Loot thread

[Sierra]

Taken from German soldiers in Istanbul:

2x Walther Model PP

Found on a dead soldier in a tunnel underneath Jerusalem:

1x turquoise bracelet that can apparently be used for teleportation at certain locations
1x brown crystal sphere (unexamined)

Found in the mysterious cave you warped to from Petra:

1x red stone ring (enchanted, light abjuration)
1x clear crystal egg that radiates cold (enchanted, light evocation)
1x raw red gem (sold: +5 wealth for all)

Stolen from a cash register in Jerusalem:

Cash: +4 wealth for all

[Sierra]

Erin has identified the strangely cold, enchanted stone. It is the:

Mystical Egg of Icelike Temperature. This egg-shaped, crystalline object perpetually radiates cold near the freezing point of water. It could be useful for keeping drinks or other substances cool. The enchantment is very simple and it has no active functions. It might possibly hurt a little if you threw this at someone, but this questionable use is the only other apparent one.

~

More identificationness. The red ring is a:

Ring of Protection. This ring seems to make the air around you...slipperier, smoother, as if objects heading towards you are inclined to veer away of their own accord. While worn, this ring grants you a +1 deflection bonus to AC.

~

Further identification hijinks! The turquoise bracelet is a:

Localized Matter Transference Actuator. Despite the flashy name, the function of this object is fundamentally simple (if advanced in terms of the technical difficulty involved in its production): the bracelet is keyed to respond to a nexus imbued with a certain magical signature. When within sufficient proximity to such a nexus, the holder of the bracelet can shift their spatial location to that of the nexus (or back to their previous location from the nexus; the bracelet has a certain limited capability to remember previous departure points). The potency of the enchantment has decayed somewhat over time; the required proximity to a nexus may be shorter than it once was.

~

The crystal sphere is a:

Telecom Orb. This object enables long-distance communication between two individuals. The sphere can be made to disgorge a number of marble-sized copies of itself which allow communication back to the main orb up to an undetermined but very great distance. The holder of the main orb can reach out to any owner of a satellite orb with but a thought (though the receiver must currently be in possession of the second orb to notice and answer the call). The receiving orbs are attuned to their owners; they can't be used by anyone else until returned to the main orb and recalibrated, nor can they be used to communicate with one another. Each marble dispersed by the main orb diminishes it in size; it may perhaps support up to twenty such divisions.

Being engaged in communication in this manner monopolizes the senses and imposes a -10 penalty to any spot or listen checks until the orb is no longer in use.

[Sierra]

Nadia loots money collectively worth +1 wealth to her from the intruders. Quite a windfall, don't spend it all in one place.

[Sierra]

The mansion at Zanzibar yielded the following spoils:

1x Thompson M1921
3x Browning High Power
4x metal baton
2x potion of Cure Lesser Wounds
3x scroll
1x creepy stone snake idol that doesn't seem to have any magical function but man, it's creepy
1x urn of a bodhisattva's ashes

Nadia's looted jewelry is valuable enough to raise each PC's wealth by 5 when sold.

On examination, the scrolls turn out to contain instructions for casting Web, Blur and Darkvision.

[Sierra]

Ivo's lab yielded the following documents:

Private financial documents of Kasper Ivo
Travel diary of Roscoe Elgin
Journals of Alfred Linden
Operation Iron Boot, preliminary materials
Fafnir proposal materials
Einherjar Project abstracts
Pseudomonarchia Daemonum

All this reading material makes for an eventful trip to London, surely. Perusing the items in turn provides the following information from each:

~

Private financial documents of Kasper Ivo

You have come into possession of Kasper Ivo's bank account numbers. The doctor was sitting on a substantial amount of money, apparently. You may be able to access these funds if you act before Ivo's death becomes widely known.

