Session 03: Shadows Beneath the Flames

The session opens with The Empowerment of the Common Man Through Industrialization having had a generally productive week in Nuret.

• City cleanup efforts have been going well overall.

• More and more people have been signing onto the work rosters.

• However, two recurring problems remain:

  • The southern part of town has been resistant to his efforts from the start. Every attempt to begin works there has failed because the people are inattentive, unresponsive, and unusually forgetful.
  • Vandals have been sabotaging his civic improvements. Some of the water has been contaminated, and it is clear that someone has been interfering with the hygiene reforms and public-health practices he has been trying to introduce.

• Although Empowerment wants the proletariat and poorest residents to be central to the project, the people most responsive to his organizing have been the more middling classes.

• The market area in particular has responded very well, and visible improvements there have significantly boosted his popularity with local leadership and townsfolk.

Empowerment asks whether the ineffectiveness of the south side is a new development and learns that it is not.

• The southern district has been resistant for as long as he has been working in Nuret.
• He likely spent at least a week trying to make progress there before shifting his attention to other neighborhoods where the people were more receptive.
• Even so, he decides the south remains important and that the benefits of technology and infrastructure need to be brought there as well.

Empowerment resolves to begin by surveying the southern district directly.

• His first goal is not to impose a solution immediately, but to determine what changes would most improve people’s lives.
• He wants to go down in person, talk to residents, find out what they want, discover what is missing, and learn how the city could be improved in ways that matter to them.

Early in the morning, Empowerment heads to the south end of town.

• He is described as the sort who gets up at the crack of dawn.
• When he arrives, he notices immediately how abandoned the district has become.
• There are far fewer people there than before.
• Roughly half the houses appear abandoned.
• Many buildings are in severe disrepair, with rot that seems worse than he remembers from only a few weeks earlier.
• The neighborhood is significantly emptier than it was during his last serious visit.

Some people are still present in the district, especially near the docks.

• Smoke from early morning fires is beginning to rise.
• A number of poor fishermen are preparing to go out on small boats to fish the Sea of Dreams.
• These are not wealthy or well-equipped crews; they are people using worn, patched, and hole-ridden gear simply to get enough food and money to survive.

Empowerment approaches the fishermen and offers to help.

• He introduces himself as “The Empowerment of the Common Man Through Industrialization,” though he allows that they may call him “Industrialization,” “Empowerment,” or something similar.
• One fisherman, overwhelmed by the name, asks whether any of that has to do with fish.
• Empowerment answers that he does not know much about fish, but he can see they are loading their ship and asks if they would like assistance.
• The fisherman agrees.
• The ropes and gear are visibly old, knotted, and repeatedly repaired.
• Empowerment uses his friendly and approachable nature to simply help rather than lecture.
• He notes that tasks involving bending ropes may not go well for him, but lifting heavy objects is very much within his capability.

Empowerment assists the fishermen with the heavy labor.

• He helps them use blocks and tackle and moves their cargo quickly.
• He gets their boat loaded in record time.
• His imposing, non-subtle appearance does not alarm them; his helpfulness wins people over immediately.
• More fishermen begin to approach him for help as word spreads.

Empowerment begins asking questions about the state of the district and the town.

• He asks where all the people are and comments that the city seems unusually empty.
• One of the fishermen tells him that “it’s the curse.”
• People have been leaving town because of it.
• Those with family or somewhere else to go have departed.
• Poorer people without ties outside Nuret remain behind and have no option but to endure it.

The fishermen describe strange events associated with the curse.

• One man recounts hearing Mrs. Rose screaming the previous day after waking up to find a stranger in her bed.
• The stranger claimed to be her husband.
• The fishermen do not know what to make of this.
• They report people suddenly screaming and shouting at each other.
• Friends are becoming enraged with one another for no apparent reason.
• Some people seem confused.
• Others appear to believe they are entirely different people, unknown to those around them.

Empowerment responds to the fishermen with a speech about solidarity.

• He tells them not to fear.
• Even if many of them do not have ordinary families, they still have one another.
• He emphasizes that they will always have a community among their fellow workers.
• He says that if they stand together, they shall remain safe.
• He points out that there are many hands among them and that many hands make light work.
• He reframes his own strength as secondary to their collective labor.

Empowerment continues helping, and a crowd gathers.

• There are around a dozen fishermen and laborers present by this point.
• He assists multiple groups at once and starts organizing them so they help one another, not just receive help from him.
• The work becomes coordinated, and the boats are prepared together as a group.

