Moralinth: Cypher Edition - External Playtest Write-up

For a bit of fun and a look inside the world of Moralinth (Specifically the North Ward of Elysium Enclave), included here for your reading please is a round-up of the External Play-test adventure "The Sleepers at Dockside"

(Original design concept by Internal Playtester, Emily Nicole Lomax)

The original advert for the adventure

Convening in a wine-cellar (because starting in a tavern is apparently too cliché) four Imperial citizens of the Elsyium Enclave band together to investigate a string of murders in the Docklands District. Spurred on by a suspiciously-high reward offered in what is arguably the most run-down part of Northolde City, Jack Hobbs (a Craven Dilettante who Crafts Illusions), Tiffany Taffy (a Doomed Explorer who Entertains), Lucien Carmichael (A Clockwork Adept who Knows the hidden paths) and Sebastian Walsh (A Perceptive Adept who Investigates strange events) read in the North Ward Herald about five ladies of the night who have been pulled from The River Coil within the last four weeks, each drowned and mutilated.

Concerned that ne'er-do-wells may try to intercept the payout and take advantage of the locals coupled with a feeling that something "isn't quite right", the group leave the comforts of Jack's palatial manor house and take a train (1st class of course) to the run-down and poverty-stricken Docklands District. In stark contrast to the opulence and grandeur of The Delights District (where Jack calls home), the group wasted no time in finding the relative safety of The Quiet Waters brothel, answering the call made by one Madam Florence Rand.

Through a combination of negotiation, coercion and diplomacy, the quartet are able to uncover the information only hinted at in the local paper.

Five girls have indeed, been pulled from the river - their corpses having suffered terrible indignity and something akin to animal attacks. Currently held at Southpier Morgue, these ladies turn out to be only one part of a puzzle. In addition to them, three other girls are missing: two prostitutes who have vanished within the last couple of days and a woman of some considerable bearing who was the first to vanish, approximately a month ago.

While the Madam is offering a modest sum for information on the two recently-missing girls, it transpires that the first disappearance was of one Lucille Beecham, known affectionately to the locals as "The Duchess" due to her demeanour and talented skill-set. Some gentle persuasion of Madam Rand reveals that Lucille is actually a woman of high society who, following an argument with her mother, had been stripped of her lands and titles and was discovered by Madam Rand wandering the streets. Taking Lucille under her care, the Madam was secretly contacted by Lucille's mother who had been keeping tabs on her from a distance.

When Lucille went missing, her mother could not be seen to intercede directly having officially disowned her daughter, but instead granted the Madam a considerable sum to hire others to find her daughter.

Given access to Lucille's room and the opportunity to question the locals, the group discover rumours of strange goings-on in the area, the local haunts of the two missing girls and of the muscling-in of criminal types working for a one Mr August Cobb.

Following their first lead, the group head to an area frequented by one of the two missing girls, and ask around at a local pub called The Faded Rose, from there they discover a nearby park that the woman in question - called Eloise - frequented. The park is large and in many places overgrown, but by using talents afforded to them through their connection with the occult, the group are able to track down the woman, finding her cowering under a park bench.

She matches the description given for Eloise, though she is babbling to herself and her hair appears to have turned white with shock...

---

After coaxing the white-haired woman from beneath the park bench - who turned out to be Eloise, one of the missing prostitutes - our intrepid group tried their best to question her, despite her near-catatonic state. Through use of his experience with the mystic arts Sebastian was able to allow the poor woman some semblance of self for a short while. Long enough to force Eloise's broken mind to recall the events to that led to her hair turning white from shock.

It seemed she had been attacked by 'A woman in white', a malevolent spirit with "huge claws and a gaping maw" but otherwise human in appearance. Her lucidity soon waned, but the group were able to discover she was following a "song" when the attack happened.

With Sebastian's magic gone, the woman dropped back to her former insanity-wracked self, leaving Jack, Lucien, Tiffany and Sebastian little recourse but to return Eloise to the company of her Madam: Florence Rand.

Back at The Quiet Waters brothel, Madam Rand thanked the group (and paid them of course) and informed them that she would get Eloise psychiatric help. Their next port of call was another area in the docks; searching the working area of one of the other working girls, Natalia.

Said to frequent the streets around Moorhaven Square, the four took Madam Rand up on her kind offer of transportation and travelled at speed by horse and carriage to where they would hope to find Natalia.

Arriving at Moorhaven Square, Jack and Lucien found and engaged a pair of local prostitutes in questioning, taking them to a pleasant cafe within eyeshot from where the group had been dropped off, while Tiffany and Sebastian worked together to tap into the supernatural world around them and see if they could perceive anything mystical.

Through their line of questioning Jack and Lucien discovered that the two women had been speaking to their colleagues and rumours were going around of some girls hearing otherworldly music around the docks. The most recent to mention this, a working girl called Mandy, had not checked in from the night before.