It also seems that the good doctor was quite meticulous about keeping track of his finances and maintained detailed records of his spending. Among various personal expenses, you can pick out several related to travel and foreign lodging. There was a spate of such throughout June and July of 1936; most of these trips were local, staying within Germany or sometimes Austria, but the period culminates in a trip to Paris. The only other noteworthy excursions are in December: one to Tokyo and one to Stockholm. The latter stay was very brief; the former, several days.

~

Travel diary of Roscoe Elgin

This appears to be a log of the naturalist's travels across Europe and Asia while on sabbatical throughout the early months of 1936 (the projected itinerary Elgin sets out early on would have taken him across North America during late summer of that year, but the final entries do not extend that far). The vast majority of the account is dry, observational, an academic recording his surroundings in excruciating detail. There is a great deal of material on plants, on animal life the author sees while passing through the European countryside, and also more on plants. On occasion he thinks to visit a city and records his impressions of a museum or a piano concert.

The first few months are without unexpected incidents. After a considerable delay while his trek across Eurasia was approved by the Soviet authorities (Elgin notes the assistance of several of his Russian counterparts in easing official suspicion about the purpose of his visit to the Soviet Union), Elgin proceeds east via Trans-Siberian railway, making occasional stops to sketch the blooming plant life. The last entry made in the same prosaic, procedural tone concerns a planned visit to what Elgin believed to be the site of a meteorite impact in Siberia.

There is no entry detailing the investigation of this site. The journal is unclear on whether Elgin ever arrived--indeed, the author himself notes with some confusion that he cannot recall the events of the day on which he was supposed to arrive and survey the site. His recollection of the day ends abruptly, with Elgin being struck by "a great, unseen force" that sent him to his knees and thence unconsciousness. Awaking the next day to find himself several miles down the road back to the west, the author notes several curious sensations, initially with detached scientific interest: of being drawn like a lodestone to something distantly down the railway from which he came, of being observed when no other men were in sight, and what the author can only describe as "an unearthly itch, as though my body did not fit."

There is some attempt to address these sensations psychologically, with the author dismissing them as mere flights of fancy, before his tone gives way to alarm at their persistence. He finds himself continuing back towards the west from whence he came despite all intentions to the contrary--his feet move as if of their own volition, or he feels "driven on by a thousand whips," and to resist the pull is to invite crippling mental agony. Later entries are openly despairing: tumbling down an endless abyss, he feels himself to be "insignificant, oppressed," in the face of some adversary he can only describe as a great millstone paring away his mind. Finally, in a shaky, uncertain hand, as if written by a child just learning penmanship or by a lunatic in a fit of delirium: "I am engulfed. All is fire."

The entries stop after this.

~

Journals of Alfred Linden

This looks like a log kept to track the progress of a scientific experiment. A very lengthy one, as the journals cover a period of two decades beginning in the autumn of 1915. Entries are sparse in the final year, however, the last being dated February 24, 1935.

The journal begins with a proposal, although it is initially more diatribe and invective than scientific theory: the writer decries greed, war, and the nations then engaged in such at some length before speculating on the root cause of the endless cycle of self-destruction that he believes humanity to be engaged in. Ultimately, he finds his culprit in biology, laying mankind's ills at the feet of eons of vicious natural selection: "The animal must be excised before we can know lasting peace. We must replace these instincts that declare each neighbor an enemy, every member of our own species a competitor for resources, every interaction only a means of achieving social status and propagation. Only when these impulses are abandoned, only then can humanity as a collective body achieve enlightenment. A new world demands new men. I will produce such a man to lead where our politicians and generals have failed."

Linden's plan to do this involved somehow combining man and another organism, ideally instilling the best aspects of both. Linden's preferred options were plants: passive, without inconvenient appetites, and able to survive without preying on other organisms, all traits he wished his New Man to possess. This would ideally leave the resulting lifeform free of cultural and biological baggage, so it could be taught without distraction to engage in a life defined by enlightened leadership, charity, and commitment to great public works. Its education would skew heavily towards philosophy and history. If this New Man met all of his expectations, Linden meant to eventually produce more.

