%% date:: [[2024-07-28]] %% # [[012_20240728 Friends in high places]] ![[012_20240728.svg]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[012_20240728 Friends in high places]] > ^summary %% ## Video [Video](https://youtu.be/0vqtf3Ap3Yk) %% --- ## Recap ![[ttrpgs/The Great Dark/011_20240721#^summary]] --- ## Log Fedora guy takes the gun from Tarrin, who lets him do it. She's annoyed she let someone get the drop on her. The mustache guy seems surprised-- the fedora guy doesn't seem to have clued him in on him being the bait. The fedora man thought there was someone who might be coming, though not Tarrin. The mustache guy says Tarrin has to come with them. They're bickering with each other and Tarrin doesn't think they seem super dangerous. They say that they should go get her friend. Ash is getting antsy and comes in through the front door to find someone holding a gun to Tarrin. But Tarrin doesn't look fazed... Eventually the two men invite Ash and Tarrin in to sit down to talk about things. They accept, and they see the Three Witches, which is gigantic and has been cracked in half. The whole back of the warehouse is filled with the pieces of the Three Witches plus excavation machinery to crack it open. Fedora is still kind of playing Bad Cop. Mustache is the Good Cop who goes and gets tea for Tarrin and Ash. Tarrin is 5'8", thin and wiry, wearing sensible clothing (trousers, high boots, not tight-fitted, backpack, high tunic). Prey has a gray beard, there's an air of offputting anger about him. Overcoat. Tarrin introduces herself. She says she feels they were invited there because the heist was smoothly done, except for them saying the address like they wanted someone to hear it. Mustache looks at Fedora and says "I told you it would work." They say that they're The Phoenix Gang. Mustache says to Ash (whom they've surmised is the person who did the remote viewing) that for Ash to have heard the address, he must know how to use magick. Ash doesn't really introduce himself or respond to any questions. Tarrin takes out a bleed containment vial to gauge their reaction to it. Fedora does say, "So you're Candela, aren't you?" They know what it means. Mustache says to Fedora that they (Tarrin and Ash) could help them. Fedora's afraid they would get themselves killed. Tarrin asks why they did the heist. The two answer that "their friends" have reason to believe that it would be helpful for what they're doing. Mustache starts to talk about what it does, and Fedora stops him and says they don't need to know all that. Fedora says that those who know too much in Candela Obscura tend to disappear. They're withholding information to keep Tarrin and Ash out of danger, not to be jerks. The less they know, the better. Tarrin doesn't want anyone to make choices on her behalf and is frustrated. She doesn't like that the two strangers aren't telling them enough information to make decisions. She doesn't like that they're trying to keep her safe against her will. Mustache says she wishes [[Celine Valterra|Celine]] were there. They think that they've found an ancient prophecy about the end of the world. When [[Sadie Cavendish|Sadie]] started sensing the Three Witches, it seemed like it was the next step, though they don't really know what to do now. They have a contact with Candela Obscura. But that person has made it very clear that the Phoenix Gang is not to make direct contact with that person and would be annoyed if they knew that the Gang were talking with two members now. So they don't know what to do. They think of themselves as a Candela circle, but they haven't had training. They have stuff they don't know how to use. Frankly, they could use some help. And maybe that's what "all this" is for. Maybe Sadie's visions about the Three Witches were leading them to this point. Tarrin asks who the contact is. Mustache is thinking about telling her, but Fedora stops him and says there's no way they should tell Tarrin and Ash when they don't know each other very well yet. They get instructions in dead drops. They show a slip of paper that says: `The Three Sisters`. The handwriting seems artificial, like the writer was trying to camouflage their actual handwriting. Ash has seen this handwriting before. When he was leaving Candela Obscura the first time, he found a slip of paper with his belongings that said `Don't come back.