Meanwhile across the street Tiffany and Sebastian had aligned themselves using a technique called "The Sight" and were able to hear a soothing, enchanting lullaby. Not only that, they were able to actually 'see' the sound manifest as a red smoke. The two immediately plugged their ears recognising whatever it was a supernatural and tried to grab the attention of their colleagues. When this failed (and the fact neither could hear anything with their ears plugged), Tiffany began following the smoke while Sebastian hung back slightly in a final, futile attempt to get Jack and Lucien's attention. The best he was able to relay across a busy street to Lucien was the direction they were headed in.

Tiffany followed the smoke to its conclusion, a pier at the docks reaching across the River Coil. The red smoke trail ended at the pier and dissipated across the water's surface like a low-lying mist. Surveying the scene, she discovered marks of something having been dragged beneath the pier. At the end of her surveillance Sebastian caught her up, and he used The Sight once more to discover a powerful aura of fear and anger coming from beneath the pier. Lighting his lantern and stepping down into the darkness beneath the pier, Tiffany followed, pistol drawn.

With their conversation concluded Jack and Lucien left the cafe and when Lucien pointed the direction that their companions had apparently headed, Jack decided to use The Sight to see if there was any supernatural danger. Sadly, he was not as quick to cover his ears as Tiffany and Sebastian had been, and fell under the spell of the siren song. Hurrying to its source (following the red smoke), he strode off at speed with Lucien close behind.

Under the pier Tiffany and Sebastian found the corpse of Natalia, horrifically mauled and bent in half beneath a blanket. Bloated from drowning but also covered in massive laceration marks, they investigated the body carefully and found she also had a bite mark on her head reaching from forehead to back of the skull in the shape (but slightly smaller) than a shark bite.

During their investigation Jack and Lucien arrived, but still enthralled by the music Jack shouted at his colleagues (who couldn't hear him), agitated by the fact the music seemed to have stopped. When his efforts to get Tiffany and Sebastian to remove their earplugs, he gave up and walked off down the beach trying once more to find the source of the music. Lucien observed the scene from the pier above while Sebastian finished looking over the body and Tiffany - who had noticed marks on the floor that showed Natalia's body had been dragged up out of the water - checked the shoreline for clues.

As Jack walked the beach he saw an interesting sight at the next pier along: a woman dressed all in white with two people - a woman and a man - stepping slowly and clumsily toward her. Using The Sight he saw the scene for what it truly was: the woman floated a foot from the ground, her long-black hair swirling about with a life of its own in an unseen wind, and her hands ended in massive, viscous claws. The two walking towards her looked stupefied with their mouths open and red smoke whisping from their eyes and mouths, trailing and snaking toward the floating creature who seemed to be sucking it in through her mouth.

Luckily for Jack the creature seemed not to notice his scrying, so he ran back and informed the others. Covering up the corpse of Natalia, Sebastian said he thought the creature was a Woman In White; a vengeance spirit of anger that was incorporeal in nature. Steeling themselves the group engaged the creature with hopes of destroying it or fending it off.

Getting into position, the group poised to strike, but first Tiffany tried to enthral it using the magic or her music. The hope being that the two humans the creature had under its power could be saved.

Sadly, the creature's mind proved too powerful and it resisted Tiffany's magic, retaliating with a blood curdling scream that paralysed both Sebastian and Tiffany.

Seizing the opportunity, Lucien leapt into the fray and using the power stored in a dagger he had acquired, he was able to injure the creature that turned out to be a ghost as Sebastian had said.

Jack used his own special abilities to bolster Lucien as he did battle with the creature, fending off attack after attack from its vicious claws and retaliating as best he could. This bought enough time for Sebastian to recover from the paralysis and begin barraging the creature with psychic attacks. Turning its attention toward Jack the creature attempted to fight him but more barraging from Sebastian and a powerful force-wave from Lucien (so powerful in fact it ripped up the cobblestones by the creature and Jack, injuring both) was enough to make it reconsider.

All this gave Tiffany time to recover from the paralysis as well, and the four concentrated their attacks on the creature until - finally - a psychic blast from Sebastian dissipated it to nothingness. With the creature gone its two thralls collapsed to the floor, unconscious but alive....

---

With the 'Woman in White' seemingly dispatched - at least for now – Jack, Tiffany, Lucien and Sebastian took a moment to catch their breath as they decided how to handle the situation: they had the body of one of Madam Rand’s girls beneath the pier, and two unconscious victims of the spirit to contend with. Lucien confirmed that the Woman in White in her disguised form at least, was identical to the woman he had seen in his vision: the same woman they were hired to uncover her face: Lucile Beecham. While his colleagues brought the unconscious pair back round, the Clockwork hailed a horse and carriage: a second one to follow the original horse and cart they had arrived in, being that they had paid the driver to remain and wait for them.