A sudden emergency interrupts the morning’s labor.

• A blood-curdling scream rings out from down the street.
• Someone is shouting that there is a fire.
• Everyone turns and sees a plume of thick, oily black smoke rising in the morning light from the northeastern part of town.
• The smoke looks wrong and ominous.

Empowerment immediately calls for action.

• He shouts that they must put out the fire and urges the fishermen to come with him.
• The fishermen hesitate.
• A debate breaks out because the fire is in the rich part of town.
• Some argue that the wealthy can take care of themselves.
• Others worry about leaving their boats unattended and being stolen from.
• Empowerment tells them to launch their ships and go fish, and that he will go deal with the fire himself.
• They do so, but cast dark glances and mutter that the curse is spreading.

Empowerment sprints through the city toward the blaze.

• His speed and strength carry him quickly across town.
• He reaches the rear side of a burning building in the wealthier northern district of Nuret.
• Smoke is billowing from the windows.
• People inside are screaming and calling for help.
• The neighborhood is residential, made up of nicer multi-story buildings in a Tudor-like style with stucco and wood.
• The fire has already spread beyond a single structure and caught multiple buildings.

Empowerment quickly assesses the situation.

• He asks how firefighting usually works in Nuret.
• He learns there is no organized fire brigade.
• Fire response is handled by improvised bucket brigades, usually using water from the nearby river.
• The city watch can call warnings, but there is no formal firefighting organization.
• He is positioned near the riverside, looking at the backs of the buildings as the fire advances.

Empowerment begins directing civilians.

• He loudly orders people to leave the house in the most orderly and rapid manner possible.
• In response, one panicked young man kicks out a second-story window and prepares to jump rather than attempt to escape through the building.
• Empowerment calls out and tries to catch him.

Empowerment performs a dramatic rescue.

• Rather than simply waiting below, he decides to leap up and intercept the man in midair so they meet before the impact with the ground.
• He reasons that, because he is heavily armored, he can take the force of the landing better than the young man can.
• He succeeds spectacularly.
• He catches the falling man, whirls around, lands with a resounding boom, and shields him from harm.
• The man realizes he is alive and throws his arms around Empowerment in gratitude.

Empowerment immediately redirects the rescued man into useful action.

• He sets him down and instructs him to alert the city guard and get a bucket brigade started.
• The man runs toward the outer wall barracks.
• Before leaving, he tells Empowerment that his mother is still inside the burning building.

Empowerment begins a direct rescue effort.

• He looks around for anyone else about to jump.
• Seeing no one at the windows, he instead starts running into burning buildings where he hears moans and cries for help.
• He crashes through walls, shelters people, and physically carries them out of danger.

While rescuing townsfolk, Empowerment becomes aware of fighting outside.

• He hears a fresh set of screams, shouts, alarms, and the sounds of a skirmish toward the front of one of the burning buildings.

• Looking out, he sees three figures.

  • One is clearly another Alchemical, made of orichalcum.
  • One is a large, brawny combatant whose blows are so strong that when he hits someone, they shatter into pieces.
  • The third stands back and makes arcane gestures.

Empowerment witnesses a devastating magical attack.

• The third figure conjures a brilliant firebird.
• The fiery raptor dives downward and explodes among the people being fought.
• Half a dozen figures are incinerated instantly.
• The front of the building Empowerment is in is also blown apart.
• The fire worsens significantly.
• Empowerment has not yet recognized these figures as potential allies and, from his perspective, has just arrived to find a city on fire, people dying, and apparently superhuman strangers participating in the destruction.

Empowerment commands them to stop.

• He yells “Cease!” while standing in the burning structure, protecting civilians and holding up collapsing portions of the building.
• His dramatic appearance becomes the framing image of the scene: a jade-armored hero standing amid flames and wreckage, saving lives while demanding the violence end.

Combat begins around the burning buildings.

• Mighty Unicorn Fist acts first among the visible combatants.
• He closes with one of the hostile figures near a townsfolk and starts pounding on it.
• At this point, Empowerment still does not fully understand who is who on the battlefield.

Thrice-Forged Curate is present as well and has been helping organize a bucket brigade.

• He has already built up some power before this point.
• He attempts a knockback gambit with his essence pulse cannon against a nearby enemy.
• After a brief software mishap with targeting, he rerolls correctly and succeeds.
• He blasts the hostile figure backward, away from the townsfolk and toward Empowerment’s position.
• It becomes clear that the target is not an ordinary person but an undead foe, represented in the scene as a skeletal battle group.

