38 No Place Like Home
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15/12/2021-22/12/2021

Leaving the safety of Duchess Morven’s castle with varying degrees of reluctance, the group travel across land and finally make it to Corjen ahead of the claws of Winter. The town is not quite as they remember it, however. The streets are deserted, and the only living soul they meet is the nervous landlord of the Black Mire Inn. The Oracle’s cave is covered in ivy and the Oracle herself motionless as if petrified, though Jack finds his wife asleep in a bath tub. She can recall little of what’s happened.

Retiring to Ninevah’s home to rest, they find part of the library changed and a section devoted to tomes with blank pages, a desk and chair with elaborate headpiece. More than one member of the group is fascinated by this. After overnight rest they find Lucius frantically copying from the book, so Kat smashes up the equipment while he is dragged away to regain his wits.

On the edge of town, Henry notices a group of swamp people moving around a deep pit on his morning run. Concerned by their unnatural behaviour he reports back to the library. Forcing their way into the underground chamber that the natives have dug, they discover three prisoners chained to the walls with their ankles broken. They are retrieved and brought to the library to recover, and despite healing remain feverish and raving.

Meantime as night falls sailor Bob has spotted a group of townspeople moving through the cobbled streets towards a townhouse with red lanterns hanging outside. Determined to take one for the team, Henry, Percy and Kat infiltrate the party which turns out to be an orgy. The backdrop to all this hedonistic frivolity is eventually recognised to be the Orgone Accumulator.

39 Book of the Key
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22/12/2021-09/02/2022

Leaving the party with the Orgone Accumulator proves difficult. Not only is it heavy and bulky, Percy has attracted the attention of the drugged-up revelers. Henry goes to help, but they are turned back at the door by the host, who Kat believes she is effectively distracting upstairs. When she comes down to check on progress, she is disgusted to find that Percy has succumbed to his baser instincts and the device is back where it started.

Retreating in the early hours and vowing to return, a meeting is convened over breakfast. Distracting a couple of town guard and briefly meeting the hunter Luthor (who retires to the Inn), they break into the locked house and enlist Ninevah’s magic to separate the cunningly concealed device from its surroundings. The Count arrives to challenge them, and after some discussion he allows the Orgone Accumulator to be removed. Jack determines the elemental furnace to be the best place for it, and is comforted to find it still guarded by spear-armed swamp tribesmen. With a little help he installs it, while Luthor checks out one of the young Ravens hovering at distance.

Returning to the town leads the group back to the pit, where they confront the horror that is either a symptom or a cause of all their travails. As wave after wave of mind-controlled creatures attack, it falls to Ninevah to use the Book of the Key to banish the creature back to whichever strange dimension it hails from. It attempts to persuade Henry to follow with a promise of a mighty duel, but he resists the temptation.

40 Arrival
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09/02/2022-23/02/2022

As the flush of victory subsides, a semblance of normality returns to Corjen and life falls into a familiar routine. It is almost as if the threat of destruction and dark dreams never happened. Townsfolk return to the streets, soldiers return to barracks, the Oracle receives her supplicants.

Just as everyone starts to relax, Duchess Morven arrives with a company of cavalry. While Henry wonders how he will distract Heidi, the Duchess and a smaller group head off to pay their respects to the Oracle while the rest head towards the barracks. Lieutenant Jack notes some new arrivals, and gets some unsatisfactory answers to his queries about what the standing guards recall about the previous weeks.

While there he notes the arrival of a scruff group of soldiers led by one Panam Argento, who he recalls seeing at Lord Doro’s party. It’s not quite clear what this might mean, but they have a reputation as scouts and skirmishers and report that more soldiers from Port Royal are on the way.

Later Panam is discovered breaking into the library and is shot by Luthor. It seems there is a rivalry between her group and the faction Ninevah and Kobe represent, though Jack explains this doesn’t explain her behaviour and he suggests she is in their debt. Tidying up business in Corjen, respects are then paid to the Shaman of the swamp people, who confirms the shadow has been lifted from the town, though its resident monster has returned.

Bidding farewell to their friends, lovers and allies they then set off into the mountains hoping to reach the Canopy in good time. Henry will have a lot to think about knowing the Duchess is now expecting his child.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:58, Wed 15 Nov 2023.