The man and woman upon the pier were brought round by the group and following a moment of severe confusion on both their parts, they revealed themselves to be Mandy (another of Madam Rand’s working girls) and a dock worker who went by the name of Harold. Upon questioning it seemed they were not sure how they got to the pier, the pair had met in their usual spot almost a half-mile away, but heard strange music then blacked out. As Lucien returned and collected the body of poor Natalia from under the pier, he ensured their two guests were kept suitably distracted by the rest of the group. Confident that he was not observed, the Clockwork man took the wrapped-up corpse and placed it into the second, smaller horse & carriage and proceeded to wait for his fellows.

The amount of information that was gleaned from Mandy and Harold was sparse, but a snippet of information proved useful – Harold swore he saw ‘The Duchess’ (being Lucille, a.k..a The Woman in White) a little over a week ago. Despite Mandy’s interjections that she felt he was wrong, it did go some way to corroborate what the group had witnessed.

Dealing to the first matters at hand, Tiffany, Sebastian and Jack escorted Mandy and Harold back to the Quiet Waters brothel in their horse and cart, while Lucien followed in the smaller one behind, the body of Natalia secured inside. Once back at the brothel, Harold excuses himself and Mandy checks in with Madam Rand before the group are able to speak with her.

Taking the news of Natalia’s demise about as well as could be expected, she paid the group for their efforts and asked for an update on Lucille, to which Sebastian replied that they were ‘looking into some promising leads’ (feeling that telling the Madam one of the woman under her care had died somehow – likely violently – and had raised as a spirit of vengeance that was luring both men and women to grisly deaths would not go down particularly well). Madam Rand let the group know as a courtesy that the other girl they had brought in – Eloise – was under the care of the specialists at Pandemonium Asylum. When the group ask if Madam Rand could arrange it so that they could visit the five known victims that were mentioned in the paper, she reminds them that all the girls were taken to Southpier Morgue, and that she will need to report Natalia’s death to The Watch. She suggests that the group take Natalia to the morgue on her behalf, and she will delay informing The Watch as long as possible to give them time to examine the bodies.

The group leave Quiet Waters with Natalia’s body, speaking to – and overpaying for his co-operation – the carriage driver. The driver, whose name turns out to be Duckly, in more than happy to help and speeds the group to Southpier Morgue.

Arriving there, Lucien and Duckly take the carriage around the back while Sebastian, Jack and Tiffany head into the main reception and introduce themselves to the front-desk clerk and explain why they are there. Are a short wait while the clerk goes off to speak to the on-duty mortician, he returns back and leads them through the complex to one of the main morgues before returning to his duties. Inside the morgue is a jovial mortician by the name of Clark, who is more than happy to show the group the bodies prior to cremation. The four are joined by Lucien and an orderly carrying Natalia on a stretcher, the mangled body of which is able to keep the attention of Clark while the others inspect the other bodies – all bar Tiffany who decides to keep an eye out at the doorway, which gives her a good view of the front of the morgue as well as further into the building behind her.

All the bodies show identical signs of trauma: massive lacerations large enough for a good-sized feral animal such as a bear, and the bloated, discoloured flesh indicated submersion and drowning. Using The Sight to look for signs of supernatural interference, it seems the inflamed scar tissue around the wounds seems to shimmer with a whitish light, but the actual wounds themselves are jet black and cold, a sort of blackness that is not so much and absence of light, but utterly devoid of it. While the others are checking the bodies, Tiffany thinks she sees something out of her peripheral vision and too decides to activate The Sight. Doing so reveals a tall and angular figure of darkness arching over the desk clerk who is bent over looking through a filing cabinet at the front of the building. The vaguely humanoid, featureless thing senses Tiffany’s intrusion and turns to look at her with a lack of a face (but the rough area where one would be) before darting out of her line of sight.

Calling out to the others for assistance, Tiffany draws a gun and charges down the hallway.

Arriving there and rounding the corner she sees the creature slipping into shadows in the corner of the room and opens fire but to no avail. The Clerk, unable to see the entity and taken aback by a woman running in and seemingly firing a pistol for no good reason, drops to the floor with a whimper and covers his head.

Hearing the call and the gunshot Lucien follows at speed while Sebastian and Jack convince the mortician and orderly that they have things under control.

As Lucien arrives, Tiffany attempts instead to Enthrall the creatures using her enchanted flute which works for a time – or at least appears to as the creature stops moving – right before Lucien, now seeing the creature lurking in the shadows, calls upon his supernatural abilities to explode the corner of the room using sheer psychic force, sending falling masonry flying and narrowly missing Tiffany.

The thing lashes back, swinging black tendrils at the pair but missing Tiffany and being deftly blocked and rebuffed by Lucien’s metal forearms. Jack and Sebastian arrive moments later, and the four flank the creature on both sides harrying it with a combination of physical and supernatural attacks and blocking its escape. The battle is a short one once the shadow creature is cornered, and it melts away into nothingness upon its defeat.

