Hook:
You're unsure when it happened but you find a note someone put in your pocket.
026 - 250605 - Midnight Rendezvous
Date:
446 PC, Brightwane 20, Full Moon
Players:
Donk
Ragnum
Candy
Sorrel
After Actions:
Journal of Donk Stonefist:
I found a strange note in my pocket and I asked me to meet someone named M at midnight on the night of the full moon. It sounded like someone needed help so I decided to answer the call. Turns out Ragnum, Sorrell and Candy all received similar notes. The note came from Mira, she has become very suspicious of the moral inquisitors that came to visit the camp, especially Rector 9. She told about them questioning Jarrell, and putting a tail on her. She said she was planning on leaving camp. She also said there was something being taken out of camp tonight sometime before dawn.
We eventually came up with a plan to infiltrate rectors tent. Sorrell came up with a distraction, he said he could create a “fire” near the mess tent again. And boy did he deliver. That was one really big boom.
Meantime Ragnum and myself made our way towards the tent. I feigned being drunk to make it less suspicious and Ragnum convinced the guard to leave his place at the tent and go help at the “distraction”.
I stood watch while Candy and Ragnum went into the tent to search for anything that would confirm Mira’s suspicions.
They found a bunch of personnel files for a lot of the people in the camp. Also a sealed scroll with a note for it to be sent out today.
Ragnum bypassed the seal and saw that they are apparently very interested in the people who had been killed and resurrected. Also something about seeing if there is any long term effects of the tower on people. Not sure what that means.
Afterwards we all met up with Mira again at an abandoned farmhouse. Sorrel looked a bit worse for the wear and slightly crispy. Ragnum explained to Mira that be being paranoid and leaving camp would just play into their hands. Hopefully she will stick around.
033 - 250714 - Reasonable Collateral
Hook:
The recruits turn their attention to Rector 9, a relic of old orders and older contracts. They may learn more than they wanted to know.
Date:
PC 446, Brightwane 28
Players:
Die-Anna
Dev
Raven
Odett
Draylor
Loot
Magical contract signed by Die-Anna (Dev)
After Actions
Dev:
Odett, Die-Anna and Raven are sitting together in the mess tent, and I see Draylor approach them looking for more drink tickets. I think I heard the name Rector-9, and I decide to join them.
Rector-9 still wants to talk to Odett and the others who have died. He scares me, but I think everyone is at least a little bit afraid of him. But I also want to know what he’s learned about death in the Rift. Is there a limit to the number of times people can come back? Are the people that come back really the same?
Thunk. Squish.
Odett seems very much herself today, although her eyes look different. I didn’t really spend a lot of time with Raven or Die-Anna before they died, so who knows?
We all want to know more about the mystery man who’s asking questions. Draylor went to talk to Cook, but he just came back with a red mark above his eye and the valuable intelligence that Rector-9 doesn’t come to the mess tent – he just sends one of his goons to pick up his food.
We decided to go visit Steve, since I remember Rector-9 interviewing him shortly after arriving in the Rift. On this miserable, rainy day, we find Steve eating soup in his tent. He hadn’t heard about Odett’s or Die-Anna’s deaths yesterday, so we ended up upsetting him with the news.
Thunk. Squish.
Steve almost seems afraid of Rector-9, but he told us “We all work for the Starshard Banner, so we’re all on the same team” and we should answer any questions he has for us. When we pressed him for details of his interview, Steve told us that Rector-9 has sealed orders from Captain Sledge, and that was above his pay grade. Steve told us the names of Rector-9’s goons, or “personal support staff,” I think was how he put it: Blokk and Glokk.
After leaving Steve’s tent, we found Jerrel hanging out with the rhinuffalo herd. We tried to talk to him about his interview with Rector-9 again, but we didn’t learn much that was new. Odett and Die-Anna tried to phrase hypothetical questions about a character named “Beverly” that they were writing a novel about, and it seemed like it might let Jerrel answer. In the end, he couldn’t give us much. He warned us that “Beverly” should be careful of fire. I’m not sure what to make of it, but even giving us that much was clearly causing Jerrel pain.
The only way we’re going to learn any more about our tin man is to go meet him in person. Odett, Die-Anna, and Raven agree to go to keep their appointments to be interviewed. Draylor and I decide to tag along to spy.
As we approach the Tower, I cast Invisibility on myself and Draylor turns into a blue mouse. Blokk and Glokk stop them as we reach the top of the steps to the second floor. Interviews are done one at a time, they tell us, and Odett is chosen to go first. The guards do not want to let Raven or Die-Anna past, but they are persuaded to allow them up to use the bathrooms.
After an awkward last minute planning session, Die-Anna tells the guards that she wants to go first. She’s carrying Draylor in her pocket and I follow close behind her into the interrogation room.