[A scrawled note in the margin here: "Foolishness. Utter foolishness! A master race can only be produced through strict social control and disciplined breeding techniques!" There are quite a number of such comments scattered throughout the journals, written in a different hand from the main text.]

A considerable amount of the early entries have been rendered illegible--lines are struck through or violently scratched out, some pages are blotted with pools of ink, others torn out altogether. One can speculate on what was removed by noticing what is glaringly missing from the journals: experimental data and any specific information on how the project was executed. A very few details can be gleaned from what this mad editor left behind: that the product of his research was born in the normal fashion for a human but the process of conception was altered or interfered with in some way. Linden consistently refers to this product as his daughter, but whether this is biologically true is not clear from the remaining material. Any in-depth description of the chemistry or methods involved has been very thoroughly expunged. [It would also seem that this was not done by the journal's guest commentator--this second writer frequently expresses frustration about the missing data and at one point lets loose a stream of profanity in response to "Doctor Linden's absurd selfishness."]

Any entries relating behavioral observations are intact, however. The first such involves the writer relocating to his country home with the fruit of his experimentation, thenceforth named "Rena." This is from 1918:

"It would seem that a new world also demands new women! I look back on my notes with some chagrin as I realize that I had never once considered that the avatar of tomorrow would be born female. Given that the future I hope to help create has no use for the rigid social stratification of ages past, I suppose it is only appropriate that it is a woman who will sweep away these remnants. I do not now see, nor have I ever seen, any demonstrable reason that a woman cannot accomplish the same mental feats as a man provided that she is given the proper opportunities and training. I will educate her as planned."

The early years of the journal are permeated with the awkwardness of an inexperienced parent--Linden was raising Rena solely on his own, it seems, deeming outside influences harmful to her development and keeping her as isolated as much possible until she was ready to interact with society at large without being contaminated by any stray idea she might encounter. At first the narration is colored with equal parts amusement and exasperation at the writer's own inexperience as teacher and parent--he notes more than once that lessons are as much an education for himself as for his daughter.

In time, frustration creeps in, especially at Rena's persistent inability to comprehend ethics. By the time Rena is eight years old, the writer is frequently expressing doubts about his ability as a teacher, the science that produced his daughter [comments like these often provoke irritated outbursts from the second writer, who again fumes at the lack of genuine data in the journals], and sometimes both. He laments her lethargy, stubbornness, and lack of imagination. Relations become strained, lessons ending in awkward silence or with one party or the other stalking out in irritated incomprehension. Linden takes Rena into town more frequently, to placate her and in hopes that interacting more with other people will teach her to empathize with them.

This produces its own problems. Rena has difficulty associating with other children--some find her coldness offputting, others mock her strange mannerisms. When threatened or bullied, Rena responds with alarming violence and strength. No longer merely estranged from his creation, Linden begins to express genuine fear that he has produced something monstrous. Dialogue between the two suffers a prolonged death; when a teenaged Rena begins wondering about the strange looks men have been giving her, Linden does not have the heart to try and explain.

This entry comes from the midst of 1934: "He has made a harlot of my daughter! I tell her that she has been taken advantage of and she only shrugs. She wants to return and experience this again, she says. I explain to her why she should not do this and know that she will return as soon as my attention is no longer upon her. I forbid her to leave and she looks at me with dead eyes." Later: "She goes with any man that will take her now. Sometimes the housewives in town throw stones at her. I can no longer blame them. The only person I am more disappointed in is myself." The entries limp on in this fashion until stopping abruptly early the next year.

