Session 3 - 2026-01-04T00:00:00.000-05:00

Player Characters

Recap

The party pressed their advantage at first, but eventually the ritual happening in the other room completed and a strange entity of nothingness appeared and charge their position, violently attacking them with claws and freezing howls of void energy.

Confronted with a new enemy the party focused all efforts on the new foe, including Rhys conjuring his moon shaped chaos energy to augment Velvet’s claws as she slashed and tore at the being, ultimately dissipating it from this world. When that happened the remaining Pyrite Gang members panicked and attempted to flee.

Pete, not wanting their leader to get away, used his wings to dive past a couple of dumb founded thugs and tackle the leader from the ladder he clung to that led to the surface. Paul followed suit when Pete shouted at the goons to make room, and Velvet, still in a bit of a rage state, finished off the dumb founded goons. The rest of the group slowly trickled into the room to interrogate the leader.

When pressed and in hopes of keeping his life he confirmed that the Pyrite Gang had had plans to steal all the Dust and Shine in the district so they could sell it themselves and profit off it. He also revealed that the thing they killed was a Childe of a Far Celestial, albeit a very young one called The Empty One. He also told them he had one more piece of information, but wouldn’t share it until they guaranteed his life.

The group agreed, but said he couldn’t leave until they were able to recover the stolen goods. They sent Gus and Purrcival to inform Jimmie and see what he wanted to do with all the extra Dust and Shine. Jimmie sent a truck with plans to return the other stolen goods for a finders fee and offer a cut of that to the party for their work.

Once everything was loaded and ready to go the group got the last piece of information from the Pyrite lieutenant. The bosses of the Pyrite Gang had been influenced and backed by another mysterious faction. Being a lieutenant he didn’t know all the details, but he knew their symbol and not only told the group, but gave them the ritual he had used to summon The Empty One, which had half of a wax seal bearing that symbol, a skull and crossbones with a dagger on the left side and a bottle of Moonshine on the right.

The party accepted it and were about to send the man on his way, but Pete took a moment to gut check the plans the man seemed to have to skip town and realized he was going to go back to his bosses. When confronted the man noted that he’d be dead if he didn’t report in. By reporting in he could stay alive and at least spin it like he was still loyal, and pointed out that the Pyrite Gang didn’t want war, they wanted Dust and they’d lost, so it didn’t matter to them if he reported. After some thought and Pete taking the man’s last few dollars, they sent him on his way.

Everyone got paid, and got clean from their disgusting romp, and took the next few days to rest up, do some shopping, and spend some time living their lives. Pete and Paul both spent some time trying to get information about the symbol the Pyrite Gang lieutenant gave them, with Paul using the library and Pete reaching out through his underground contacts. Rhys spent some time gathering components and plant lunatics in an effort to figure out how to reverse engineer and modify the ritual he’s been given by The Hat Man to extract Moon Dust with the hopes that he can make it not kill the subject.

Velvet and the group also asked Lola about the sample from the plant they found, learning it was something called Blood Vine, that was a carnivorous plant which used its sharp leaves to drink the blood of its victims. However, it still needed sun normally, and as far as she knew it didn’t try to form “humanoid” figures and move about. This in mind the group loosely debated if there was some on the surface nearby that had somehow pushed its way into the sewer.

Pete took the time to sell his various cure alls and snake oils along with whatever Dust he could move out on his usual streets and haunts. During this effort he encountered a man with a shaking left arm who turned out to be a former soldier who had taken some shrapnel during the war. Doctors had been unable to fix the issue for him and believed it was a nervous reaction. Pete sold him some tea which would supposedly help calm his nerves and ease the man’s suffering. How successful that would be remains to be seen. Additionally, when the usual shipment of Dust and goods arrived at the Celestial Sips from the delivery guy Sebastian, Pete was offered to buy some extra Dust which Sebastian had. A discussion and analysis had Pete realizing it was likely stolen. Sebastian claimed it wasn’t completely stolen, as it had been sitting at a drop for days without anyone touching it, and he wasn’t going to let good Dust go to waste, or worse, be stolen by someone else. He just wanted to move it fast, as it had markings indicating it belonged to another gang. After some haggling to about half price Pete bought the Dust and kept half for himself while adding the other to the Sips inventory, taking care to destroy the crates it came in.

