The Porcelain Dolls: Session 49 (January 11 2017)
Flashback – One week ago:
The crew is at the Bucket when they receive an expertly written note via courier:
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To: Constance, Chief of the Porcelain Dolls, Crow’s Foot, Doskvol, Akoros
Circumstances have aligned themselves in such a manner that I find myself once more within the confines of this great city.
I hereby request the honor of your company, at a time and place of your convenience, to discuss the well-being and education of Aleira Baz.
I can be contacted at the Altamont Hotel in Brightstone. Please respond forthwith.
Sincerely,
Mylera Klev, First Sword of the Royal Academy of the Red Sash
By the grace of His Excellency Hassan the XVII, Sultan of Bright Harbor, Iruvia
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Everyone knows the Altamont Hotel, although none of them have ever been there. It’s spoken of with the same hushed tones of awe as the Waldorf Astoria. Constance gets as dressed up as she can and brings Gloves with her to the hotel.
The Altamont is easily as large as City Hall, but much more extravagantly decorated. On its marble facade are dozens of statues of various figures in the empire’s history, including the Weeping Lady and the Immortal Emperor himself. Once inside, they are dazzled by the sheer size of the lobby. Gloves leads Constance over to a reception desk, and they ask for Mylera. The clerk checks a ledger, sees that they are expected, and has someone usher them into the dining hall.
Mylera sits alone at one of the dozen large dining tables, dressed more elegantly than ever before. Constance makes a point of coming right up to her to shake hands, and Mylera takes it in stride. They sit, and discuss Mylera’s intention to bring Aleria back with her to Iruvia, to begin her education. During this, a lavish meal is served. Constance charges Gloves with sending a crow to the crew to retrieve the girl immediately. By the time they’ve finished their meal, Prichard and Aleira arrive (also as well dressed as they can manage). Constance introduces them, and Aleira mentions that her father used to call Mylera very bad names. Dessert is served, slices of cake with very elaborately crafted icing, which leaves Aleira (and Constance) unsure of how to proceed. Gloves saves the day by showing them the correct fork to use. Prichard informs Constance that Aleira’s luggage has been sent to Mylera’s suite. Mylera is set to depart for Iruvia on the morning train. Aleria says goodbye to Uncle Albert (Prichard), and as Constance is walking out, Mylera is seen conspiring with Aleira to order seconds on the cake.
Interlude:
Back in the present, the morning paper reveals that Luther Curtis was found dead on his boat. Constance is concerned, as this is almost certainly evidence that Ellsworth is still alive and active. Before anything else can be done in that regard, Gears arrives with a message sent via crow from Sabine Lyness, addressed to him, but asking that Constance visit her office when convenient.
Constance and Gears head across the bridge to City Hall, and are ushered into Sabine’s office. While Gears’ attention is once again drawn to Sabine’s collection of clockwork sculptures, Sabine addresses Constance. She notes that Constance is healing quite rapidly from the event at the boxing club. Constance says that Sabine is always welcome at the establishment.
Getting down to business, Sabine expresses her intention call in the favor the Dolls owe her for her assistance in getting Lady Drake appointed. She mentions that her uncle Kobb Lyness has been more than a passing inconvenience. After the death of her grandfather, Kobb managed to squander his portion of the family fortune, and made a habit of selling off his father’s work to anyone who cared to show any interest. As a result, Sabine has had to expend no small amount of time and effort to reacquire the pieces that now grace her collection. In short, she wants Constance to do something productive with Kobb, she doesn’t much care what. Boxing club, the Moon’s Daughter, or any of Constance’s other business concerns. It becomes clear that Sabine either doesn’t know about the Dolls’ extralegal activities, or is very carefully not mentioning them. Constance asks why she cares, and Sabine responds that Kobb is still family, and she still holds a fondness for him, despite his efforts to vex her at every turn. A debt is a debt, so Constance agrees. Sabine gives them an address where Kobb can be found, and a letter addressed to him directly. She also mentions that there are certain of her grandfather’s pieces that have not yet made it back into her possession, and she hints that she will pay handsomely for any assistance in that regard.
They find Kobb in a flophouse in Charhollow. After giving him a moment to dress, Constance gives him the letter from his niece. In it, Sabine berates Kobb thoroughly, but advises him to straighten himself out and he can still make something of his life.
Constance brings Kobb to meet the rest of the crew. Everyone is introduced, and Constance immediately sets the task of engineering a profitable job for the crew. She essentially makes him chief for the duration, but he has 48 hours to turn a profit, or he will be dealt with (Constance’s penchant for throwing people out of windows was mentioned).
Kobb chooses as his target a clockwork bird made by his father, that was sold to Dacio Fantin, a low-level thug in Coalridge (Tier 0). If the crew can retrieve it and deliver it to Sabine, she will certainly compensate them accordingly. Whatever else the crew can steal from Dacio in the process would be pure profit.
* Shade will talk to Fitz, and Gears will talk to Basran, to see if either of them knows of anyone trading in these items.
* Kobb will feel out the other gangs in the area, to see what their relationship with Dacio’s crew is like.
* Kamali will case Dacio’s residence to get the general layout.
* Gloves will talk to Dacio to get a sense of his financial situation.
Notes:
Kobb is a new PC. When the player said he wanted a character that had squandered his family fortune and whose father had been a brilliant scientist, I knew exactly who to tie him to.
Also, I had prepared an actual handout of Mylera’s invite this time around.
http://www.burnafterreadingpress.com/news/wp-content/uploads/Invite.png
#dontmesswiththedolls