The Power of the Written Word

Details
Session Date	Apr 4 2021
Seam Dates	May 6-7 5941

Pre-session Bullshit

• The crew found out all of the gossip in the town and sent it to the newspapers
• They traded the gem for a hat from a random dude on the street
• Victory got a fire elemental

Stop the Press

The following morning (May 6th 5941) discussions on how best to get stories into the newspapers of Gathernotch continued between the crew. They believed that the newspaper offices were most likely to be in the Tongs, near the top where the other commercial enterprises are, but to successfully get stories into the newspapers would need more than a rough idea of the locations of their offices. Having slept on their ideas the crew were worried that the story of Modrons in Velour wouldn’t be sufficiently worrying to the general population of Gathernotch to be newsworthy or get the desired response.

After some discussion it was decided that the best way to get the story out would be to tell it to the older dwarves who “Thoryn” had befriended and see how they reacted. So Caely headed back to The 35 where she hoped to find Amdek and friends. Once she was sure they were in their customary seats Caely bought a round for them and returned to the table and began to tell “a story of events she had overseen in Velour and remembered following yesterday’s conversation”. She claimed to have been following the dwarves in the hope of asking them for advice on where to go within the Seam, and told them of seeing the Modrons near the Temple of Bahamut, the attack on Biri and the subsequent fight between these unknown dwarves and “the woolly backs” AKA the members of the Jacquard Trading Co.

Her story raised much consternation among the dwarves who had not been aware of the actions taken in Velour, and suggested that it might have been Dept 12 who had taken these actions. One of them is sent to find Ulva Notes, who is a journalist they know who works for the Baldur newspaper.

Ulva arrived and is given a full retelling of the story from “Thoryn”, though she seemed to be a little more careful about believing it at face value. She was already aware of the party through reports of the jail-break and connected the silver dragonborn in those stories to this new story. However, despite having drawn all the connections she too was concerned about the actions of dwarves within Velour and agreed to go away and research further in order to find further evidence to corroborate the story. Meanwhile it was agreed that “Thoryn” needs protection given their importance as a source, so Amdek and his wife offer Caely a room in their house to use as a safe location. Having received her key and seen the house Caely left to “collect her belongings”. A quick check in with Ganymede gave little new information from Bobby’s desk.

Smoke and Letters

Meanwhile Victory headed back to the chimney into Thoryl’s rooms with the intention of dropping off letters for both Thoryl and Kathselle. Despite a fire in the grate and the resulting damage Victory not only managed to leave the letters on the desk but also discovered that the corridor is occupied by multiple guards and that Thoryl was very tidy. He mostly seemed to be focussed on technical drawings and such like as he had no obvious paperwork that seemed relevant to the ongoing matters besides technical drawings of the Modrons and their construction process. There was no suggestion that he was considering the use of Modrons as weaponry, and no obvious link between himself and dept 12.

Around 10 minutes before the morning meeting was due to start Biri once again remotely viewed the private council chamber, and overheard further discussions of increased production and figures which suggest that the number of Modrons in the city was now into the 1000s. However, there were no obvious signs of increased tension between members of the council.

Dead Drops

The crew decided to also implement a secondary plan alongside the journalism route, sending Caely out to the Amoruk Bridge to attempt to sell Monal a new hat. With Ganymede in hand she approached Monal as he left the office and cast suggestion on him, suggesting that he needed a new hat. As he failed to overcome the charming effects of the spell Monal happily agreed and left wearing Ganymede on his head. Even once the effects of the spell wore off Ganymede reported that it seemed he liked his new acquisition and was continuing to wear it.

Late in the evening Victory slipped out to head to the agreed dead-drop at Claudia’s old flat to see if any communication had been received. On her first visit there was no change within the flat so instead she headed down the chimney and into the office once more. Here she could see both Thoryl and Kathselle waiting in silence for some time before eventually Kathselle gave up and they each headed home. Victory took the opportunity to follow Thoryl to his home address, before returning to the dead-drop once more.

On her return it was clear that the dead-drop was now being watched by a dwarf, meaning that she could not enter the building. Instead she left in order to be sure of the safety of the crew. Back aboard the Situation Victory filled Biri in on all she saw and did and Biri in turn communicated as much of that as she can in 25 words to Caely in her safehouse.

Caely’s response was:

“Wait as gas in office. Write note to Thoryl and he can say if it’s safe to talk”

The following morning Biri took the spirit of this suggestion, if not the practical elements of it, and used her sending spell to communicate with Thoryl directly, warning him that the dead-drop had been watched so they had been unable to obtain the reply.

Thoryl rather drily remarked that the watchers were his people and that Factory 37 at midnight is the agreed meeting time and place. The end of his message was rather lost to a rambling consideration about what day midnight can best be considered to belong to.

Ranmur would know that Kathselle and Thoryl have had a private meeting.

Thoryl and Kathselle left an agent to watch the apartment to make sure the message was received and gain information about where they are.

Meanwhile Ganymede reported in on Dept 12 where he now sat at Monal’s desk indicating that Dept 12 were still attempting to locate the crew as a top priority, and that they now viewed Bobby as a total bust given his complete lack of contact or change from his routine. Fortunately they didn’t seem ready to pull him in just yet either.