The knocked-back skeleton is driven into the fire.

• It catches fire and takes aggravated damage.
• Even so, it rises again and shamblingly returns to the fight.
• From up close, Empowerment can now see that the “random skinny person” is in fact undead, with exposed bones visible through burning flesh.

Empowerment reassesses the situation and chooses to defend the living.

• He notices that the undead are focused specifically on attacking townsfolk.
• He decides the immediate priority is to protect a nearby civilian rather than attack blindly.
• He moves in, shoves himself between the skeleton and its target, and takes the basic “defend other” action.
• He explicitly frames this as stepping into the fight to stop the madness and shield the person behind him.

Empowerment’s defensive intervention is highly effective.

• His defensive values are extremely high.
• The undead attacks him while trying to get at the civilian, but cannot meaningfully harm him.
• The blows are described as surprisingly strong for such a figure, but they fail to get through his defenses.
• This confirms that Empowerment is acting as a tank and protector in the midst of the burning district.

Argent Penumbra contributes to the firefighting effort in a dramatic way.

• She activates All-Encompassing Sorcerer’s Sight to examine the surrounding conditions.
• She checks the water being used in the bucket lines and confirms it seems mostly normal in this northern area, though there are faint traces of the black substance that has been appearing elsewhere in town.
• She then transforms into an elephant.
• Moving near the bucket brigade, she uses her trunk to take on water and begins spraying it onto the flames like a fire hose.

Lu Xing, still walking outside fate, supports the fight indirectly.

• He builds power and rallies Talaran.
• Talaran, the ink-and-brass god of Working for Steve, engages the skeletons with his oversized pen.
• Lu Xing uses his role as coordinator and support rather than directly entering the center of the melee.

Mighty Unicorn Fist finishes off one of the undead.

• After building enough power, he makes a decisive attack.
• He successfully destroys one of the skeletal enemies.

The townsfolk initially mishandle the bucket brigade.

• Their early attempts to fight the fire are chaotic.
• Buckets are spilled.
• Panic causes people to collide and interrupt the line.
• The effort is ineffective until Thrice-Forged Curate steps in directly.

Thrice-Forged Curate takes command of the civilians.

• He climbs onto a barrel so he can be seen and heard.
• He starts issuing direct instructions to get the brigade under control.
• His commanding performance succeeds.
• The frightened townsfolk are reorganized into a more effective firefighting force.
• The Storyteller awards him stunt dice for the dramatic action of mounting the barrel and rallying the crowd.

Empowerment transitions from pure defense to offense once the situation becomes clearer.

• He decides to use violence to stop the undead threatening the person he is protecting.
• He attacks with a large stick.
• His withering attack lands with overwhelming force and achieves an extremely high number of successes.
• He generates a great deal of power from the strike.
• Because he exceeds the power cap, he passes extra power to Mighty Unicorn Fist rather than waste it.
• This reinforces that he is now acting in coordination with the others despite the chaotic beginning.

The remaining skeleton fails to get through Empowerment’s protection.

• It stands up from being prone and attacks again.
• Because Empowerment is defending a community member, his defense is effectively even stronger.
• The skeleton still cannot do any meaningful damage.

Argent Penumbra continues to suppress the fire as an elephant.

• She uses a trunkful of water to extinguish a significant amount of the blaze.
• One of the houses is effectively put out with a massive blast of water.
• Steam rises through the area.
• The townsfolk begin to register the presence of a full elephant among them, though the chaos of the emergency delays any real reaction.

Lu Xing and Talaran finish off the last undead in the immediate fight.

• Lu Xing again builds power and directs Talaran to finish the weakened foe.
• Talaran makes a decisive attack.
• He knocks the final skeleton down and marks it with his pen in a sigil-like motion.
• The skeleton then bursts apart on the ground.
• With that, the immediate combat threat is ended.

As soon as the last skeleton falls, Empowerment returns to rescue work.

• Seeing Talaran finish the enemy, he vaults back toward the still-burning buildings.
• He resumes carrying people out while Argent supports him by continuing to douse flames.
• The image is one of Empowerment charging in and out of the fire, steam rising off him as elephant-sprayed water cools the area around him.

Thrice-Forged Curate integrates Argent’s abilities into the firefighting response.

• He directs part of the bucket brigade to start bringing elephant-sized buckets or barrels to assist Argent more effectively.
• This becomes a coordinated large-scale firefighting effort rather than a panicked scramble.

