Duvors

Thus ends the tale of Investigator Machen. He failed to accomplish anything. Rip.

Machen's notebook is difficult to read, partly due to the color of the paper and partly due to how small the man's handwriting is. Each page is densely packed with notes and drawings of minute scale and fine detail. It takes a moment to find something directly pertinent to your investigation. 15/11/9: Arrived in Ebria today, lodged in tenament in Blackcoin. Have avoided introducing self to local chapter. He may be watching. 15/11/10: Visited stationmaster's office today, gained access to shipping manifest for Grey and Brown. According to logs, shipment consists of 'rice' and 'lighters'. One crate stands out from the others, marked 'Fragile' and listed as 'specialty electronics'. 15/11/11: Visited Grey and Brown last night. Witnessed unloading of containers into warehouse. He was there, Flatfoot definitely acting under His influence. Witnessed them unloading the 'specialty electronics', overheard the workers complaining about how difficult it wo- -uld be to 'get this down there'. I left soon after. This morning I visited the Department of Maintenance to get permission to view plans view plans for that part of the station. Will be able to do so tomorrow. 15/11/12: Visited department today. Discovered that plans for part of the sewer system in area were missing. Was able to find likely entr- -ances by cross-referencing street-maps with surviving plans. Multiple possible entrances found. One off Blackcoin Main, one in Temple Row, one in Golkan Plaza, and one outside Grey and Brown. Will disregard Golkan, too public. 15/11/13: Today's papers report the vanishing of on Alex Kampf yesterday. Reported by landlord. Kampf was a out-of-work Ætherdiving -diving technician living near to Blue Moon. While likely unrelated, the association with 'specialty electronics' too obvious to ignore. Visited manhole off Blackcoin Main. Nothing found. Leads directly into street with no obscuring sight-lines. no witnesses to anything. 15/11/14: Moved into Kampf's former apartment building, made inquiries about his disappearance under guise of old friend. Of note; four associates - Reid Catlow, Rosco Bisque, Erik Sharpey, and Jet Stoyer - were seen in his company almost every day prior to disap- -pearance, but did not report vanishing and do not seem concerned. Did not approach them. Landlord describes Kampf and co. as inc- -reasingly hostile and secretive prior to his vanishing. All fit profile of possible recruits; dissatisfied with life, unemployed, living in poor conditions. Tomorrow will visit Temple Row and make inquiries. 15/11/15: One Vendor - Pip, adamite - has direct line-of-sight on manhole. Flustered by questioning in manner indicating guilt and fear. Possibly acts as lookout for smugglers? No other vendor has clear view of manhole. No-one knows about Kampf. Vinoq, information broker, confirms suspicions re: Pip. Flatfoot bribing police. All investigations in area stalled. Confirms Him witnessed in company with Kampf and friends. 15/11/16: Examined Kampf's apartment today. Lock undamaged. Found rudimentary notes on ætherdiving rig design - notable deveat- -ions from the norm noticed. Refers to design as 'helldiver'. Bad, very bad. 15/11/17: Men working for Flatfoot made attempt to kill me. They have been disposed of along with weapon. Am now defenseless. 15/11/18: Have made direct contact with Society. No other Investigators on Ebria. Local police untrustworthy and vulnerable to Him. 15/11/19: Inquiries in local area reveal that Kampf's associates have made several purchases over the past few weeks - tables, buckets, electronics, blessed candles (?), black clothing, knives. 15/11/20: Society ritual calendar indicates that an Inauspicious Day of ancient Tehanui calendar will fall on 28th. Investigator Blackwood recalled to station. Will not arrive for three weeks. To long. 15/11/21: Have been purchasing equipment for sewer exploration. The Society has provided a ghanta for my use. If needed, I can att- -empt an exorcism with provided materials. I have a new gun, I hope it will be enough. Well it wasn't, was it? Decker Insight Check (DC: 3) (5,1,4) Two successes. I'll be taking this gun, wouldn't want my friends to be able to hurt themselves would I?

"Good eye," Enson said, perusing the datapads lying about, "but we still don't know what happened to Bertram. How did he disappear from a room with only one entrance while we were just outside?" 'And why would anyone need that much Nanite Elixir?' he thought.