Knowing that the mortician would likely be calling The Watch as they speak, Lucien knocks the clerk out and pours alcohol on him while they drag his unconscious form near enough to the rubble to make things look like some sort of accident. With haste, the group leave and locate Duckly who speeds them from the scene.

As they speed through the streets and decide where to go next, Sebastian says he may know someone that might be able to help them with the lore behind a creature such as The Woman in White: a someone eccentric member of The Arcanum Magicka by the name of Cerinthius who lives in The Revel District (the same place Jack calls home). Duckly takes them to the Docklands District train station, and the group board a first-class carriage back to the Revel District with Jack sending a telegram ahead to have his man Mr Smith meet them with the car.

The train ride is uneventful, and Mr Smith awaits the group as they arrive. Taking their luggage and placing it in the car, he drives them to Birch House, the home of Cerinthius. Arriving at the large and ostentatious manor-house, the group are met by a Clockwork maid named Miss Porter when they pull the bell cord. She invites them in and asks them to wait in the reception area while she heads upstairs to tell the master of the house of their arrival.

The group are not kept too long, Miss Porter arrives and offers them follow her upstairs but Lucien, feeling a little uncomfortable, decides instead to remain downstairs and mingle with the house staff to see what information he can find.

Jack, Tiffany and Sebastian are escorted upstairs where they are shown into a massive, sprawling library with a fifty-foot ceiling, grand architecture and a stained-glass window at the far end of the room. Shelves upon shelves of books line every wall with tables and chairs laid out randomly in along the main central isle. At the far end of the room, near the stained-glass window and overlooking some books at a desk is their host: Cerinthius.

With short blond hair, a clean-shaven face and dressed in a sharp and perfectly-tailored navy-blue suit pin-stripe suit, the man stands at a little over six feet and has an athletic physique, a wry smile and pale grey eyes that seem to linger on things a little too long. Seeing the group come in he welcomes them and dismisses Miss Porter who heads back downstairs.

Ignoring most pleasantries that Jack and Tiffany are trying their best to adhere to, Sebastian comes out rather bluntly why they are there and says they are looking for any lore or information on a Woman in White: how to deal with them, stop them or combat them.

Amused but seemingly not offended by Sebastians’ lack of etiquette, Cerinthius says he is more than happy to help while pouring them each a drink. He points out several books on various shelves and the group start collecting them, bringing a total of 32 volumes onto the large oak table Cerinthius was previously using.

Downstairs Lucien finds the servants quarters and begins ingratiating himself, joining the head butler for drinks and conversation. Subtly questioning him for insider information, he learns that Cerinthius is a well-liked man of wealth and influence but does keep some odd company and strange hours. When pressed, the butler mentions his master has no enemies that he is aware of, although he did have a tall, dark-haired and hook-nosed gentleman escorted from building a little under a week ago. As they are speaking, Miss Porter comes in and joins them much to Lucien’s delight, and the three enjoy a moment’s respite in one another’s company.

In the library upstairs, the group work together to uncover the following cross-referenced information about a Woman in White:

• The Lady in White is a ghost and cannot be harmed by conventional weapons • The Lady in White is a spirit raised when an injustice is unanswered and seeks retribution • The Lady in White can only be put to rest if the object of her vengeance is sated. • The Lady in White is highly susceptible to psychic or occult attacks • The Lady in White lures men and women to their deaths by way of a hypnotic song • The Lady in White turns feral when victims are close, lashing out with monstrous claws and teeth it uses to incapacitate victims before drowning them • The Lady in White can also be put to rest by burying or cremating her remains as well as a sincere apology and some sort of sacrifice from those who wronged her in life.

Armed with this information it seems the group need to find not only Lucille’s remains, but also who was responsible for her death in order to fully stop the spirit she has become. On the completion of their research, the group are joined by Lucien and Miss Porter who – having concluded their drinks – had come to check on things.

Seeing the room and his host for the first time, Lucien is suspicious enough to shift his perception to the supernatural realm using The Sight and is awarded with a massive surge of magical energy – overwhelming in fact – from the amount of magic contained in the room. He collapses to the floor in disorientated pain, but among the other suddenly revealed images he sees Cerinthius in his true form: the man is about a foot taller with glowing golden eyes and massive, feathered wings outstretching from his back made entirely of golden light.

As Miss Porter grabs him to cushion his fall and Tiffany runs across the room to Lucien’s aid, the Clockwork man notices that Cerinthius lets out a wry smile at the corner of his mouth.

As Tiffany reaches him and tries to aid him, Lucien manages to stammer “look……wings….”. With little reason not to trust her friend, Tiffany too uses The Sight and sees Cerinthius in his true form, but just like Lucien she is overwhelmed by the strong magical energies in the room and collapses alongside him.

As Jack, Sebastian and Cerinthius turn to face the collapsed pair, a sudden warning bell goes off – or rather many of them, all across the building – and for the first time since they have met him Cerinthius looks out of place and concerned as iron shutters slam down over the stained-glass window and a bar slams across the large double-doors.