Velvet spent some time at her day job at the Silver Reflections Diving Company. Her boss, Kesiah handed her some scientists who were excited at recent sightings of a crocodile-like creature in a section of the lake, which would not be a native species. Velvet played things cautious and by the book keeping an eye on her charges once they dove, eventually discovering a den like area it may be using. It appeared to not be home, so she let the scientists get closer and take samples, but while they did she sensed something above them. She did her best to move the scientists away, but one remained as a shadow descended, and turned out to be a fish, but one startled by the real threat, something burrowing out of the lake bed above. Forcefully pulling back the remaining scientist they were able to see a more serpentine, dragon-like creature which appeared to be a new species. Data and samples in tow they all returned safely. She later got a call from Naomi for a check in. They met and had brunch and while most things were normal Naomi had some nervousness about her, and finally broke through it when ordering dessert. It turned out that Naomi had known Velvet lived above the Celestial Sips and had been seen with employees there… and the place had a quiet reputation on the streets. Naomi helped vets addicted to Moonshine, weaning them off it and giving them support, but the stuff the doctors had been giving was too weak and infrequent to make a difference anymore, so she needed a source of clean Moonshine and was hoping Velvet could help. Velvet stopped short of admitting her connection to the Sips, but did tell Naomi the password for that week and told her to mention Velvet sent her to make sure she got what she needed.

Paul decided with some money in his pocket and a little free time he’d spend some time with his sister Cindy. He picked her up at school and asked her how things were going and specifically how her clothes were doing. She mentioned a hole starting to form in her shoes, but that it wasn’t a big deal. Paul, money in his pocket, told her might as well replace them now while he had the money. So they went to the neighborhood second-hand store and shopped around. While there Paul decided it best to also pick up a spring jacket, since the semester had just started. Concerned, but not willing to fully turn it down, Cindy agreed. When the shopping was done Cindy revealed that she’d been given an assignment for the end of the week, take your kid to work day. She had tried to explain the situation to her teacher, Ms. Jones, but Ms. Jones simply indicated that Paul, Cindy’s guardian, could suffice. But knowing only partially what Paul did and that he sometimes came home with the odd wound was a little concerned. Paul said he’d see what he could do, but would have to talk to some people first. Paul took the time to speak with Jimmie about it, asking if he could have her check out the speakeasy before opening, and then have her stay in the cafe the rest of the time under the watchful eyes of Pearl and Quince. Pearl, Quince, and Jimmie agreed, with Pearl hoping she could have her help out a little. Paul also spoke with Ms. Jones to check if it would be ok to have her spend time with other workers where Paul worked, and he also checked in on how Cindy was doing. To Ms. Jones the point was to expose Cindy to the working world and get her thinking about it. While she’d only just started high school it would be no time before she would graduate. As to how Cindy was doing, she was doing better than Paul had, and through a couple of soft and subtle jabs, Ms. Jones made that clear. Hopefully things would go well the Friday Cindy came to visit the speakeasy and cafe.

Rhys took some time to take the hides and furs he’d gotten while hunting out in the wilds of the Dust Woods, which was mostly small game to the tanner he worked with the most, Rodrigues. He met the Infernis at his shop and made small talk while selling over the pelts. But before leaving Rodrigues let him know he was looking specifically for reptilian hides at a specific customer’s request. They weren’t super common in the Woods, but knowing the Crags were more likely to house such creatures let Rodrigues know that if he came across some he’d gladly return and sell them to him. While preparing for his next outing in the Woods Lola approached him and asked if she could come and if he could help her get somewhere. He agreed and somewhere turned out to be Lola’s father’s grave, a cairn atop a semi-bald hill in the Woods. There Lola spent some time at the grave, laying a ring of flowers she’d made during the journey, but before departing she confided her deeper concerns in Rhys, that her father had been a Lunatic and had been killed by her mother, which was one of the reasons she came to the city several years ago. She loved singing and spreading her culture, but disliked Moon Dust and what it did to people. She was torn between her chance to sing with the band at the Celestial Sips and her work “cooking” for Jimmie and Barnabas and just didn’t know what to do. Rhys pointed out that ultimately, if someone else were brewing the Moonshine they might not do it as well or as cleanly, so she can continue to sing and do her best to keep the Moonshine at the Sips as clean as possible. Lola agreed that that was probably the best path for now and didn’t know why she hadn’t realized that. Rhys took her back to the city before venturing out into the wilds for his next hunt.