• The session began with downtime activities - predominantly training and the continuation of various long-term projects. Cricket secured his relationship with Arianne Bowmore, Flews continued to ingratiate himself with Polonia Stangford and Cricket now too. SBD completed his alchemical project to incorporate the yellow Leviathan oil into his own bodily secretions - because nothing bad will come of that.
• The Queer followed their invitation to dinner in the abandoned graveyard in Six Towers, arriving fashionably late, though perhaps due more to dithering than a sense of style. The large mausoleum dominating the cemetery was lit within by large silver candelabra - the smell of the tapers implying they were likely made with human tallow. The finest silver settings were arranged on the large sarcophagus as if it were a table, and disk-like slabs of raw, well-marbled meat sat plateless, on the cold surface of the stone coffin, in pools of congealing fluid.
• The Bowler Man stood in one corner like a mute footman attending the meal, and a heavily shadowed figure with a hidden voice and fine but archaic clothing stood at the "head of the table." He spoke is a slow, harsh whisper, welcoming his guests. He described how he had chosen their unknown crew to be his instrument vengeance - the tool by which he intended to bring down House Bowmore. Though cryptic and vague, he mentioned something about "a girl" and an "heir," and obsessed on the ruin he would bring on the Bowmores.
• Various party members took a bite or two of their one course meals, trying not to think of what kind of meat it might be. Flews in particular, was unable to keep it down.
• He said he had another task for them - a smuggling trip into the Deathlands. He gave them a strange key and a large case containing several enigmatic devices. He instructed them to meet a Professor Jacob Ibis at the Tea Room the next day and that he would be their guide to the Coven of the Ancient Queen. At the temple, they were to assemble the device following instructions possessed by the scholar and then activate it.
• Gyr, with a suspicious and insightful eye noted that the surname carved among the coat of arms on the sarcophagus was "Haig." The stranger concluded the meeting with more vengeful rambling and a curt dismissal.
• The crew met with Ibis and later that night they used the strange key to infiltrate one of the lightening towers on the eastern bank of the east fork of the River Dosk - opposite Nightmarket. The trip through the tower was an enigmatic tour of arcane machinery, but otherwise uneventful.
• The grey and shadowed landscape on the far side of the Lightening Barrier was bleak, lonely and haunted by remnant wisps of unravelling spirits. The long-crumbling ruins and decay-filled streets of the abandoned, ancient parts of Duskvol were a confusing and frightening maze, made navigable only by a map possessed by professor Ibis. The going was slow given that he had never actually been to the temple before and was picking his way for the first time.
• Eventually the party arrived at the Coven's temple and upon entering realized it contained a spirit well - a tear in the Ghost Veil that allowed for the passage of spirits and other demons into the living world. The Professor's instructions required the crew to assemble the device near the well and as they completed the task Ibis presented them with a sealed folder, saying that he had, "been specifically instructed to give it to the Queer once the device was completed and NOT to read it himself." Lauding his own diligence, Ibis handed the envelope to Gyr who, upon opening it, realized it was the final page of the device's hand-written instruction manual. With crude drawings it instructed the user to stab a human subject in the chest with the large dagger-like hypodermic tube that was part of the machine. Without consulting anyone else, without any hesitation at all, Gyr trance-powdered Ibis and plunged the over-large needle into his chest.
• The machine game to life, glowing, whirring, chugging and immediately countless ghosts began pouring from the spirit well and swarming towards the Queer. Flews drew her pistols and lay down protective fire, giving her comrades the chance to get away. Many ragged spirits also poured in from the wastes outside the temple, blocking the party's retreat. The fray was chaotic, as the Queer scattered and ran for their lives. Flew's gunplay likely saved the day, but even then, despite their Ghost Passage abilities, (and due to a critical failure) Cricket suffered a possessing attack by a uniquely aggressive spirit. Though it does not appear to have any control over him at the moment, Cricket can sense its presence within.
• The flight back to Duskvol and it's protective Lightening Barrier was terrifying and physically brutal, with the crew each taking two kinds of level 1 harm - Terrified and Exhausted. Each also gained 2 stress as a consequence of the nightmare experience.
