%% date:: [[2024-03-17]] %% # [[003_20240317 Dagger of Sorrow]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[003_20240317 Dagger of Sorrow]] > Sadie went back to the Eaves and risked her dragon husband's ire to learn a few things about Oldfairen architecture, including something about a House of Gold that, while not dome-shaped, *was* made of gold when it was dug up-- although the gold had long since been stolen. > > Leopold went to his associate, Dr. Emilia Finch, who is a pretty shady doctor who seemed to be his supplier of sorts. He asked her to track Madam Fidovich and asked her about the Candela Obscura. Lily went to see her sister, Olive Sinclair, an assassin in The Pyre. Olive had the Dagger of Sorrow-- she said that it gave her visions of the next person she needed to kill. Three months ago, she saw Lily's face, and had been resisting it ever since. Lily convinced her to hand over the Dagger, with the promise that Lily would return it in two days. Olive said that "they" (The Pyre) might kill her if they found out. Lily said she should go to Lucien for protecting if Lily wasn't back in two days. > > The gang all met up at Brewed Enlightening and pooled their information, and then went back to The Safehouse, where Lily showed everyone the Dagger of Sorrow. The next day, Leopold went to get eye drops from Dr. Finch and then wen to The Daily Tomorrow. There, he found out from the author of the article on alchemy that the name of the alchemist who was experimenting with turning lead into gold was named Seraphine Noir. > > The party (except Edward, who stayed back to investigate the map some more) went to Seraphine's lab in The Steel. She revealed that while she didn't know what would turn lead into gold, she had been working on it and experimenting on lead she'd taken from lead piles in The Steel. Upon Sadie's request, she sifted through the lead to find a lead panel that was clearly Oldfairen. Sadie realised that the markings on the panel were of a map in The Steel-- and it was in the shape of a dome, the exact centre of which Sadie knew had never been dug up for ruins before. ^summary %% ## Video [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAbpTaRfDCg) 00:00:00 Housekeeping 00:06:58 Sadie goes home 00:19:47 What Sadie finds out about Oldfaire 00:31:29 Leopold goes to see Dr. Emilia Finch 00:39:00 Leopold wants to track Madam Fidovich 00:45:45 Lily goes to see Olive 01:04:32 The Dagger of Sorrow 01:24:00 We meet at Brewed Enlightening 01:28:12 Turning lead into gold 01:29:53 Scientific ways to turn lead into gold 01:42:03 Husbands to take care of 01:42:25 I never needed a husband 01:43:49 We go back to The Safehouse 01:49:55 Break 01:58:53 The next day... 02:02:06 Sadie gets grilled by her husband 02:12:23 Leopold gets drops and then goes to The Daily Tomorrow 02:27:17 Meeting Seraphine Noir 02:42:27 Sadie examines the panel in the lead %% --- ## Recap ![[ttrpgs/Circle of Uncut Diamonds/002_20240310 The Golden Dome#^summary]] --- ## Log We're going to treat the investigative phase as one assignment, and whatever happens after that as another assignment. Sadie goes home to [[The Eaves]]. She tries to find anything about [[Oldfaire]]. - [[House of Gold]] is in [[Groundswell]] in a digsite overseen by [[Briarbank College]]. The College believed that the gold was used in some way to contain Bleed. But the House is very much not a dome. - [[Garden of the Gods]], which is deep underneath a place called [[Revenant Park]] in [[Briar Green]] where bodies were coming up. - [[Anathemae]], where people knew things were wrong in Oldfaire before it was destroyed. It's a structure that was in place to warn people off from coming to Oldfaire before the deluge. - [[Ziggurat]] was something dramatic but not circular. It's square/trianguar. - As far as we know, nobody has ever found anything about a golden dome. Sadie leaves a note to [[Thomas Cavendish]] to say that she was in the study trying to ask him whether he wanted chicken or fish for the dinner at the Rutherfords. Leopold has the bag that was holding the [[Box of Suffering]]. Leopold goes to an outreach clinic to help people get rid of their addictions. - [[South Soffit]] - underground, where servants live. It's closer to the top, which is closer to the electricity lines. It's where - [[Doctor Emilia Finch]] is a doctor, associate of [[Leopold Maxwell]]. He goes directly to her office. - ![[coud-emilia-finch.png]] - Things are a little seedy under the surface. The clinic is underground, as is the office. - Leopold is a priority customer. When he tells her he has a favour for her to