~

Operation Iron Boot, preliminary materials

Three documents are of primary interest here. The first is a handwritten list of locations and items; you can recognize some of both from your recent encounters with Ivo and his men. Although the list encompasses nearly every corner of Europe and Africa, several locations have been singled out for special attention by the author (presumably Ivo--you can recognize his writing by now). They have been circled and arranged into a planned itinerary for the path he proposed to undertake with his personal escort of troops. These circled locations proceed as follows: Granada -> Naples -> Delphi -> Istanbul -> Jerusalem -> Petra -> Luxor -> Kilimanjaro -> Cape Town. Each of these locations has an asterisk next to it, excepting Naples and Cape Town.

The second document contains a pair of drawings. One is a simplified plan of a city--there are no buildings or names, only the suggestion of streets to give a sense of scale. Concentric circles radiate outwards from the edge of a broad plaza in the center of the city, with notes at each ring stating distance and something else that doesn't resemble any form of measurement that you're familiar with. The second drawing is similar to the first--indeed, a set of lines connecting the two shows the first to be an inset of the second, the city a smaller part of this broader picture. The ultimate circle is noted to have a radius of thirty kilometers.

The last document is another list, this time of names. The vast majority are either German or Russian. All but one are crossed out, with notes next to each such as, "Refused," "Deceased," "Charlatan," "Unstable." The final, circled name is familiar to you: Countess Masha Konstantinova.

Also of note is a reel of film dated September 8th, 1936. You will need a projector to view this.

~

Fafnir materials

This is a mostly disorganized batch of notes and reminders written by Ivo, sometimes on whatever material happened to be handy: sheets of paper torn from ledgers, margins of newspapers, sometimes even receipts. Most speculate on the importance of varied locations around the globe, though by what criteria these places are judged to be important is not entirely clear at first. Some suggestions can be gleaned from the more straightforward notes, such as the following:

"Gamla Uppsala outing: successful. I am inspired by what I have seen. A secret history! Ruins hidden from the eyes of man since before recorded time! I look forward to examining these structures more closely to find conclusive evidence of the ancient Aryan empire that doubtless constructed them. More pressing projects demand attention in meantime, regrettably."

Also:

"Elgin's fervor and madness moderated by apparent show of support. Seems to accept need for planning, timetables in view of tangible progress. Next outings: Granada -> Delphi -> thence down Arabia and Africa to coincide with Iron Boot acquisitions? Elgin presently unable to discern specific seal locations further afield. Likely for the best--full awakening must be delayed until means of control acquired. Formal proposal to Fuhrer forthcoming."

And finally:

"Project Fafnir met with some disdain due to 'lack of obvious military benefit to the Fatherland.' Outrageous! It is abundantly clear that Elgin will continue his efforts with or without our assistance. Suggestion of progress all that keeps him contained. With our assistance he is at least our asset. If Elgin speaks truth, the destructive potential of his true self staggers the mind. It must be made a tool to serve the master race and none other. Fortunately, I am allowed to continue investigations due to convenient overlap with Operation Iron Boot, 'as long as such do not detract from greater mission.' As if they could watch me from Berlin!"

Another list: Granada -> Delphi -> Istanbul -> Jerusalem -> Petra -> Luxor -> Kilimanjaro. Following this is speculation: "Uneven distribution? Proximity/distance to one another perhaps not reliable indicator given known locations, mathematic determination unfeasible. Elgin insists location of outer nodes will be clearer once the system is partially disabled. Consider landmarks in meantime for possible future planning? Kilimanjaro beyond reach of Elgin's senses but seems likely possibility. Must work in visit during Iron Boot expedition."

~

Einherjar Project abstracts

This folder contains several documents. First and foremost is what looks like a rough draft of a proposal letter written by Ivo. It's typed, contains numerous post-hoc corrections such as crossed-out phrases and amended spelling, and ultimately trails off unfinished. Disregarding the chaff, the gist of it is as follows:

"How to build a better soldier? There are conventionally two answers to this question: literal and figurative. Armaments and training. As weapon science advances, so must our tactics and military discipline. On the outbreak of war, our success relies not only on wielding equipment superior to that of aggressor nations, but in fielding a body of fighting men intimately familiar with every aspect of their weapons.

