The Porcelain Dolls: Session 44 (December 01 2016)
Constance goes to Dunslough to speak to the Skovlan refugees. She finds them at the Devil’s Tooth, somewhat subdued due to several of their friends having recently been killed. She speaks to Markus, giving Shade’s alias Geirfin Holm as a reference, and offers her services in making an example of the Grinders. Markus accepts, and speculates that Constance has Skovlan blood, due to her height.
Kamali and Shade meet with Clermont that night at his home. After Kamali is certain that they are not being spied on, they speak openly about the refugee situation. Clermont explains that someone higher up in the Consulate seems to have something to gain from the conflict continuing, and he’s been forbidden from intervening. He is growing ever more dissatisfied with the situation.
Kamali gets the idea to put together a shipping company, that the refugees could buy into, and they would all have a way to make money, and a built-in means of going home if they wished. All that’s required is some startup capital (and a ship, of course).
Clermont agrees to organize letter-writing to loved ones at home, and grease the wheels in regards to permits and such to facilitate the setting up of the company. Shade agrees to look into who’s pulling the Grinders’ strings.
The crew meets. Shade presents their findings, which alters Constance’s plan a bit. She resolves to speak to the refugees again and convince them not to take any direct action against the Grinders, as she needs them to stay clean.
After the meeting, Constance and Shade are up on the roof. She asks him about Skovlan legends, and he tells her the story of Christof, a great warrior, whose exploits and heroic death were detailed in several epic poems written by distant Skovlan ancestors. However, Christof is not the sort of character that Constance is looking for, as he had a habit of walking up to the front gates of the enemy and loudly challenging them to single combat. Shade also tells the story of Wulfric the Stalker, a mysterious hunter who strikes at night, leaving his victims dead with no witnesses, walking through walls, and the like. This is much more to Constance’s liking, and she formulates a plan to engineer the rebirth of Wulfric, who will wreak vengeance on the Grinders on behalf of the refugees (who meanwhile will all have airtight alibis).
Gather Info on the Grinders:
Gears heads to the nearest pub in Barrowcleft, The Broken Anchor (the pub used to be located in the Docks, but the original building burned down several decades ago after one too many drunken brawls). He meets Nelson, one of the Grinders, and gives him the name Corbett. He tells Nelson a sob story about his wonderful innocent daughter, the light of his life, whose head had been turned by a dirty Iruvian reprobate (whose father owns a butcher shop in Silkshore). [Kamali had no trouble providing a suitable target that was less than sympathetic to her family’s plight several years ago.] Nelson introduces Gears to his friends, Ned, Mack, and Frank. Gears negotiates 1 Coin to rough up the father & son and wreck the shop, but not kill anyone. They give him an address to bring the Coin to in two days.
Notes:
Continuing with the theme of mounting racial tensions. There’s a fair bit of nationalist talk from the Grinders, a lot of “Akoros for Akorosi”, and all that.
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