The combined efforts of the Circle and the townsfolk bring the fire under control.

• The blaze is eventually put out.
• The district begins to calm.
• While there are injuries from smoke inhalation and the fire itself, the group acted quickly enough that no one appears to have died specifically from the flames.

The aftermath reveals substantial casualties from violence rather than the fire.

• There are approximately eight dead townsfolk.
• Their deaths are due to stab wounds.
• The Circle concludes these are victims of the undead attackers rather than of the burning buildings.
• Of the skeletons encountered, six were destroyed earlier by Argent Penumbra’s firebird attack, while the remaining ones were finished off in the present fight.

The city watch arrives after the danger has passed.

• The captain recognizes Empowerment immediately and addresses him respectfully.
• He is visibly confused by the presence of an elephant and multiple other strange, obviously powerful figures.
• At first, the guards are tense and begin to raise lances toward the unfamiliar Exalts.
• Empowerment quickly explains the situation: there has been a fire and an attack by the undead, these people have died, and the others present helped stop the attack and extinguish the fire.
• Once the captain understands, the guards stand down and salute Empowerment.

Empowerment turns at once to relief and reconstruction.

• He tells the watch to bring the injured to the surgeons.
• He says the unhoused should be brought together into a common place.
• He frames the next phase as one of collective rebuilding.
• He reassures the survivors that they shall rebuild through common effort.
• He begins giving practical instructions for care, cleanup, and repair.

While Empowerment stabilizes the civilians, the others turn to investigating the attackers.

• Thrice-Forged Curate observes that Empowerment has public relations under control and decides to focus on determining where the skeletons came from.
• He and Argent move toward the bodies to inspect them.
• Argent, still in elephant form, recommends that the undead remains be purified properly, likely by cremation or other funerary rites, though she leaves the exact local customs to the people of Nuret.
• The group is concerned less with local funeral procedure than with the origin of the undead.

Thrice-Forged Curate assists Argent’s investigation.

• The Storyteller rules that teamwork applies.
• Thrice-Forged uses an Embassy-based approach, looking at the clothing and equipment of the attackers to determine whether they are local or foreign.
• He rolls successfully enough to provide extra dice to Argent’s analysis.

Argent examines the skeletons with Sorcerer’s Sight.

• She looks for traces of their origin and for any essence residue that might reveal how they were animated.
• She determines that the skeletons are very old.
• They are not wearing any modern clothing familiar to her.
• Their armor is ancient and ornate, but in a style unlike anything contemporary in Nuret.
• She also sees that the black necromantic substance that has been turning up in the water is present inside the skeletons themselves, in their marrow cavities, joints, and skulls.
• It is an exact match for the tainted black essence they have already encountered elsewhere.
• She is able to confirm that these were not reanimated local citizens.

Additional physical clues suggest how the fire began.

• Argent notices bits of tar on one of the skeletons.
• One of the skeletons is found inside a building.
• This leads to the conclusion that the undead were likely the original source of the blaze.
• The joking phrasing at the table compares them to roofers whose code violations caused the disaster, but the actual investigative takeaway is that the skeletons were likely inserted into the buildings and connected to the outbreak of fire.

Lu Xing speaks more openly with the others about his own purpose in Nuret.

• He confirms that the undead and underworld influence are the reason he is in the city as well.
• He says he does not yet know why Nuret is being targeted.
• He does know that fate has been interfered with and that the underworld is involved.
• He identifies the attackers as likely connected to Deathknights and to the underworld more broadly.

While the Circle is talking, Lu Xing experiences a direct sign from the enemy.

• He hears wicked laughter from inside one of the burned-out buildings.
• As he moves toward it, he hears a whisper in his ear saying, “next time.”
• When he turns, he finds little effigy dolls hanging in a doorway.
• The dolls represent him and his four companions.
• Each is hanging from a tiny noose.

Lu Xing attempts to detect who or what delivered the message.

• He uses the once-per-session ability of his hearthstone, the Gem of Bureaucratic Accuracy, which lets him substitute Embassy for another ability roll.
• He uses Embassy instead of Awareness to try to notice the culprit.
• He succeeds in part.
• He does not see the one who whispered to him.
• However, he catches the fragrance of old dried rose petals on the wind.
• He also realizes the deeply unsettling implication that someone whispered into his ear while he was walking outside fate.
• He concludes that the enemy both knows the Circle is involved and is capable of reaching them in disturbing ways.

