%% date:: [[2024-03-03]] %% # [[001_20240303 The Box of Suffering]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[001_20240303 The Box of Suffering]] > All five of us were at the Obelisk House for various reasons when we were individually approached by someone named Madam Fidovich, who said that we should meet by the obelisk outside after all the auctions. For one reason or another, we did so, and met each other there: Sadie (Medium) is a pale, gaunt young woman in a less-than-perfect marriage; Lily (Doctor) is a woman of science and reason interested in the magickal artifacts being auctioned; Celine (Magician) is a woman of many faces and disguises; Edward (Explorer) is a man that looks like he came from money but has fallen out of favour; Leopold (Detective) is someone who has been touched by magick-- and not in a good way. > > Left by Madam Fidovich with no instructions and only a trinket, which she gave to Leopold, we headed to Edward's loft to convene. We each touched a face of the strange metal cube, and after an initial setback where Lily could not activate her side, we each took some kind of damage (Brain, Bleed, or Body) and the thing came alive at our touch, transforming into a map of a city none of us had ever seen before. ^summary %% ## Video [Video]() %% --- ## Log > [!NOTE] Obelisk House > A large, stately, three-story wooden house in Groundswell. Between it and the road, in a wide clearing, is a 20 foot tall obelisk from ancient OldFaire, covered in runes. > > A tall iron fence surrounds the property, and the front gate is only opened in the evening, when the auctions are. > > *The Scarlet Auction* > The Scarlet Auction takes place in a small, elegantly furnished room on the third floor of Obelisk House. It is nighttime outside, rain beating against the windows. > > There’s only about ten people sitting in the chairs. A watcher might not notice at first exactly how expensively these people are dressed. These people are not gaudy, but they are very, very, very rich. All of them are wearing gloves. > > The items here are each one of a kind, cleaned and maintained to perfection, with impeccably documented histories. The bidders will spend enough on each item to heat the Sidle for a year, enough to build a brand-new battleship, more than enough to bribe the Halen Assembly. And they will do it over and over before the night is done. > > *The Amber Auction* > The Amber Auction room takes up about half of the second floor of Obelisk House. The audience is filled with academics and their agents, and so is much more studious and dignified than its first floor counterpart. > > The items here go for higher prices, but are often described in terms of their historic value, instead of in lurid occult terms. A large contingent of professors and students from Briarbank College takes up the foremost right section of the chairs. > > *The Emerald Auction* > The Emerald Auction room takes up most of the bottom floor of Obelisk House. Walls have been knocked out to make a large chamber, though the support beams of the house remain, obstructing the sight lines of some seats. The furnishings are modest, with only a few green highlights, such as the window shutters, currently closed against > the rain and keening wind outside. > > This is the auction that is open to the general public, and the seats are often quite packed with tourists, and partiers there for a laugh, in addition to the poorer devotees of the mystic arts. > > This night, it is full to bursting, and the attendees are raucous, having a grand old time. The auctioneer is banging her gavel and hollering to try to get people’s attention. Although the auctioneer goes through an earnest spiel for every item, they mostly just look old and decrepit, not arcane, and go for coppers and silver instead of gold. > [!question] Questions for you to answer during Session Zero: > - How is your character connected to the criminal world? > - How is your character connected to magick? > - Why were you at the Obelisk House, attending the auction, that night? > - What about your circumstances compelled you to accept membership in Candela Obscura, and a dangerous first mission? > > You do _not_ need to know all these things going in to Session Zero. But feel free to think about ideas beforehand! We're going to be recruited into Obelisk House on a dark and stormy night. %% Mike (+10 Broadsword) - playing a detective Emma - New to games in general - Magician Leah: Medium Me: Doctor Rezin (*reason*) - currently disabled and can't back to work - has played a lot of Call of Cthulhu-esquer games, mothership - has been playing TTRPGs for 20 years - has been playing games in school for kids - Explorer Andrew (Apontius) - Played 2E D&D when he was younger, started to get back into it in 2014 - Matt Mercer changed his life. He likes story-first, dramatic games. - Campaign of [[Vaesen]] right now. He's also run [[Delta Green]], [[Savage Worlds]], [[Genesis]]. %% Safety tools - He's not going to get everyone's lines and veils - Safety and comfort is more important to him than fun. Today we'll make character sheets and stats, then backgrounds. Andrew will want not a novel, but more just an outline of our backgrounds. The ending is going to depend on what the characters want. We'll invent a lot of details as we go. > [!tip] Truth 1 (definitely true) > Candela Obscura runs the lighthouses that dot the Fairelands outside of NewFaire. They are meant to warn people away from magickal danger. 