Constance instructs Kamali to go put her hand in Clermont’s cookie jar again, in order to gather more information on the Skovlan refugees. Shade will attempt to infiltrate the militant Skovlan community.

Constance sends a message to Karstas to set up a meeting (we stipulated that he had left instructions to send a messenger crow anywhere, and simply include his name in the message, and it will reach him). They meet at the Leaky Bucket. Karstas wants to hire the crew to steal an artifact from the Church of the Ecstacy of the Flesh, a statue that is the mate of the one he bought from Fitz (his exact words are that the two “fit together”). Karstas cannot himself enter the church, for reasons he won’t say (but everyone can guess). Gears takes a Devil’s Bargain to make a Study roll to look over the contract, and enlists Constance’s aid by reading several clauses out loud. They find a loophole that Karstas put in regarding not being able to back out of the arrangement, but decide not to close it. They have a reputation to maintain, after all.

Constance is about to go see Prichard, but there’s a giant explosion. Gears can immediately tell that it’s the coal warehouse. Constance and Gears rush in to try and rescue any survivors. I gave them a 6-segment clock to for the rescue, and there were several other clocks that would advance automatically at regular intervals. One of these was for the building to collapse, and the others were for the arrival of the fire brigade, the Bluecoats, and the crematorium’s corpse cart. Gears uses Survey to search for anyone who’s alive, while Constance uses Wreck to smash anything that’s in her way to get at people who have been trapped behind debris. Most of the rescuees are suffering from smoke inhalation, but at least one of them, Brock, has had the presence of mind to tie a wet cloth over his nose and mouth. Constance learns from him that Baszo and Prichard are not in the building, and Brock makes a beeline for the 2nd floor office to retrieve Baszo’s daughter Aleira. Constance helps herself to the cash in the now exposed vault (8 Coin). There is also one more unconscious gang member here, but Yanth Agog instructs her to leave him to die in the building. Brock and Gears get Aleira out of the office just before the 2nd floor structure collapses. At Gears’ request, Constance manages to drag one of the dead bodies out for later dissection.

Gloves goes to the Church of the Ecstacy of the Flesh and speaks to one of the acolytes, who is happy to give him a tour of their rather impressive art collection. The statue in question is not on display, but Gloves gets a good idea of the layout of the place, including several promising points of entry for an infiltration. He also can make a fairly good guess as to where the statue is being kept.

Kamali goes to Clermont’s safe. She botches the forgery attempt, and so doesn’t take any Coin, but instead concentrates on copying important bits out of Clermont’s notes. She learns the name of the prime suspect of the Skovlan Refugee uprising (Maldor Williamsen), and that the Consulate also suspects that they are planning something in retaliation, but are currently hanging back to observe.

Notes:

Everything involving the coal warehouse on fire was completely 100% improvised. All I started with was “you hear a huge boom from across town, and the ground shakes slightly.”

There was some amusement to be had when we realized that Gears’ player was considering taking a Devil’s Bargain while dealing with a devil’s bargain. The upshot is that Karstas has taken a personal interest in Gears, as he is fascinated by Gears’ completely logical and scientific mindset and world view.

# dontmesswiththedolls