But must there truly be any distinction between the two? How to decrease the distance between a rifle and the arm that fires it? How to make a weapon of a man? You will see from the following proposals the benefits of creating a total soldier, an enhanced human, a physically and mentally conditioned, domineering battlefield presence. Imagine: a soldier that can strike his target a thousand yards away in total darkness, wade through a blazing inferno unharmed, or demolish a tank with naught but his hands! Inspiration to the ranks, terror to our foes, a squadron of these specialized forces could complete objectives that would normally take battalions. Through innovative training techniques, sensory deprivation, novel chemical treatments, and other methods to be described in depth below, we can create the soldier of tomorrow now. It has already been done. The only question that remains is whether we will make the proper commitment to bolstering our armies with large numbers of such forces.

Of course, at this time many of the processes outlined below remain experimental, the cost of such conditioning high. Present casualty rates are as high as forty percent. And we must rely on volunteers motivated by patriotic duty to become our superior soldiers, as the results of such a product going rogue would be disastrous. And even successful subjects are not always without unfortunate behavioral side effects. Current progress on reducing the rate of loss is promising, however, and I hope to persuade you that in time we can expand the present rudimentary task force to--"

The draft is dated from January of this year.

Additional contents include schematics for what looks like a mechanical arm. The first drawing is not exceptionally detailed, mostly resembling a set of metal tubes vaguely approximating the proper shape. Appended to this is a more elaborate design, an anatomically accurate representation of a human arm with the mechanical overlaid. Cross sections show the metal framework fused to muscle and bone at certain key points. Both drawings are ringed with calculations, notes about weight and metallurgical composition. Based on what you see here, it would take an exceptionally strong or large person to operate such a device successfully. The back of the second page also holds several isolated doodles of motors.

After this is a series of complex chemical formulas, some crossed out, others followed by tables of projected dosages and lethality rates.

Finally, bundled up at the back of this folder is a series of carbon copies from what look like progress reports written by Ivo to his superiors. All of these crinkled yellow sheets are dated from 1935 and they are arranged in chronological order. None of them bear obvious project titles or make reference to the rest of the Einherjar documents. Ivo has labeled the bundle "The price of failure." Notable excerpts include the following:

March 28: "Subject found residing in outdoor garden of Doctor Alfred Linden. Name given as Rena Linden, appearance suggests approximate age of twenty." [Scribbled in here is a clarification: "Local records and subject both confirm age of seventeen years."] "Doctor Linden himself, whose recruitment motivated the visit, found indoors, killed by strangulation. State of body suggests it was left at rest for at least a month prior to our arrival. Subject makes no attempt to deny responsibility and demonstrates no remorse. As the late doctor's notes make it plain that the subject is in some way the fruit of his research, we have detained her for detailed investigation rather than turn her over to local authorities."

March 29: "Subject brought to nearest installation for interrogation and scientific analysis. Subject offered no resistance and asked few questions, displaying only minor confusion about necessity of resettlement. Nude at time of discovery, subject's noted preference for remaining unclothed has been denied in order to minimize distraction to research and security staff."

April 2: "Subject initiated intercourse with member of guard detail at approximately eleven P.M. last night. Offending officer relieved of duty, others warned against responding to subject's advances in order to prevent unexpected variables skewing data."

April 9: "Initial interviews demonstrate persistently dysfunctional personality. Subject displays negative response at all attempts to provoke empathy, self-consciousness, or any concern for the opinions of her fellow citizens. Social pressure and shame ineffective. Emotional responses in general are flat to the point of nonexistence. In one sense, Doctor Linden's efforts were a success: subject is a blank slate seemingly ready to be molded into the ubermensch the doctor's notes claims she was intended to be. In execution, subject is a dismal excuse for a human being. Subject's own admission and Doctor Linden's journals concur that she willfully ignored Doctor Linden's persistent attempts at education, ultimately culminating in his murder to put an end to such. Though stripped of the hormonal drive for procreation, subject responds physiologically to stimulation just as a normal human and appears to have made a habit of engaging in rampant loveless fornication as a means of staving off boredom. We will attempt psychological and moral rehabilitation, though we are not optimistic that any use can be made of this specimen."