I think this might have been the exam room where I sat for my initiate exam during our last exploration visit to the Tower before Rector-9’s arrival. It certainly looks different now. Sharp, angular glyphs that are painful to look at for too long overlay the beautiful runes that are present throughout the Tower. There were clear signs of infernal magic all over the room. The blue flame of the Tower’s interface has been replaced by a red one that almost seems to lean towards Die-Anna as we go in.
Rector-9 is easily over 6-feet tall in his armor. There’s no hint of his species. His voice is emotionless. He acts like he already knows the answers to the questions he’s going to ask Die-Anna. He asks about her first death. He asks her to confirm or deny whether she felt a presence before being revived like Jerrel claimed. He asked dozens of questions, including a couple that have been on my mind: “Are you the same person?” “Is she still you?”
When Rector-9 caught Die-Anna in a lie, he sighed and snuffed out the red flame and activated the glyphs. For just a moment, there were two shadows. One belonged to Rector-9, but the other inhuman one did not have a visible source. Die-Anna saw it too, and mentioned it when Rector-9 asked if she was alone. He spoke of The Auditor, but whether that’s his patron or his servant, I couldn’t say.
When Rector-9 finished asking questions, he produced a piece of paper and told Die-Anna to sign it. I skimmed it quickly – it was a contract forbidding her to disclose any part of this interview and spelling out penalties to be enforced if she didn’t comply. Die-Anna signed a false name, but Rector-9 grabbed her hand and stabbed her thumb with the pen as soon as she finished signing. He forced her to put a bloody thumbprint on the contract to seal the deal, and then he placed it in a tube and pocketed it.
After Die-Anna was dismissed, Rector-9 finished making a few final notes in his book and took the magical “domino” record that the machine produced.
Odett came in next, but she was only going to answer questions on her own terms. Rector-9 told her to sit down and she refused. He tried to force her to sit, but she avoided his efforts. He cast a spell to command her to sit, but she resisted it. Odett cursed him and stormed out.
Taking advantage of the distraction, I stole Die-Anna’s contract from Rector-9. Unfortunately for me, he was standing in the doorway and my invisibility spell was only going to last for a few more minutes.
Draylor snuck away and returned to human form, pretending to look for his friends because they were taking such a long time. This caused enough distraction to let me get out of the interrogation room unseen.
Rector-9 decided to let us all go today, but I fear there will be consequences.
Morning of Brightwane 30, 446 PC,
The sun isn't fully risen when a squad of soldiers from the combat division arrives at Odett's tent. In the predawn light, the few early risers in your section watch as three muscular figures enter her canvas abode—rumored to be furnished with a luxurious red rug. Moments later, a restrained Odett emerges, lips bloodied from whatever altercation led to her custody. Almost immediately, word spreads that the Rift is about to witness its first public execution in more than a century. A crowd gathers near the camp’s center, where a hastily constructed stage stands, its timbers still sticky with sap. Instead of gallows or a chopping block, Odett stands bound and gagged, her hands tied to a waist-high stone pillar rising through the stage floor. The half dozen guards who arrived at the start of the month stand watch, crossbows at the ready.
A runner’s horn blows; all recruits on non-critical assignments are ordered to report immediately. When the signal sounds again, three division leads file onto the stage behind Rector 9. Steve’s face is a picture of resignation. Thalia on the other hand has a vaguely satisfied smirk, while Sarna’s remains carefully neutral. Without preamble, Rector 9 begins:
“It seems a number of you have forgotten the importance of the chain of command, and how respect for it is the single thread separating us all from total chaos in these cursed lands. Consider this your reminder.”
On cue Steve starts to mechanically read the charges against Recruit Verbor (Odett), fighting to keep his voice even. When he reaches the punishment, he pauses before forcing out the words:
“As this is Recruit Verbor’s first infraction, command has seen fit to show lenience.”
Steve continues: Odett will receive only a physical brand (not the standard magic one) which Meris will be permitted to remove at month’s end so long as Odett's performance and decorum improve. Furthermore, In recognition of her recent stress, her time in the hole has been reduced to three days from the ten typically prescribed for this type of offense.
While Steve reads, Rector 9 heats the branding iron until it glows a fierce ember‑red. With detached precision, he bends Odett’s wrist back and presses the glowing metal into the soft flesh of her left palm, searing the sword‑and‑stars sigil of the Banner into her skin. Once branded, she is escorted to the southern edge of camp, where a mage has carved a steep, twelve‑foot‑deep pit into the earth. Assumedly, Odett's home for the next three days.
Posted by Keri
Found on pieces of parchment in several parts of camp
The writing is heavy handed and clearly written by someone who is angry.
A lot of people forget about their body. I don’t mean that they think of ghosts or some specter thing, but they forget that every body part is part of a whole. Good luck casting spells with no hands or running away with no legs. The head thinks it’s in charge but boy I’d like to see just a head fight a dragon or a lich or really anything. The head should really appreciate and take care of its body so the arms, legs, torso, and feet don’t rebel. Because in a fight I’d place way more money on the body than the head.
It might be in charge but it can’t do anything without the bodyposted by Die-Anna