Episode: Celestial Gambit |
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Is that a Holy Symbol in your pocket?
The game opens with a recap of SPU36’s interrogation of Helena Highwater, covered in-depth on the forums here:
The high points include:
- She was a carrying a Zohar Cage that she had picked up from the two boys in the Hive during Episode: The Devil’s Hit List.
- Glanthur identifies the Zohar Cage as a type of container which is known to be essentially impossible to open.
- It is also discovered through Lord V’s manipulative questioning – that Helena is in fact not a Cleric of Abadar, but rather, of the Raven Queen, a fact she was very actively trying to conceal.
- Vala chimes in that the Raven Queen is not a major force in the New City, but does have a Temple in the Temple District.
- Additionally, it is learned that Helena was picking up the box in the Hive for her friend Felicia Gravesend, a girl she associates with a Karl, a guy who likes guns, has blond hair, and a dog, and an athletic silver-haired girl that she knows only as ‘Slash’.
- Helena has a thing for Karl; she knows he’s a ‘bad boy’, but that is why she’s drawn to him.
- Helena doesn’t know much of anything about the boys she made the pickup from.
- She thinks she’s seen both of them around before, and is pretty sure one is a member of the Fated – like herself.
While the interrogation is going on, Faraday & Glanthur arrive at a plan: Glanthur constructs a fake Zohar Cage containing a listening coin and some dust of coughing and sneezing. Helena is then given the fake box and allowed to depart. The real Zohar Cage is given to Glanthur for further examination and, if possible, a shot at trying to open it. He arranges to have it delivered to the UPL labs at the University for further study.
A Welcome Retirement
The next morning, it’s time for the funeral of Fated Factor Carver Redforce, which SPU36 is expected to attend. It’s being held at the extravagant Temple of Freyr in the Temple District, where the Redforce family are major patrons of the church. Felicia attends, as does most of the who’s who of the city. Bronx Redforce, the son of the deceased Factor and sometimes social adversary of Carredyn. Bronx gives a teary-eyed, furious speech in which he calls out The Esteemed & Accordant’s inability to protect the citizens of the New City. Bronx adds that he can certainly do a better job of helping people without the shackles of these two fumbling organizations, and, seething with anger, announces he is leaving the Accordant. To say Carredyn looks pleased in a very restrained, appropriate fashion is an understatement.