As you cast your eye over the table, the very first thing you see (practically under your hand) is a map of the sewers. From what you can see it's a professionally made blueprint of the network, the words 'Ebria Station Department of Maintenance and Infrastructure' printed in the bottom corner. Now you know why Arno couldn't find any blueprints, they were stolen. Underneath that, you find a scroll written in an unknown language. No, wait... Decker Insight Check (DC 3): (5,5,2) Two successes. As you gaze at the paper, you realize that it's written in ordinary writing. It's even clearly legible; To begin; First, you must find a place close to the dark. Once done, await the inauspicious day. Then, you must prepare a Channel, to call the power forth. Secure an Offering, and draw the inverse symbol in their pure blood. At the points, place lights of purity, to contain the dark thing. In the Channel, place a Vessel to be filled. Speak the words of the Nameless One. And the Vessel will be filled. Then, suddenly, it's unreadable again. To the side of this, there's a pizza box, a receipt from Temple Row Pizza in the name of Avery Mann, and a small blue booklet. Machen's Notebook: (Tool) Adds +1 Occult and Religion successes, my be used with ??? to ??? MM note: I'll get on to the contents of the notebook later, my mind's a bit too fogged to do it right now.

I mixed up which door was which, I meant the one on the left of the entrance room. The one the thugs came from. Wouldn't it be better to orient the image of the room from the character's point of view? The provided image makes it look like there's a second door leading out of the storeroom.

Enson quickly cast his eye over the bottles, trying to perceive their contents. With that done, he rushed over to the door on the right, opening it and searching for any sign of their employer.

Provisional: until @Wolfpackfan99 says otherwise, Billeck will equip his Cloaking Generator. "I'm afraid so, yes." Enson looked at the bodies glumly. He sighed. "Oh well." Distribution 15x Credits to each party member 1x Exo-Suit to Aysu, Billeck, and Wollipog 1x Machete to Enson, Billeck, and Jonk 1x Plasma Pistol to Aysu, Billeck, and Jonk "What the- oh damn that fool! I thought he was waiting outside!" Enson leapt over to the storage closet, flinging the door open. 'Please just be hiding' he thought. 'If you've run off alone then we're all in trouble.'

The corpse is of a young man, his tousled brown hair matted and spiked by his own blood. Examining him soon reveals the cause of his death - a stab wound directly in the heart. Removing the outer layer of clothing reveals nondescript clothing, a button-up shirt and cargo pants with waterproof boots. In his pants pocket you manage to find a wallet containing a years-old coupon for Ozzorli's Pizza and three credits. In their shirt pocket you find a small booklet soaked through with blood, with the handwritten letters '-pf, D-' barely legible on the cover. Most of the pages are fused into a single mass, but there are a few near the end that you can peel apart, some even have writing on them. -at there's an Investigator on our -e so that they may serve as our Offering. -days until we're ready. The- -ldiver is almost -only a few tweaks and some calibration needed. Looking further ahed, you find more of interest. -ion Maintenance is sending someone down -ipes in preparation for some project to overhaul -ystem. He says they will make the perfect Vessel. -ay the wait has been fun. We've already had 'Machen' -wn here for two days and he's been a pain in my - Thankfully- -ll be able to drug the Vessel, none of th- -ure blood' bu- -like with the Offering. You look ahead again, hoping or dreading further enlightenment. -ive- -ing days the wait is finally over! -onight the alignment of the heavens will be -nauspcious' for our purposes. Finally I'll be able to -odsforsaken tomb and breathe real air. No more watching -e bastards. Soon we will receive our revelations from -low. Soon t- -ruth of our reality! Soon- The rest of the pages are blank.

As you feel the man's wrist, you feel dried blood crumble under your fingers, and feel a deep gash across the radial and ulnar arteries. The bud is definitely not with you. The 'bed' you see, is in fact a plastic folding table with a hole cut through the middle, unconnected to the device. Turning the body over you see his face, and a deep gash across his stomach. From what you can see, this man's body matches the description you received of Investigator Machen. It appears he found the people he was looking for. Unfortunately, you fail to find anything on his person, his pockets seemingly having been rifled already. As for the device, from what you can tell it appears to be an Ætherdiving chair connected to two large computers. However, it seems to be a homemade model rather than one available to the public market. Notably, it seems to have included a helmet that's been torn off and is now lying on the floor to one side. Decker Occult Check (DC 4): Automatic failure. There's... something wrong with the chair you can't identify. But it may have something to do with the symbol drawn on the floor around it. Decker Religion Check (DC 1,3): (6,1,1) One success. You can immediately see that it appears to be a rendition of the basic triangle-in-circle of Telahn, however there are several deviations from the normal version. For one thing, it's an isosceles triangle instead of an equilateral one - that might actually be a mistake. Second, its apex is pointed toward the entrance of the room, which is never done in Telahn as it's considered an inversion of the symbol. Finally, it seems to be drawn in dried blood. This is a severe taboo in Telahn, as blood is considered a highly impure substance, especially when shed by violence. As you circle the scene in contemplation, you stumble over something in the darkness. Just barely catching yourself on the paper-strewn table, you look down to see another body, dressed in that same black robes as the others you found.

Enson will attack. If the enemy somehow magically survives, Wollipog will defend Enson.

