¶ 🧭 Session 24: Union Blues and Burned Clues
The Soots picked up at Lifter’s Mooring, torn between two leads: the suspicious fire at the Red Drake Warehouse and troubling reports of magical experiments at the Mertlinger Sanitarium. The fire posed a threat to evidence preservation, so they chose to investigate it first.
¶ 🎭 Disguises and Deception: Entering the Red Drake
Having previously antagonized Ptarnex, the warehouse owner, the group knew they needed to arrive unrecognized. Using Nitro’s Hat of Disguise and illusion scrolls purchased from Besmara's Boardwalks, they adopted elaborate disguises:
- Otto posed as a tiefling dockworker named Carson Kressly with extensive tattoos and distractingly good dental care.
- Snax rebranded himself as a roguish dockhand named Ross Matthews inspired by Patrick Swayze—jean vest, lean muscle, raw charisma.
- Nitro, drawing from her fear of ghouls, took the form of a squat green ghoul named Kelly Mantle, donning a Union bucket hat and clutching a sketchbook.
Guyton, their Union contact, spoke about Gideon - a rabble rouser within the ranks of the Union that is looking to take Ptarnex to task.
They also helped Guyton evade retribution from Ptarnex. Nitro crafted him a one-of-a-kind disguise: a Lucha Libre mask stitched from a silky Union bomber jacket, matched with fingerless gloves embroidered with the Union number 4211. The Soots told Guyton to make his way to The Saucy Wench to lay low in their room.
¶ 🔥 Red Drake Warehouse: Clues in the Ashes
The scene outside the warehouse was chaotic—smoke still lingered in the air, while Duriana, a meticulous Fire Watch investigator, conducted interviews. Nitro, in her Kelly Mantle persona, quickly formed a quirky friendship with Duriana, bonding over notebook habits and drawing. Nitro even sketched a portrait of Duriana mid-interview, further distracting her.
Meanwhile, Snax and Otto approached as Union safety inspectors, leveraging made-up paperwork and audacious confidence. Ptarnex protested furiously, shouting that he had no contract with the Union, but Duriana—half curious, half annoyed—granted them access under the watchful eye of Drake, a uniformed guard.
¶ 🧪 Inside the Ruins
Inside the blackened warehouse, Otto used his forensic analysis and alchemical insight to explore the smoldering wreckage. They found a disturbing assortment of clues:
-
Crate Top with Blue Residue
A scorched crate revealed fine blue salt crystals on the underside. The residue appeared either alchemical or magical in nature, at the very least an uncommon accelerant. -
Blueprints with Marked Support Beams
Rolled-up warehouse #37 blueprints had certain support beams circled in red, indicating deliberate structural targeting. Someone planned to bring the building down, not just burn it. -
Charred Letter to “Marge” Signed “PD”
A half-burned letter promised “double payment” to someone named Marge. The initials PD offered a tantalizing clue toward a potential orchestrator. -
Journal Page from Thomas Aswald
This entry referenced scripture to a strange magical object—the Arodenic Lodestar—of which passed through the warehouse. It suggested a connection to something far larger than local sabotage. -
Pro-Union Pamphlet mentioning targeting Ptarnex, Burned and Pinned to a Beam
Found lodged in a scorched support beam, the pamphlet could be symbolic resistance… or part of a false-flag effort to frame the Union.
Snax distracted Drake with references to “secret Union sandwich shops,” while Otto collected samples of the blue salt and gathered the documents. Nitro concluded her charming misdirection of Duriana by gifting her the portrait—improving their rapport and buying more time.
The trio exited without suspicion, but now burdened with evidence of a planned fire, union-smearing, and a magical artifact smuggling operation.
¶ 🧭 Return to the Mertlinger Sanitarium
Their next stop was the Mertlinger Sanitarium, a looming medical facility where previous investigations had uncovered arcane monitoring systems. On the way, they passed the Irorium, a shining coliseum for elite arena fighters. There was brief banter about joining the circuit—but for now, a different kind of blood sport awaited.
Snax tried to kick the door open - unsuccessfully. Wadsworth opened the door; Snax just pushed by him, and walked down to the basement to Snow's secret lab.
Wadsworth followed confused by the whole situation.
¶ 🔦 Laser Grids and Locked Doors
Upon reaching the lower levels of the sanitarium, they explored previously inaccessible wings. Otto found logs and computer terminals suggesting the facility had been conducting life-monitoring experiments, likely tied to arcane manipulation or cloning. He confronted Wadsworth, with this evidence. Wadsworth was horrified, declaring that such experiments violated every tenet of the Mertlinger legacy.
As the party continued, they encountered a hallway thick with green mist. Only by that mist did they spot the nearly invisible laser grid—a wall of thin red beams spanning ten feet across. Snax observed a cockroach walking into the lasers: it passed through unharmed, but the party remained cautious.
Snax used his mirror his ability to manifest a version of himself passed the laser trap.
On the far end of the laser trap was a locked metal door with a digital keypad. Snax used some tools from his thieves kit to open the panel and cut the power to the lasers. He then tried several passcodes: “Snow,” “Lazarus,” “Lazarine.” After the final failed attempt, a klaxon blared—alarms activated, red lights flashing through the corridor.
Realizing they couldn’t afford to stall, Nitro stepped forward and smashed the steel door with a devastating greataxe blow, cleaving the door apart. The path to the hidden lab was now open.
¶ 🧪 Dr. Snow’s Laboratory of Horrors
Beyond the destroyed door lay Dr. Snow’s main laboratory—a chilling chamber filled with rows of arcane pods, each containing partially formed humanoid clones suspended in emerald gas. Their skin was pale and unfinished, like mannequins grown from flesh.
Standing in the center was Dr. Snow, masked like a plague doctor, speaking calmly with an unsettling confidence:
“Before you, there are two empty pods. Unfortunately there are four of you. And I can't let you leave. If two of you would like to help my research, the others will… well, I imagine you'd fight for it.”
He offered them a place in his vision—a future of “perfected” people, sculpted through magical control and arcane science.
Snax answered with a snarl and charged into combat, shouting:
“You’re messing with stuff you don’t understand!”
¶ ⚠️ Snow’s Counterattack
Dr. Snow darted to a control panel, slamming a button. Four pods hissed open, releasing gas-shrouded, featureless constructs, who stumbled forward to protect their creator. The door behind the group sealed shut, trapping them inside.
Wadsworth remained cowering near the entrance, overwhelmed by the betrayal of his own institution. Snow, meanwhile, retreated behind his creations, commanding them dispassionately, treating the encounter like a clinical trial.
Snow, now fully revealing his villainy, hissed:
“I can’t let you leave. You’ve seen too much.”
¶ 🧩 End of Session Cliffhangers
With the exit sealed, monsters advancing, and arcane systems collapsing, the session ended in chaos. But threads of a larger story continue to unravel:
- The Red Drake arson was almost certainly premeditated.
- The mysterious “PD” continues to operate from the shadows.
- What is the Arodenic Lodestar?
- And on the terminal screen, a final haunting message:
“To the fifth fold of the black paper.”
The Soots stand at the threshold of something vast and terrible—and the truth may lie deeper still, beneath the ash, steel, and smoke.