As strange collection of popping sounds, as if air is being sucked out of a space suddenly occurs as 7 shimmering portals appear simultaneously in the library: four at one end and three at the other…

---

Cerinthius’ grand library was suddenly and without warning under attack: across its expansive one-hundred-foot floor-plan, three cloaked figures wielding daggers stepped through shimmering portals at the end where Sebastian, Jack and their host were standing around a table. At the opposite end of the room where Lucius and Tiffany had collapsed and the Clockwork servant Miss Porter stood, three more otherworldly shimmering portals appeared as three more identically-dressed, knife-brandishing men stepping through. The very centre of the room was reserved for the seventh and final portal, through which stepped a Clockwork with a frame built for war and brandishing a flail that dragged threateningly along the floor. As Cerinthius covered the distance of the entire room with supernatural speed (or so it would appear to Jack and Sebastian, but to Lucien and Tiffany who were using The Sight, they saw the Nephilim spread his angelic wings of light and soar from across the library), Lucien sat up regaining his faculties and saw the Clockwork in the centre of the room in its true form:

Though the others saw a slightly taller than average Clockwork, Lucien perceived a massive, twelve-foot-tall hulking Clockwork monstrosity with spiked armour plating, powerful piston-driven jaws and eyes that darted around erratically and burned red as fire. It was hunched over to ten feet tall as it moved, it's huge form lolloping with surprising speed and grace: like a gorilla moving into attack.

The cloaked figures give no warning or threats, but immediately moved in to strike: their wicked curved blades shining ominously in the flickering candlelight of the now locked-down library.

Cerinthius reached Tiffany, Lucien and Miss Porter and laying a hand upon the ground, erected a mystical protective barrier around them that warded the four of them from the cloaked figures by the door trying to encroach on their position. Much to Cerinthius' surprise Lucien ignored the protection however, launching himself headlong at the Clockwork Abomination that had turned its attention toward them. As Jack used illusionary tactics to manoeuvre himself around the room and bolstered the will of his allies, Sebastian recited a ritual incantation to wreathe his fists in holy fire and engaged the three cloaked figures around him to great effect: his ducking and weaving of the multitude of blows aimed toward him rarely struck true, though the same could not be said for his own supernaturally-enhanced brawling skills as one of the trio of robed assassins was dispatched when the Adept shattered his rib-cage and spine with a single powerful punch.

Lucien engaged the mammoth feral clockwork in a combination of psychic and physical combat, keeping the creature off-guard by constantly shifting his position and dodging its mighty – but relatively slow – blows. On more than one occasion the Clockwork Abomination charged at Lucien with the speed and force of a locomotive, but each time Lucien was able to deftly dodge as the goliath of Clockwork ploughed through steel bookcases, tables and marble pillars. In one such attack, Lucien was able to misdirect the creature right into an external wall, causing it to pause long enough – as it removed its head from the brickwork – for Lucien to launch a powerful magical bullet at it, weakening it greatly and dislodging a mystical armour token that gave the creature much of its protective powers. From inside the barrier Cerinthius concentrated to sustain the ward as Miss Porter helped (a now recovering) Tiffany to her feet, who proceeded to pull out her pistol and begin firing on the three remaining assassins. One was felled, causing the other two to take cover and reconsider their attack.

Between Jack's distractions and Sebastian’s fisticuffs the two assassins remaining at the far end of the room were not long for this world, and the pair began to make their way to the centre of the room to aid their allies. Reaching the two other assassins that were re-positioning, Sebastian and Jack intercepted them and locked them in combat while Lucien kept the Abomination’s focus on him as much as possible. Though the battle raged on, between Tiffany’s gunfire, Jack’s pistol-whipping and Sebastian’s holy fists, the assassins soon found the tables turned on them, until only the hulking clockwork remained. While out-manoeuvring it, Lucien called out for the others to use The Sight to see it in its true form. Though Jack remained hesitant, Sebastian followed the cue and shifted his perception into the supernatural, seeing the Clockwork Abomination as it truly was. Flanking the monstrosity on all sides, Tiffany and Jack kept it off balance while Sebastian and Lucien kept it harried with powerful physical and psychic attacks.

Finally, the beast was defeated and the library – which has suffered no small devastation – was quiet once more.

The run-in with the monstrous Clockwork had seemed to effect Lucien somehow, as if seeing the depths of depravity that his people could potentially sink to had left some kind of stain on his soul. To his comrades he seemed colder, less humane.

After catching his breath and using what remained of his mystical energies to heal his guests, Cerinthius thanked them for their aid and explains that the attack was meant for him: it was just unfortunate happenstance the group were visiting when the library was attacked. In his gratitude, the Nephilim information broker gave them access to his occult library and offered them each a single item of their choosing from his arcane collection. In addition, he brought forth a magical relic he felt could help them in their task to bring Lucille’s story to a close: called an “Oracle Candle”, the double-ended candle had a normal white wick at one end, and an unusual black wick at the other. Conjoined by a two-ended candle-stick holder that also acted as a hand-grip, Cerinthius passed the item to the group and explained its function: If an item belonging to an individual is held and the white wick lit, the candle will lead the bearer to the location of the one they seek. The black wick proves to be somewhat more situational but no less relevant: when lit, if the person sought is no longer alive, it shows the last moments of their death.

