increased the Hobnail take, which she did want him to do.
Artimus asked what Lars needed to do. Lavinia said that with the globster disaster in Hobnail Prison, Lars would be one of the many escapees, and return to Braddock to take personal control of the Hobnails. Lavinia said that the Hobnails had almost defeated their old rivals, the Coopers' Union. So Lars could start by finishing the Coopers and taking their union hall as the Hobnails' new hall. Artimus agreed.
The players discussed how the Hobnail second-in-command, Ulrike, had approached the party in Game 2 to kill Lars, and whether they would have to confront Ulrike or other Hobnails.
Lavinia said that an actress with the Black Cabaret, Camilla, had helped Guilder create the Lars disguise, and could show Artimus how to apply it. She also said that Voorman, a prosthetist serving injured sailors in the Shipyards, could teach Artimus Lars's gait.
Vesper suggested that the party leave the prison how they'd come in, through the Cisterns. Rob and I recalled that Vesper and Millicent had made some mutual promises that they could resolve with Christopher there. So, they backtracked to the Cisterns and the Great Cistern, where they found Millicent again.
Millicent was happy to see them, particularly Christopher. She examined him and diagnosed him as exhausted, just as Vesper had. She said her Queen's Touch (Greater Restoration) could help, and cast it just as Rob was starting to speak and possibly object. Queen's Touch cured one level of exhaustion, and Millicent said to recover further, he would need to see an alienist (psychologist). She suggested Patience at Meade Hospital.
Now with Christopher present, Christopher and Vesper pledged Cotton House to Millicent, as Vesper promised in Game 2. In return, Millicent told them that a gentleman scientist in Hollin, Downey, had developed a new gunpowder formula that replaced saltpeter - which Phyla House produced from bat guano - with sodium nitrate - which was plentiful only on Cotton ancestral lands. She gave them the address of Downey's apartment, across from the Great Council Square in Dunham.
Millicent also said that some of the children - Emma, Amelia, and Ian - had made the party a thank-you gift for saving Emma and Klaus from the lurker, and she gave it to Artimus.
Crayon drawing of the party fighting the Cisterns lurker
A crayon drawing of the party saving Emma and Klaus from the lurker, in swirling, Van-Gogh-like colors. Artimus and Kazola are prominent, with Artimus casting Water Walk and Guiding Bolt, and Kazola scoring Waking Nightmare criticals with the Bat's Head Sword.
The party thanked Millicent and climbed out of the Cisterns into the Shipyards.
Back in the city, they took Christopher to Patience at Meade Hospital. Patience suggested Christopher stay with her for three days to cure his three remaining levels of exhaustion, and she would also examine him. They agreed.
The party also asked Patience to examine Kazola. For Kazola she suggested weekly psychoanalysis, but Kazola declined. Instead, we decided that Brandon's character Beardy would be one of Patience's doctors, and would join the party to observe Kazola for her.
Vesper now urged the party to quickly:
But they decided to take a long rest first, at Cotton Manor near the Roundabout. Beardy presumably had his own home, but stayed at Cotton Manor to observe Kazola. During the long rest, Artimus identified the ring he took from Alisandre in the prison.
Alisandre's Ring of Perspicacity
An unadorned gold ring that gives +2 to Insight checks, and allows the bearer to cast Detect Thoughts three times between long rests.
At the end of the long rest, a messenger arrived at Cotton Manor - the same messenger who took Vesper to see Helmholtz a few days before. The messenger now asked Vesper to come meet with the Company board chair, Melina, at the Great Council Hall. The party agreed, although Vesper wanted to seek out Downey and Gregor first.
They went to Downey's house first. Unfortunately Downey wasn't home, and another man there told them that Downey hadn't been home for two days.
They went to Gregor's house next, and discussed the globster briefly. Gregor told them that fishermen had brought him the globster and he'd put it in the giant saltwater bath that he normally used for giant squid tentacles, coelacanths, that kind of thing. But, he didn't know whether there could be more globsters or not. Gregor said he could research protection from the globster's attacks over the next 48 hours if the party would come back then.
The party went to Melina's office in the Great Council Hall. Melina welcomed them and thanked Vesper again for beating the Coven.
She said that Helmholtz's (the Master of Revels) calendar showed a meeting with Vesper two days before. She asked if Vesper had actually met Helmholtz and what they discussed. Vesper confirmed that he did meet Helmholtz and summarized their talk.
Melina said that Helmholtz hadn't come to his meetings for the last couple of days, and she was concerned that he might be missing, particularly since his predecessor Ella was missing. She asked the party to investigate.
As a starting point, Melina showed them Helmholtz's calendar:
It was Thursday evening, and Melina said that Helmholtz hadn't been at the regular board meetings on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, and neither had Parja, the Admiralty Secretary. Helmholtz had also missed his one-on-one with her on Wednesday afternoon.
Looking at the calendar, the party quickly focused on the meeting with Parja, Woodhouse, and Herschel, but Melina didn't know what that meeting was about. She did tell them that Parja had an office in the Great Council Hall, but his main office was in the Admiralty building - the same building where Vesper and Kazola investigated the brig attack a week before. She said that Woodhouse and Herschel ran a silk import business out of a warehouse on the Braddock docks, and gave them the address.
They also asked Melina why Helmholtz might have two haircut appointments in the same week, but she didn't know. They speculated that e.g. maybe the first appointment was canceled.