3. FALSE Candela Obscura is divided into local chapters, which often have bitter feuds with each other that sometimes break out into open eldritch warfare. 3. TRUE Candela Obscura is divided into local chapters and each of these chapters operates mostly independently. 8. FALSE Candela Obscura pretends that terrible magickal monsters exist in order to gain political power behind the scenes. 8. TRUE Candela Obscura protects the normal world from terrible magickal monsters from beyond. 9. FALSE Candela Obscura coordinates closely with the Periphery’s Office of Unexplained Phenomena (OUP) to cover up magickal incidents from the public. 9. TRUE Candela Obscura coordinates does not coordinate with the Periphery’s Office of Unexplained Phenomena (OUP) except in localized cases. 10. FALSE Candela Obscura coordinates closely with a group of supernatural assassins called the Pyre to eliminate its enemies. 10. TRUE Candela Obscura works with a group of supernatural assassins called the Pyre when necessary, but generally opposed or avoids them. Work into your character: Why would they join [[The Candela Obscura]] when asked to do so out of the blue? %% I am the skeptic of the group - I have seen proof of magick and my entire life has been built around science and reason. It's shaken the foundation of my identity and work. I have a sister that we don't speak about-- and she's in the criminal underworld. Andrew will play her. ![[coud-olive-sinclair.png]] I'm at the auction because I've heard there's something cool there: - Miter of Air: if you wear it, you can fly. It's being auctioned off at the Amber Auction tonight. (smaller affair on the second floor) %% [[Edward Dedrik]] ![[coud-edward-dedrik.png]] [[Sadie Cavendish]] ![[coud-sadie-cavendish.png]] [[Leopold Maxwell]] ![[coud-leopold-maxwell.png]] > [!tip] Introduction > During a memorable, rowdy auction one night at the Obelisk House in Groundswell, each of you was recruited to Candela Obscura by the Lightkeeper Madam Fidovich. > > While you are all very different, and you were all there for your own reasons, each of you has both some connection to the criminal world, and some connection to magic. > > You have all heard of Candela Obscura, though the accuracy of your knowledge varies wildly. Something in your current circumstances compels you to accept the offer, and its first mission: to retrieve a magical necklace from a particular building deep in OldFaire. > > You know this will be well-nigh impossible. > > You know this is a test. > > You must each use your connections and knowledge to prepare, and work as a team with four others strangers, to succeed. Third floor of [[Obelisk House]] ([[The Scarlet Auction]]) - dais on one side - number of chairs facing a podium - nighttime, rain beating against windows - richly dressed people (not gaudy but very, very rich). All of them are wearing gloves. [[Madam Lia Fidovich]] is middle aged, wavy black hair to her shoulders, unsympathetic look. - Auctioneer introduces a number of items that are brought out on purple pillows. - 3rd item: *Box of suffering*. Madam Fidovich buys it and pays for it without blinking. She puts it in a drawstring bag. Sadie - mid 20s - fire red hair - slender to the point of being gaunt and frail, pale - dark clothing, white silk gloves - She's in the Scarlet Auction, watching the proceedings. She's not bidding. She's watching the woman leave - her eyes are on the object itself. She focuses back on the auctioneer, waiting for the next item. Items get more outlandishly named. A man comes into the door. ([[Thomas Cavendish]]) - ![[coud-thomas-cavendish.png]] - Thomas is Sadie's husband. He's treading softly. He's not the star here; he's an employee. There's little warmth between him and Sadie. - Tells Sadie to stick to this round and come back. Sadie is reporting something. She's stuttering as she talks to him. She's mouse-like and quiet. A woman comes up behind Sadie and taps her on the shoulder. It's Madam Fidovich. She's tall, imposing. "If you want to join Candela Obscura, join the group that will be gathered at the Obelisk after the final auction." She shows Sadie the bag, and it's humming. She threatens Sadie with the Box of Suffering. [[The Amber Auction]]: Lily - Big crowd from Briarbank College chatting with each other. They do bid on a decent amount of the items that are auctioned off tonight. - Only 10% of the audience are wearing gloves. - Miter of Air - Most things are advertised not by their eldritch capacities. It's more historical notes. This one is referred to in the same way. The people displaying