Recovered and armed with their new item, the group leave Cerinthius and his people to clean up the mess and head outside to meet their driver – Duckly – and collect their thoughts once inside the carriage. Sebastian produces a matchbox that once belonged to Lucille ( the one that led them to The Faded Rose pub) and the group gingerly light the white wick. The candle lights and then the flame seems to spin about, coming to rest in a certain direction. It quickly becomes clear that it acts somewhat like a magical compass, and the group shout directions to Duckly until, after more than a hours ride they arrive back in the Docklands’ District; to a pier along the wharf that seems completely unremarkable. Like the hundreds all along the waterfront it is easily forgettable, but when the candle snuffs out by itself, the group realise they are in the right place.

Ordering Duckly to remain and wait for them, the four step out of the carriage and approach a pier that was not unlike the one they found the remains of Natalia under. Giving each other a look, Sebastian turns the candle around and lights the black wick.

At first nothing seems to happen, but as the group shift their perceptions into the mystical using The Sight, they see black smoke rise from the candle and snake its way along the pier, coalescing into shapes and forms, recreating a scene from a memory.

They see the form of Lucille, knelt upon the floor near the end of the pier, he head bowed and her long hair across her face. Beside her but in a much-less submissive manner stands Missy (the red-headed woman from The Quiet Waters Brothel) and a man dressed in fine clothes, a top-hat and carrying a cane.

As the group approach they see the man’s face and Jack instantly recognises him as a member of North Ward Aristocracy: a gentleman known as Lord Morgan Glass. A tobacco baron of sorts with considerable resources who works out the Crafts District. Their approach also brings with it ghostly sounds, as Jack, Lucien, Sebastian and Tiffany watch the spectral scene play out.

As they watch and listen to the exchange, they learn that Lucille has fallen pregnant with Lord Glass’ child, something which he cannot abide. When he tells Missy to “get rid” of Lucille, the prostitute hesitates which seems to frustrate the Lord who proceeds to step up to Lucille, draw a concealed blade from his cane and without flinching or any sign of concern, grabs Lucille by the hair and pulls her head up, slits her throat, and lets her bleeding form drop to the floor.

Wiping the blade on her once-white dress, he turns to walk away, repeats his instruction to Missy and kicks a breeze-block to her nonchalantly before leaving the scene in a wisp of smoke.

Missy paces back and forth as Lucille bleeds out, her hand outstretched for help that never comes. When the lady in white lays eternally still, Missy pulls a piece of rope from the edge of the pier and ties it tightly around the breeze-block. Attaching the other end to Lucille’s ankle, with a heavy sigh she rolls the body of the pregnant woman off the pier and into the water: the weight tied to her ankle quickly dragging her corpse to the bottom of the river. The image fades into nothingness with Missy standing at the end of the pier, looking across the water.

While the group process the horrific scene, Lucien suddenly bursts into action as he runs up the pier and launches himself into the water. Less than a moment later he re-appears, walking up the embankment covered in water and debris: holding the remains of Lucille Beecham in his large, metallic arms...

---

Jack, Tiffany, Lucien and Sebastian weighed up their options while loading the remains of Lucille Beecham (now wrapped carefully in sack-cloth) into the back of the carriage manned by the ever-faithful driver: Duckly. Knowing that attempting to tackle Lord Glass on his home turf in the Crafts District would be tantamount to suicide, the quartet instead decided to press the other witness of the ghostly scene: Missy, the redhead prostitute from The Quiet Waters Brothel.

Returning there post-haste and after a brief on-route discussion where the group decided that Madam Rand should be spared the supernatural details of their investigation, they left Lucille’s remains with Madam Rand’s men and awaited an opportunity of an audience with the owner of The Quiet Waters.

They were not kept waiting long for Madam Rand was keen to hear of their progress, but upon being told of Lucille’s fate the normally hardened middle-aged woman was clearly taken aback.

Giving the four the generous sum they had been offered to discover the whereabouts of Duchess Beecham’s daughter, their business was officially concluded. The Madam gave the group the details of the plot where Lucille would be buried out of courtesy for their actions, should they wish to visit the gravesite after the official funeral proceedings has been concluded. Knowing full-well that putting Lucille’s body to rest was only one part of the solution to quietening The Lady In White, Sebastian pointed out to the Madam that they knew who her killer was, but getting them to justice would be difficult. Though deflecting when asked to prove exactly how they knew, Madam Rand was nonetheless shocked to hear that Lord Glass was involved and confirmed what the group had feared: his position in society made him neigh-on invulnerable to anyone outside of the aristocracy.