They went to Parja's office at the Admiralty first. Parja wasn't there, but his lieutenant Singleton was in, and Singleton said that Parja hadn't been in for a few days. They asked what Parja's meeting with Helmholtz, Woodhouse, and Herschel had been about. Singleton told them:
They went to Woodhouse and Herschel's warehouse. They met Woodhouse and Herschel's accountant Walker, who told them that Woodhouse and Herschel hadn't been in for a couple of days. They asked why W&H had met with Helmholtz, and Walker asked them to sit down, and told them:
Walker said he did go to the Council vote Tuesday afternoon. He said W&H, Helmholtz, and Parja became irate when the bill was unexpectedly defeated, and "he thought that Parja's head would explode."
Walker said everyone in high society knew that Miss Miller hosted a salon Tuesday evenings at her apartment in the Mooncalf, which would have been right after the Council meeting. So, the four decided to go to the salon and confront her, and stormed out of the Council.
The party noted that Miss Miller and Helmholtz were both tontine subscribers.
The party went to the Mooncalf to investigate what happened at Miss Miller's Tuesday evening salon.
As they entered the Mooncalf the party saw Manfred Unger, who they'd released from the Phyla House Moonwell two days before, sitting with a friend and enjoying some stew. Manfred also noticed them and ran over to greet them. He was thrilled to see them again, and amazed that they survived the Moonwell. Artimus asked him how the stew was, and he said it was excellent.
Manfred still had the long scraggly hair and beard he had in the Moonwell. But, he had bathed and had new clothes. He introduced his friend, Ada, who was also a mathematician with the Quaternion Society. He said that Ada bought him the new clothes and gave him a little money to get started again.
Artimus (I believe) asked Manfred what math he and Ada were working on. Manfred said that before he was captured seventeen years ago, he had proposed a new foundation for mathematics, based on set theory. But in the seventeen years he'd been missing, the Quaternion Society had discovered some apparent contradictions or paradoxes that arise from his theory, which a foundation for mathematics can't have.
The party took their leave of Manfred and Ada, and Vesper (I believe) asked if they knew anyone else in the barroom there. They saw their sometime waiter Vincent working there, who was also the Mooncalf's head sommelier. They asked if anything good had come in lately, and Vincent said yes, a fantastic new port had just come in from the city of Welkin. They asked about Miss Miller's salon and he said it was held in Miss Miller's apartment on the top floor, room 6, but didn't know much more. Vincent told them on the sly that the Black Cabaret was performing in his wine cellar downstairs in two days; if they came to the show, he would give them a bottle of the port then.
The also saw their sometime waitress Velvet. They asked Velvet about Miss Miller's salon, but looking between Beardy and Kazola, Velvet said:
You know Miss Kazola, for the small consideration of just a few gold pieces a month, my organization and I can help ensure that the...undeserving skanks of this town don't steal this fine man from you.
The players were surprised by Velvet's abruptness and wondered why she thought Beardy and Kazola were together, and speculated because Beady was presumably observing Kazola.
They took the stairs to the top floor, looking for apartment 6 as Vincent had suggested.
Mooncalf top floor
They knocked at the door to 6, but a woman's voice inside said Miss Miller wasn't there and that they should go away. They busted down the door on a contested STR check against the woman, and she was pushed back into the room - it was Velvet. Artimus used Detect Thoughts from Alisandre's ring and discovered that Velvet was alarmed and very much wanted the party to leave. But, they now saw the structure of the apartment:
Miss Miller's apartment
Just inside the door in D, they saw a second girl Merriweather and a burly man dressed in a bloody white apron - the butcher Horace. The two women shouted into the next room for help and a fight began, and Beardy bashed the two women with his shield. Horace and Merriweather countered with a knife and flintlock pistol, respectively. Velvet sprayed Beardy with a blue atomizer - Essence of Love-in-Idleness - but Beardy resisted its effects.
Vesper moved to B, where he saw a third girl Ginger, a second butcher Umberto, and two partially wrapped bodies on the ground. Umberto was sawing one body, which Vesper immediately recognized as Parja, but he didn't recognize the other body. He attacked with Thunderwave, maxed with Destructive Wrath, scoring 32 hits on the two of them and putting Ginger down.
Artimus, Beardy, and Kazola continued fighting Horace. Kazola killed him, and Artimus and Kazola moved to assist Vesper in B. Artimus, Kazola, and Vesper pummeled Umberto with Guiding Bolt, the Bat's Head Sword, and Vesper's maul, respectively. But Umberto weathered the storm and hit Kazola for 18, bringing her below half hits. Then something strange happened, which Karen described as:
Kazola is shaking a little, fighting something in her own head. She gets really stiff, staring directly toward the butcher. The butcher suddenly looks like his head is about to explode - he screams and collapses. Kazola looks really horrified at what she did and she's aware of something in her head.
The Anti-Banqueting Bill was a real thing in medieval Venice: "From the 1490s through the 1530s, the Council of Ten and other Venetian authorities enacted sumptuary laws. In 1506, the Ten enacted an anti-banqueting law, seeking to prevent ambitious noblemen from engaging in vote buying by hosting lavish dinner parties at the compaginie della calza (exclusive social societies). The law specifically prohibited women other than the wives of members from attending such dinners."