Lu Xing presents the evidence to the others.

• He points out the hanging dolls and says he assumes they are the work of the enemy.
• He notes that one of them spoke to him, but he could not find where they were hiding.
• The group takes this as confirmation that their adversaries are aware of them and are deliberately threatening them.

The Circle begins discussing how to trace the source of the undead.

• Thrice-Forged asks whether the skeletons would have to be called from a specific place in the underworld and whether evidence of that might remain.
• Lu Xing explains that there are often places where the barrier between Creation and the Underworld is weak.
• He suggests that the group could attempt a venture to triangulate the source.

Argent proposes another avenue of investigation tied to prior information.

• She reminds Lu Xing about the report that there is supposed to be a manse in the area.
• She suggests the missing spirit the Silver Pact had been in contact with may be connected to that manse, and that it could potentially be serving as the enemy’s base or a location of interference.
• Lu Xing responds that he has a very useful library in his own manse.

Lu Xing brings the Circle to his manse for research.

• He gestures with his hearthstone to a wall, and a special door opens.
• The others enter through it into Lu Xing’s residence.
• This is Empowerment’s first time seeing the location.
• The manse includes a sitting room and an excellent view.
• The door is magical and not generally visible to ordinary creatures.

The group begins an opposed investigative venture using Lu Xing’s resources.

• Lu Xing’s library grants a bonus to the venture.
• The Storyteller sets the difficulty privately.
• The venture is framed as a complex supernatural investigation into the origin of the necromantic activity in Nuret.
• The group pools merits, artifacts, prior samples, and teamwork to maximize Argent’s eventual roll.

Lu Xing aids the investigation through administration and celestial efficiency.

• He commits motes to use Efficient Secretary Technique.
• A spider manifests in his hand, and he consults it about where the proper records are likely to be located in the manse.
• He makes an Embassy roll as an assist action.
• He succeeds strongly, generating a substantial dice bonus for Argent.
• Talaran is present, bringing tea and helping with the research process in his own quiet way.

Argent carries out the primary research.

• She leaves Lu Xing’s pocket, returns to a more suitable form, and prepares the main roll.
• With all bonuses included, her investigation pool becomes extremely large.
• She succeeds decisively.

The research uncovers several critical truths.

• The weak point in reality relevant to the undead activity is located.
• The skeletons were definitely summoned on site rather than simply wandering in from elsewhere.
• The summoning and necromantic activity are tied closely to the local ley lines.
• By triangulating the essence patterns and consulting Lu Xing’s records, the Circle determines that the relevant site is associated with a water-aspected manse.
• The underworld energy present in Nuret can be linked to a single known source in previous records: an entity associated with the Deathlord Mask of Winters.
• The same kind of necromantic signature was first recorded in and around the area of Thorns.
• The implication is not that the corruption is passively leaking from Thorns, but that the forces operating here are vassals of or otherwise connected to that same power.

Argent summarizes the findings for Lu Xing.

• She says she writes up a report and gives it to him so he can polish it for higher authorities if necessary.

• The underlying in-world outcome is that the Circle now has a clear lead:

  • the undead were summoned locally,
  • the site of interest is tied to ley lines and a water manse,
  • and the underworld signature points toward forces connected to Mask of Winters.

The session closes with the Storyteller awarding milestones.

• Everyone receives a minor milestone for reaching an important point in the story.
• The discovery of the Deathknights’ involvement and the likely source of the threat is treated as a major advance.
• Empowerment is recognized for overcoming a major obstacle through sheer labor and heroism, especially by physically saving people from the fire and protecting civilians in combat.
• Thrice-Forged Curate is recognized for helping organize the bucket brigade and for advancing his goal of discovering what is endangering the city.
• Lu Xing is recognized for guiding the group through the investigation and helping reveal the workings of the abyssal threat.
• Argent Penumbra is recognized for saving the day and changing the course of events through her knowledge, insight, and intervention.

In practical narrative terms, by the end of the session the Circle has accomplished several major things:

• They prevented the fire from consuming more of Nuret.
• They saved many civilians from burning buildings.
• They defeated the skeletal attackers.
• They confirmed that the city is under attack by forces tied to the underworld.
• They discovered that the undead were summoned locally using a site connected to the ley lines and likely a water manse.
• They traced the necromantic signature to forces associated with Mask of Winters.
• They also learned that the enemy is aware of them personally and has already begun sending threats.