Instead, Tiffany asked – without divulging too much information – if they could be given some time with Missy. Suggesting that she might be involved and working the angle they would like to try and clear her name, the group convinced Madam Rand to keep Missy (who happened to be in her room at the time of their visit) on-site long enough for them to question her.

Missy proved cagey at first when interviewed, and although Tiffany (the only person out of the four to have actually met the woman) was slowly bringing her around to coax information out of her, Sebastian became restless and was concerned the group was rapidly running out of time. Being considerably more direct with the woman, his aggressive counterbalance to Tiffany’s more subtle questioning was enough to put the woman on edge – especially when Sebastian said they could prove they knew of Missy’s part in the murder of Lucille. Calling upon his mystical abilities, Jack weaved an illusionary re-creation of the vision they had seen at the docks. Missy was shown the murder one more time, as well as her part in it – and that of Lord Glass. Shaken not only by the disturbing imagery but the strange powers that Jack seemed to possess, Missy began to break down and once she began, she could barely stop. The floodgates were open.

Sebastian seemed concerned she might retreat into herself so told her about The Lady In White, and how they needed Missy’s help to stop it. The guilt and fear that washed over Missy was enough to bring her back around long enough to be coherent, and Tiffany calmed her until she was able to hear the groups’ plan.

Under their instruction, Missy wrote a note to Lord Glass implying that somebody might have seen the events with Lucille. Details were kept brief but concluded with a need to speak with him that very evening at midnight at the spot of the murder. None among them doubted for a moment that the Lord might smell a trap, but it was the only way to lure him away from his fortified position. Sending the letter by courier meant that even at its quickest delivery, Lord Glass would not receive it in time to be able to send someone to silence Missy directly, nor could he afford to let the matter slide – he would not be able to risk the stain to his reputation.

Missy finished the letter and it was sent, and the four explained that Missy would need to come with them because until The Lady In White was stopped, she would never be safe. Taking a risk, they decided to tell Missy the truth: that The Lady In White required a heart-felt apology and a sacrifice as well as a burial. The burial was underway, and Missy seemed more than happy to provide the apology, but as for the sacrifice? She had nothing to offer, and feared Lord Glass cared for nothing but himself. It was something they would need to work out when the time came.

With the letter sent, there was almost eight hours until midnight and with just under an hours’ travel time ahead of them, the group had time to prepare for their showdown with Glass.

While Missy remained at The Quiet Waters (unbeknownst to her, under close supervision and house arrest by Rand’s people) until she was needed, the group set about preparations:

Lucien felt a fight was on the horizon, and so spent the money he had accumulated modifying his house-boat into something of a floating fortress. Armour plating was added, concealed Gatling guns were fitted and even a couple of disreputable ne’er-do-well’s hired to assist.

Sebastian returned to Birch House and took audience with Cerinthius. Explaining their plan to confront Glass and The Lady In White, he asked the Nephilim for assistance which he seemed all to happy to oblige – so long as Sebastian owed him a ‘favour.’

Jack, for his part, returned home to hone his body and mind (mainly with a decent lunch) before picking out the best cunning disguise he felt would be representative of his upcoming endeavour. It involved a fake parrot and an eye-patch.

Having experienced the exceptionally dangerous situations her colleagues tended to get her involved with, Tiffany spent her time at leisure taking in the sights of the Ward, enjoying an afternoon of escapism and shopping before the inevitable madness ensued.

As midnight approached, Sebastian and Cerinthius met up with Lucien aboard his boat – already docked close enough to the murder site as to get there very quickly – and left the Nephilim to set up his mystical protective wards. Lucien remained atop the vessel while Sebastian waited up the street for the rest of his colleagues. Jack, Tiffany and Missy were not far behind as luck would have it, and they met up with Sebastian with enough time to spare to conceal themselves in the shadows with half an hour to spare.

Midnight arrived, and the docks were lit by nothing but the glow of gas-lamps and the white shine of the moon. A large rabble of thuggish men – almost two-dozen – arrived and looked around the area. None spotted the well-hidden group, but one man who was clearly in charge and considerably larger than the others, chastised one of the other men and told him to let “the boss know the area was clear”. From the apologetic tone of the man being scolded, it was easy to pick out the name of his oppressor: August Cobb.

As the man left he was tailed by Sebastian who, sticking to the shadows, observed as the man made his way down the street for a good five moments before reaching a parked carriage. An exchange happened between the man and the carriage’s occupant through a shrouded window, but then the door was opened, and Lord Glass stepped out onto the street. The two made their way back in silence, and Sebastian shadowed them the whole way back.

As this meeting was going on, back at the Docks both Lucien and Tiffany – quite independently of one another – both shifted their senses to the supernatural, employing The Sight to lift the veil of reality. Both observed a mass of writhing white beneath the water, a shape that was moving rapidly toward the docks – directly to where Missy was hiding. The redheaded woman was unaware of this of course, lacking the ability to perceive the supernatural.