April 16: "Analysis of blood samples demonstrate subject's body chemistry to be significantly tailored after flora, to the extent of being capable of assimilating radiant energy for sustenance, again confirming Doctor Linden at least partially accomplished stated goals. Efficiency of this reaction deficient in comparison to traditional plant life due to lack of leafy appendages, but nonetheless demonstrably improves subject's ability to survive when lacking other nourishment. Doubtless this trait would prove useful for soldiers if it could be reproduced, minimizing resource drain on rations and foodstuffs."

May 2: "Subject remains a moral imbecile: continues to demonstrate no awareness of the consequences of her actions; does not respond to attempts to cultivate proper patriotic attitudes; makes no attempt to assimilate societal norms and often responds with disdain when they are explained. It is increasingly the conclusion of myself and my staff that the subject is uneducable and incapable of being made a responsible citizen, much less a skilled servant of the Fatherland."

May 19: "Psychological examinations completed. Recommend termination of subject after taking final samples for storage in the event that further chemical analysis is desired. Subject's physical resilience and biological efficiency are promising, but Doctor Linden's surviving project notes and our staff agree that these traits are inextricably linked to the subject's substandard intelligence, persistent apathy, and antisocial demeanor. Usefulness of such specimens as soldiers deemed negligible. The Reich has no use for a creature devoid of passions, intellectual rigor, and patriotic spirit. It is best that Alfred Linden's folly die with him."

May 23: "Amendment to previous recommendation: presence of subject requested by valued informant serving the Fatherland's interests abroad. Informant notified of subject's past conduct, maintains interest. Informant's combat experience and security staff no doubt sufficient safeguard should subject react poorly to new surroundings. Suggest we proceed with transfer for pacification of informant. Full vivisection of subject likely to be unrevealing in any event; x-rays and preliminary exploration suggest subject's complement of internal organs not significantly different from standard. Recommend sterilization of subject before transfer, however. We are in the business of purifying the human strain, not diluting it with lesser organisms."

~

Pseudomonarchia Daemonum

You already know what this one is. Up to you guys whether or not you have a use for it.

[Sierra]

Myriam gave you:

-A map of the world with notations to show the location of major ley points. Myriam's notes indicate she believes this to be a comprehensive chart of the most notable such locations in the world, each of them dwarfing more trivial, localized ley lines. Some of these locations you recognize from visits or from Ivo's notes:

Sweden, not far from Stockholm.
Granada.
Delphi.
Istanbul.
Jerusalem.
Petra.
Luxor.
Mt. Kilimanjaro.

All of these are circled, with a note indicating that Myriam believes Ivo's squad to have completed their business there. At a glance, the rest of the list is as follows:

Somewhere in the wilds of central Siberia.
Northern India.
Southeast Asia, in French colonial territory.
Eastern China.
Japan, in the vicinity of Tokyo.
Central Australia.
A minute island in the southeastern Pacific.
South America, somewhere in the Amazon.
Central Mexico.
Several in the continental United States: one in the southwest, one in the north, one in New England.
Both poles.

Her notes indicate that her information was primarily derived from research, not from personal visits. She's made fairly precise calculations for latitude and longitude in most cases, though.

She also gave you the following objects, with the suggestion that they have some magical function:

-A red stone ring, similar to the one you found at Petra but with a squiggly band of silver running through the center.