do, her eyes light up in an unsavoury way. But this is comforting to Leopold because it means the way their relationship is will continue. - Leopold wants to track [[Madam Lia Fidovich]]. - He asks her about [[The Candela Obscura]]. - She's discussing the history of another patient with him... this "doctor". She's not to be trusted. Very shifty. - She says she'll have something for him tomorrow morning. I go to see my sister, [[Olive Sinclair]] - Olive has always loved secrets, but she's never been good at keeping them. - Didn't want me to know where she lived and she's been avoiding me since she joined [[The Pyre]]. - She lives in [[The Steam]], the manufacturing district. It's pretty much a construction area. Factories, warehouses. Where people build things. They live in apartment buildings. It's next to [[The Steel]]. - Something's been cordoned off by [[The Periphery|The Periphery]]. Is it an [[Oldfaire]] site? I've only seen it in [[Groundswell]]. The Steam is a little higher, comparatively. It would be weird to have an architectural site there. - Her apartment is a fourth-floor walk-up. I disguise myself just enough for her to buzz me in. - She's been my best friend for a good part of my life. She says "You shouldn't have come." - She's really upset about something. She is muscular, but also pale. She looks unhealthy to a degree that I've never seen... - She's wearing the dagger even though she's at home. - One of her hands has a glove on it. The other glove does not. - The dagger: - ![[coud-dagger-of-sorrow.png]] - I remember she couldn't wait to tell me the name. She's so bad at keeping secrets. - I know she could kill me with it (but I trust her). It's humming. It's a hum I'm coming to associate with magick and danger. - She's after people because of this. She kills people. - She sees the future. If she has it with her when she sleeps, she will get a vision of her face. And that is her next target. - It showed her my face three months ago. - They rely on the magickal objects to stop magick from being misused. It's dangerous and murky. The Pyre, her superiors, have no idea why she saw me because I'm not part of the structures that misuse magick. - She promises she's not going to use it on me. - She laughs hysterically. - She says she can't just give it away... it's bonded to her. - Her right hand is dark black from fingertips to wrist. - She gives me her glove and I take the dagger. She puts it in her ungloved hand, though, and doesn't seem to hesitate about holding it bare-handed. - It dances in my hand. It nicks my cheek. She panics. I feel a bit of blood coming down. I try to look at myself in the dagger. I see the cut heal up. - She says that if she loses it, they'll kill her. She has two days before they check in on her. I have to be back by then. Otherwise, if I'm not, I tell her to go see [[Lucien Leroux]]. A family friend. Don't tell him everything-- just tell him you need to be protected. - After a while, the hum quiets from the dagger in my hand. We all meet up at [[Brewed Enlightening Teas and Coffees]] and share information. - Edward thinks our point of entry of "the stairs" is [[The Endless Descent]], which are stairs that go down. It leads into [[The Undercroft]] (?) - Celine says that there have been many incursions down there, but they haven't heard of anything about the Golden Dome. Sadie confirms she's heard the same thing. - Leopold shares the article about a quack or alchemist that turned lead into gold. - Sadie tells us about the House of Gold. It's an archaeological site that was entirely encased in gold. All the golden panels have been stolen. It's an Oldfaire place, but it's not in the shape of a dome. It's in [[Groundswell]], overlooked by [[Briarbank College]]. - Sadie sees that I have a new magickal artifact. Sadie mentioned that there are people (like her) who can Sense objects with bleed. It's the end of the day - like 22:00. We go back to Edward's [[The Safehouse|Safehouse]]. He said that he's going to leave it open for us. I show them [[The Dagger of Sorrow]] and say that I've acquired it and don't really know what it does. It's not humming. There's no vibration. Sadie's both afraid of it and interested in it. Celine asks if I've touched it with my bare skin. I very carefully say I've used the glove every time I've touched it. The next day... [[The Daily Tomorrow]] is the name of the publication where Leopold got the story from. The writer who wrote it is called [[Rupert Alouicious]]. "The Golden Dome" was a landmark in the map that we found. There are stairs going down into it. The Endless Stairs could be