it are a little more careful about not touching it. - People in religious robes seem to be most interested. [[The Ascendancy]] Madam Fidovich comes up behind me, but I see her coming. Black rich cloak, hood back. - Join the group by the obelisk after the auction tonight. - Why should I do what you say? I have other things to do. - I ask what's in the bag. She brings the bag closer. She teases me by letting me look inside a bit - there's metal. It's humming louder the closer it gets. - I don't really get any time with the Miter of Air - The Ascendancy picks up on my disdain for them and don't let me see it. [[Celine Valterra]] - In the Scarlet Auction - Interested in the people: who's building, who's interested in what. - Looks like a gentleman wearing white gloves of auctioneer's assistant. No one pays him any mind at all. Celine is approached by Madam Fidovich. - Join Candela Obscura by going to the obelisk after the auction tonight. [[Edward Dedrik]] - Also in the Scarlet Auction - Looks like he's wearing fine clothing, but upon closer inspection, it's a little more threadbare. it's not the latest couture. - We're about 2/3 of the way through the auction. - He's been waiting for an item: but that's not the important thing. The important thing is that a fairly brisk bidding war starts between several people when it comes out. He's driving up the price as much as possible. There are two other bidders: - Elderly couple. Wealthy. 70s or 80s. - Another man with a paunch belly The elderly couple wins and their servant picks up the item. The guards come to escort him out but they do it very politely. They are actually kicking him out because it's been noticed that he doesn't actually pass here. Madam Fidovich goes up to him and tells him the same thing. He just accepts right away. [[Leopold Maxwell]] is outside in the pouring rain by the obelisk, outside the auction house. - small, slender man with a robust mustache, bowler hat with an intense gaze that keeps returning to a younger gentleman. He's looking at a small picture that's hand-drawn. He matches the person to the picture. - The gentleman picks someone's pocket. Edward doesn't interfere but writes down who that person was. - He sees Madam Fidovich coming. She's acting a bit suspiciously. She's walking around to people who are nearby. She spots him. She starts towards him. - He draws back his jacket a bit to show his revolver. He asks her: "Is it true what they say about Candela Obscura? That they have ways of making someone whole again?" She gives him the bag containing the [[Box of Suffering]]. She says "Don't touch it with your bare hands." He says it's unwise to use such objects. "Believe me, I know." He dabs at his eye and it comes away with something black. She says she knows, and that's why she knows she can entrust him with it. "Open it and examine it with the others in a safe place." We all meet up after Madam Fidovich has left. We're mostly in private. All I'm able to notice is that the box is humming. Celine looks like herself: - Around 35 - Gender-neutral clothes: trousers, coat, black beret, black semi-veil. She's observing Leopold says we have to be careful with "these objects" - things that are from the beyond. We're in the 1900s. There's a subway. Edward has a vehicle though. It's not the newest but it's fairly luxurious. He takes us to his loft. It's clean. Central. One of the older buildings. It's a couple blocks away from the subway. The interior is well lit. It's in [[The Varnish]] Newfaire does have electricity. It's got 5 faces with symbols on it and one wit hno symbols. It's weighted so that the un-symboled portion is at the bottom. Sides: - Buddha smiling face with closed eyes (Leopold) - Humming gets louder - Third eye appears between the two closed eyes of the Buddha - Leopold whispers "Snake eyes" - Drama image: smiling + frowning face (Celine) - They start to shake until they're indistinguishable. - She takes 1 Brain. She knows that if she touched it again with her eyes closed, she would not take the same damage again. - Snake (Edward) - Fangs come out. Take 1 Body. - Lightning symbol (Lily) - Animates and gets activated. Zaps my hand. Hurts me a bit. I take 1 body. - Hand (Lily, then Sadie) - Nothing additional happens. - Claws come out - they don't touch her hand but there's a shicking sound (like Wolverine) and Sadie feels something not quite physical and not quite magical. it's a shock to the senses. It's 1 Bleed. All 5 sides are activated. Buzzing and shaking reaches a crescendo. There's light and energy coming out of it. The sides fold out origami-style. And it lies flat. It reassembles into a large sheet of metal that softens a bit. It's no longer like rigid metal. It's like something that can be bent. On it appears a map. It's a map of a city we've never seen. There's an X. There's a route to it. It's like a treasure map. But we don't know where this city is. We need to think about how we'd find out more about this map. Not Madam Fidovich - she hasn't offered to help. Whom do we know?