Thirteenth Session (11 page pdf) – “Darkness and Secrets” – Investigation in the plague-ridden town reveals that everyone has secrets… Some are more immediately fatal than others.
Re: Serpent’s dream – hnefatafl is like Viking chess. So he plays a game of it with Death. FORESHADOWING!!!
They go to find Ansar the gendarme but get to fight a painted octopus at his place. They’re really not sure what to make of that. FORESHADOWING!!!
Then it’s time to meet Wogan’s sister Anya! He hasn’t seen her since he left home, and somehow she managed to get married to a Nidalese noble – sure, that’s the shittiest kind of noble, but beats a fishing village. And her baby, his nephew, Marek. The PCs don’t know what to make of a baby. FORESHADOWING!!!
Next, the quiet waitress at the local inn gets Wogan in private and reveals that Desna has been calling to her. Religion other than the Hellraiser kind is a murderin’ offense in Nidal so he starts mulling over what to do. FORESH… OK, you get the gist.
Then it’s investigation time. What’s up with this plague? And paintings? And shadows? They talk to the fetchlings, which are like a shadow-touched race that is found in Nidal, and the local witch. But when she does a reading of Wogan she throws them out, saying that they bear the same curse! FORESHADOWING!!! I’m really done now.
Then the main action setpiece – chasing down a little girl! Yes, really.
Wogan asks, “Have you been to the candle store?”
“Well, I had a dream that I was at the candle store. A man, well, a big doll was there. He was nice to me.”
Further questions reveal that the doll man was perhaps a man wearing a mask. Wogan uses his beast box to summon a rat, then orders it to fetch items from the hole.
Olya (the little girl) watches with great interest. Her crying and shaking slow, then subside. The rat recovers a wooden spiked chain and a candle. The former is a common child’s toy in Nidal. The latter item means a certain candle maker is going to die (that’s pirate investigation and justice for you).
They get the girl back to her father, but she’s already fallen ill with the local plague, tallowthroat…