in the dome. There's a line that's going to a part of the dome, the eastern side. [[The Endless Descent]] stairs are 72 feet wide x 100 feet long and 24 feet high. They're giant stairs and we need climbing gear to get down. It's one of the reasons why they're difficult to go down. Celine gets a report from Giles, usually in the morning. The Underworld, the spy world, has never heard of The Golden Dome. It's really unusual for nobody to have ever heard of this. She's poked the hornet's nest now, and now everyone's really scrambling to find out more information. - [[The Red Hand]] is the most stirred up about it. This is their thing. This idea will probably lead to deaths across Newfaire as people are squeezed. Sadie has a terse conversation with Thomas that nobody else is privy to. But he's heard of the Golden Dome. - He has usually punched her despite her cringing. - She tells him she didn't tell him something that happened at the auction. She's going to tell him that on the second floor of the auction, she brushed against a person and she had a vision of a man that was thinking of a Golden Dome. - People have been yelling at him all day about a Golden Dome. This really distracts him from wanting to hurt her. - She tells him the Dome is Oldfairen and it's a golden dome, but she doesn't know where it was. - Sadie's visions are not something that she's ever been able to control. [[Thomas Cavendish]] has never liked that because his life is all about control. - He treats her like a golden egg because he really wants that next vision from her even though he doesn't like her. Leopold goes back to Emilia's office. - Jamie, the receptionist, tries to chat with him but he doesn't engage. - He "gets the drops" for his eyes. Leopold goes to [[The Daily Tomorrow]] to track down [[Rupert Alouicious]], the reporter of the story. - Newsroom, everyone clacking away at typewriters. - Rupert is smoking up a storm, wearing tweed, typical British reporter. - Leopold threatens him circuitously. He says that the story is dangerous and Rupert might need to protect himself. - *Saw This Coming:* It would be a shame if someone visited you at `your address`, your wife Genevieve and your daughter Jolene... - He packs up his stuff and leaves - he's been threatened too much and can't be used again. [[Seraphine Noir]] is the name of the doctor. Seraphine Noir's lab - She's in [[The Steel]]. - There's another taped off area like an architectural dig. - Big lab with a lot of room and space. - Almost everyone comes with Leopold. - Sadie's absolutely followed, and she's followed to The Safehouse. And then to Seraphine. Players know this but none of the characters do... - Edward stays at home and investigates the map. He turns it around to see what's on the other side. - [x] ==He needs to do a Focus roll next game to see what he finds out.== - She is a stereotypical bug-eyed scientist. Goggles, wild eyes. Singed when she opens the door. Her clothes are smoking a bit. - She gives us dubious tea. She brews us *something* and maybe we don't want to drink it, from the way smoke is coming out of it. - It's a chemical laboratory. Vials and beakers and centrifuges. Don't know if it makes sense, but she's definitely doing a lot. - Leopold asks her about a [[House of Gold]]. - I ask her about a nuclear reactor. - Regular chemical interactions can turn one element into another. It's not just a nuclear reactor that could do it. - Gold is difficult to obtain in the city. It would be difficult to do, but luckily, lead is very easy to obtain. There's a big pile here in The Steel. This isn't very safe since lead poisoning is a thing. She gets lead at night. - What would she need to turn lead into gold? - Need to know the exact formulas. - Need to know exact conditions. - Need to have pressure, large amounts of water. - She's tried lots of things but she's missing something. She's got an experiment where she's charging electricity into lead and it does nothing. It just gets zapped and blown into smithereens. - Sadie examines a panel in the lead that Seraphine has found. - It's made of lead. - It's Oldfairen. - The symbols on it are relatively elaborate. Sadie's almost sure that it came from the Golden Dome. - Seraphine keeps track of where she gets lead piles. She keeps a map... and it's in the shape of a dome. There's a centre you can pinpoint. It's a rough scrawl of [[The Steel]]. Sadie knows that nobody has ever looked for artifacts in the exact centre. - [ ] ==Leopold does the thing with the eye drops.== - [ ] ==Does Lily get a vision?== - [ ] ==[[Candela Obscura]] end-of-assignment stuff.==