As Lord Glass, his lackey and Sebastian returned on the scene, Sebastian too employed The Sight to see if Lord Glass was hiding some supernatural influence. Besides magical properties to the sword-cane he held at his side, the man was thoroughly mortal. The writing white mass – now coalescing into a more humanoid form – was also spotted by Sebastian, just as it changed its direction and moved more toward Lord Glass.

Glass and Cobb discussed what seemed to be a pointless waste of their time as the group (and Missy who was being calmed by Tiffany) waited for their moment.

It did not take long.

Those with The Sight saw the form of the Lady In White erupt through the ground roughly between Glass and Missy’s hiding place, her bright white hair writing around with a life of its own, her skin translucent and glowing, her eyes black with hate and her fingernails extended into terrifying claws.

Those without The Sight saw a different but no less unsettling sight as the ghostly visage of Lucille Beecham white from lack of blood and sporting a slit throat, slowly drifted up through the cobbled streets.

Before any could shake themselves from the shock of what they saw, The Lady In White let out an ear-piercing scream that seemed to rip through the very fabric of the night. The specifics of Lucien’s warding became suddenly apparent when Lord Glass, Cobb and half of their men froze in place while the others panicked and spread in all directions, yet Lucien, the men on his boat, Jack, Sebastian, Tiffany and Missy were utterly unaffected.

As The Lady In White turned her attention to Missy, Lucien opened fire at the spirit with the Gatling Guns which, though he knew would not harm it, certainly got the ghost’s attention. Turning on the Clockwork with malice, she flew to him and racked him across the chest with her massive claws causing Lucien to stagger backwards as metal and gears erupted from his torso and sprayed cooling fluid onto the deck of his ship.

While Sebastian stopped one group of thugs from drawing weapons on his colleagues by beating several of them to a pulp, Jack and Tiffany managed to work together to persuade some of the others to join their side by appealing to the mercenary side of their natures.

Though trembling with fear, Missy stepped forward and called out to The Lady In White by name, hoping to draw the spirits’ attention away from Lucien. This worked, and as the ghost drifted toward her, August Cobb was able to free himself from paralytic effect of ghostly scream. His freedom was short-lived however, as he was immediately set upon by Sebastian whose fists – now glowing with eldritch energies – knocked him almost instantly into unconsciousness.

The remaining thugs who were being routed by Sebastian’s pummelling drew shotguns and crowbars but thought better of it when Lucien pointed twin Gatling guns at them.

As The Lady In White reached Missy she began to sob, apologising profusely for her actions and begging for forgiveness. As Tiffany watched, ready to step in if needed, the horrific, distended mouth of the ghost seemed to shrink, and a calm came across its face. Long, clawed hands reached toward Missy and came to rest in front of her stomach. Tiffany saw a reddish light begin to glow about the woman’s stomach and drifted out ghostly red tendrils that wafted up to the spirits open mouth.

From Missy’s perspective, the saw the deceased form of Lucille place a hand upon her belly and close her eyes.

Though she was unaware of what she had to sacrifice, The Lady In White took the spirit of Missy’s unborn child in payment, and turned her attentions to Lord Glass.

Perplexed but relieved, Missy let out and audible sigh and retreated to Tiffany, but the men who had “sided” with Jack and Tiffany decided this was all too much to handle and left. Similarly, the other group decided to try their luck and bolted from Lucien, who decided to not waste bullets on them.

The Docks now held only Jack, Tiffany and Missy in an alleyway, Lucien, Cerinthius and his lackeys on the boat, an unconscious August Cobb loomed over by Sebastian and a paralysed Lord Glass who was being slowly approached by the spirit of Lucille Beecham: The Lady In White.

Knowing there was only one real way things could conclude, the group stood down as The Lady In White began to drain the life-force out of the Lord. Missy looked away, burying her face in Tiffany’s shoulder, but the others watched on as the paralytic effect wore off Lord Glass all too late: his hair turned white and he began to age exponentially as red smoke drifted from his eyes and mouth into the waiting maw of the spirit. All too rapidly it was over, and the desiccated husk of Lord Glass dropped lifelessly to the ground.

Now finally at peace, the Lady In White took on the form that those without The Sight could see. She appeared as she did in life though her form was still ghostly and see-through: A radiant beauty once more with long, straight raven black hair and warm compassionate eyes. Lucille Beecham smiled silently as another, smaller form joined her; a young girl peeked out gingerly from behind the hem of her long white dress. The group had but a moment to take in the scene as Lucile and the girl faded into nothingness.

Lucien, Jack, Sebastian, Tiffany, Cerinthius and Missy gathered around the unconscious body of August Cobb and the desiccated corpse of Lord Morgan Glass. As the wind blew across the docks and brought with it the chill of late winter, they gave one another a knowing look.

It was going to be a long night....

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Hopefully that was an enjoyable - if somewhat lengthy - read!

Happy Gaming,

- Adam