As I have said before, the flashlight is always considered 'on' as long as you have it equipped. The reason you still have Obscurement penalties here is because the flashlight reduces them by two, but there are three levels in this area. If you want to reduce them to zero, Ronin would have to equip his light as well. Decker Perception Check (DC 0, Heavily Lightly Obscured {Flashlight}): (4,2,4,1,-2) Zero successes. Despite your best attempts, you cannot positively identify anything that might be a switch. In order to save time, I'll be assuming you two make a combined strength check to force the door open, as indicated in Endgame's last post. Combined Strength Check (DC 3): (1,4,4,4,2) Three successes. Giving up on finding the entrance, the two of you put your shoulders to the wall and heave, and then you heave again since it didn't move the first time. Finally, after much pushing you feel something give and, with a grinding moan, the doors swing slowly open. Oh dear.

"Very Vell. Err, You too." As you return to the sewer, Vintej calls out after you. "Be seen' ya! Try to come back in one piece!" With that encouraging remark ringing in your ears, you make your way back down into the dark. ~~~ You decide to take the long way around, through the gate you cut through earlier, in hopes of not meeting the blob. It's a tense experience, your ears straining for every sound of the creature as you creep forward. Fortunately you manage to make your way to the place where you found the corpses without difficulty. Making your way to the far end of the passageway, you tentatively peek around to corner. There's nothing in the direction where you found the secret door, but looking the other way you barely catch a glimpse of a massive, shuddering bulk making its way round the far corner and out of sight. Deciding to avoid that, you make your way back to the location you just so recently fled. Faced with what you know is the location of a secret door, you now have two choices ahead of you, either forcing it open, or trying to find the switch now that you're no longer pressed for time. What will you do?

Billeck will rally Aysu.

Pardon? Enson will move to D3 and attack the O'Kor'uk thug. Wollipog will defend Aysu.

Billeck will move to E1 and fire at the O'Kor'uk thug.

MM note: So, few things. Firstly, to reiterate something I've said before, I'll be taking a trip to Ireland soon. To be more specific, the 28th. Once that happens, I will not be able to run this mission, and it will have to be canceled unless finished beforehand. In the interest of saving time, you will not have any further encounters with the Wall of Flesh. I'll also say right now that anything you could've learned from this location, you already purchased from Vinoq. I'm sorry to do this to you, but I really want to finish this properly and there isn't a lot of time to do it in.

"Ye gods..." As you make your way over, the little robot follows you, brushes whirring furiously. "Oh! Err, No. There is nothing to vorry about." he speaks with a thick accent you can't quite identify. "I vas just enjoying my coffee. Err, who are you?"

Enson will move to E2 and use a plasma potion on Billeck. Wollipog will Defend Billeck.

Billeck will attack the Amourai Thug.

The Ytaxxi and O'Kor'uk will both be in optimal range, so you could attack them. From that position, you could also rally or defend all of your allies, or defend yourself. "It's fine, just be more careful in future." Enson will use his Æther Brew on Wollipog. Wollipog will roll initiative and cast Revealing Light on the Amourai Thug's Eyes (attempting to blind).

Looking over the patrons of the restaurant, you see only two. One is a pale man with red eyes and fangs wearing classic 'dastardly villain' attire, high collar and all. He seems jittery and nervous, cradling his drink like his life depended on it while a newspaper lies on the table. The O'Kor'uk is much more relaxed, conversing with the waiter serving him. You can't make out what he's saying though. Looking over the signs, you see that it directs viewers to police, fire, and medical services, with the arrow seemingly pointing down a narrow access tunnel. Above the tunnel are more signs, these ones seemingly for commercial services, as well as a yellow sign... Decker Culture Check (DC 1): (4,6,6) Three successes. ... saying 'Weasel Street Quick Access'. Above all this, a news ticker delivers the latest scoops in terse format. "Well, uh, I guess Bob said the he saw a 'meat blob' down in those sewers you crawled out of. 'Bout the size of a big rat he said. That was a long ways back though."

"Ebria Station, actually. By the way, Aysu, if you can open the casket without setting off all the alarms in the building then feel free to grab that scepter thing you've been eyeing." As he spoke, ensign moved over to the door on the right, sliding it open and peaking inside.

"Small ones with beards." Enson said. "Tell me, are there any guards about this time of day?"

"Greg? Quiet guy, wears glasses, likes jigsaw puzzles? I, uh, can't say we were close. And I don't think anything I could tell you would help with finding him. You say you're looking for a manhole? If you have any clue where it might be I could probably take you there." he gestures to the shuttlecar behind him. "You're in Golkan Plaza, right in the middle of the Southeastern Docks."

Enson shakes his head. "Power and wealth in life, look what it bought you." Hearing the muffled voice, he turns around and walks over to the blue frog. "Hello?" he said, "Is this you? Who are you?"