` He doesn't know who put it there, but he has his suspicions. Tarrin and Ash realise that the heists of the Phoenix Gang have been due to slips of paper they've gotten like this. Tarrin makes the connection that they, too, have been asked to steal things for other people. Mustache and Fedora say that their friends don't tell them why, but the Gang think it's probably practise. They've been trying to do their own investigations to figure out why exactly. They wonder why the person that learned about the prophecy was worried about future people when they were facing a catastrophe themselves (with the Cataclysm). The only thing the Gang can think of is that there's something worse coming. Mustache asks Tarrin and Prey if they know anything about a world-ending prophecy. They were hoping they'd already know about the phrase "The Great Dark". Tarrin admits we've already met the Lesser dark. Mustache says [[Lily Sinclair|Lily]] may be able to help. Tarrin tells them some about the sea, but doesn't get into the whole story (about her parents). Tarrin suggests all members of both groups should meet up. Mustache suggests they leave a message somewhere to set up a time and place to meet. Mustache said they'll mention the phrase "The Old Lady" as a passphrase to say that a message is from them. The Bleed from the stone is going to disperse. They say that we can tell the cops about it, because the Gang don't intend to leave any traces or return there. They'll close up the whole place. Mustache is amused by Ash and he tells Fedora that Sadie would get a kick out of Ash. The four part ways. Calliope and Eric are at the police station. We talk to [[John Lyons]] about The Phoenix Gang. - The name came from the criminal underworld, which started talking about them about six months ago as a group that defied The Red Hand and therefore made a name for themselves. And then disappeared. - Heists started happening. Items were going that were not at first blush related to the Phoenix Gang. Only two or three were definitively related to the Gang. Others were less certain. All the certain ones were related to magick: materials used to control bleed, historical artifacts. Potential heists were varied-- cops tried to use them as a way to close cases. - The group seems meticulous about not harming anyone. (The cases that were tacked on are the only ones that have casualties.) One of the heists were actually called off when it seemed like they might have to injure people. - Why hasn't Candela gotten involved already? It's possible that someone's hindering Candela Obscura being involved. Someone obstructing from the inside. Our headquarters is in the Red Lamp. We return. I think that Jezebel might not be entirely to be trusted. But I have to be careful because she kind of knows I know (mixed success). Ash takes us to [[South Soffit]] to the circle headquarters of [[Madam Lia Fidovich|Madam Fidovich]]. He calls her "Lia". She calls him "Elric" and shows emotion: shock, horror. They seem to know each other from before his wife ("Celeste") passed. Fidovich didn't seem to know that. He shows her the note. She asks him what happened to him. Tarrin asks why she's been getting the Phoenix Gang to steal for her. Fidovich shows some fear and yanks us into a private room. She asks what Ash is doing with "these children". She says the last team she trusted with information died. She seems to care about Ash and also about this team. She's never showed this emotion before. Ash knows that Fidovich was a Lightkeeper before he left. Ash was good at command and got results. He knows that Fidovich's right arm was badly broken. Fidovich says she knew something was wrong before Ash left. There will always be jobs and magick in the world. But what she saw was some other thread. Things that were going oddly. And every so often, investigators would disappear. When she found her all-stars (her team), she told them everything. They found out so much and then they died-- they died in a way they should not have died. They should not have been ambushed the way they were. Someone led them into a trap. Someone who knew how Candela Obscura worked. They were betrayed by someone here. She asks if she can trust Ash. Ash says she has in the past. She and Ash seem to have been in the same circle before she became a Lightkeeper. He asks if anyone from their circle is still alive. Nobody from their old circle has died. But nobody else is active like Ash. She doesn't trust others from that circle though. It feels like she's been going this alone for decades. She says she wasn't ready to trust another team, and that's what led her to the Box of Suffering. She thought that was the way forward, but it's not enough. She's given the Gang chances and they've done well enough, but they still don't know who at Candela Obscura is shepherding the end of the world. %% # Text Elements # Drawing ```json {"type":"excalidraw","version":2,"source":"https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin/releases/tag/2.0.25","elements":[],"appState":{"theme":"dark","gridSize":null,"viewBackgroundColor":"#ffffff"}} ``` %%