Torque Ring: Functionally similar to the ring from Petra in that it grants a +1 deflection bonus to defense, though this version appears to have been upgraded slightly: whenever the wearer is subject to the arcane spell Shield, any magic missiles nullified by the spell will instead be redirected back at the caster (spell resistance applies if the original caster has it). The wearer can also pass at will through walls of force at any time, though this functions only while the ring is worn and only for the wearer.

-A black stone bracelet, jet and gleaming. Trying to focus on it makes your eyes water; it's hard not to think it looks a little blurry, like it were somehow moving while staying in the same place. It feels normal to the touch, though.

Phaseshifter (worn): 1/day--Activating this device (as a free action) sets the wearer's body in tune with a slightly different dimension, allowing them to move faster and with more force while less constrained by the physical laws of our reality. The wearer's strength and dexterity are boosted by 2, and movement speed by 5 feet, for the duration of one minute. The user is immediately fatigued once this boost wears off, however; it cannot be activated by a character who is already fatigued, and if some outside source inflicts fatigue on the character while the boost is in place then the benefits are immediately lost. The device has obviously seen extensive use and was likely designed to be more effective than it now is. There is a 1% chance of it simply not working, though it can freely be attempted again the next round.

[Sierra]

Masha's jewelry

The trinkets Nadia liberated from Masha's apartment are all of excellent quality and craftsmanship. These mementos of the old country can be sold for a tidy sum in a pinch and grant everyone +7 to wealth.

Upper drawer documents

Masha kept meticulous--and often tedious--notes detailing Parisian social events all the way back to 1920. Much of this material originates from the cultural organizations she fostered during her stay here: you find outlines of concert programs, agendas for literature discussion groups, drafts of letters inviting the participation of respected scholars, an address book for contacts across Europe. Her daily agendas are consistently packed throughout the decade and a half that she spent in the city, up until the summer of 1936 when most of the activity ceases.

By comparison, Masha's diary entries falter and contain less personal content as the years go on. They begin with the core of the family (herself, a brother named Sergei, a sister-in-law, and young Andrei) settling in Paris in 1918. Masha recounts bitterly the humiliation of being ejected from the family's dacha by their own servants, an act she accuses of displaying the utmost ingratitude; of her young husband staying behind to fight with the Whites, ultimately disappearing in the Crimea in 1920. Eventually, Masha buys a restaurant in Paris, l'Olive, using most of the money the family brought with them from Russia. She has little hand in running it on a day-to-day basis, but owning it provides a stable source of income.

In 1926, Sergei responds to rumors of amnesty and journeys to the Soviet Union. For a month, Masha awaits letters from Sergei confirming the possibility of the family's rehabilitation and resettlement. Then she begins to feel anxious about hearing anything at all. Entries for the following months are punctuated by occasional self-assurance that some day soon there will be good news--or any news, even. After a year, they stop altogether. Beyond this point, Sergei is mentioned only in reminiscence of pre-revolutionary times.

The entries settle into a routine. "Tchaichovsky performance, 7PM." "Lunch with Andrei, 1PM." Increasingly, events are related while thoughts and feelings are not. The blandness of the entries so echoes the succinctness of Masha's appointment book that even the author seems to realize this and eventually comes to rely solely on the latter to record her daily business. This changes only briefly in the summer of 1936, when Masha makes note of an impending meeting requested by a Nazi scientist who you know quite well. Whatever inquiry prompted the request causes Masha to dwell on subjects forgotten since her teenage years: religious visions and trances, curious unexplained incidents written off as coincidence now reexamined in light of the supernatural. The outcome of this meeting is not detailed in Masha's journal, but it probably doesn't need to be.

Masha's black book

This is another address book, though with a much more exotic array of details. You can recognize some of the names from Masha's more mundane book of contacts, and the ones collected here have two things in common: all are Russian, and all currently reside in a state neighboring the Soviet Union. Finland, the Baltic states, Poland, Romania. All of the individuals listed in this book are denoted as having a certain role, usually something along the lines of Intelligence, Communications Disruption, Arms, Elimination. Assessments of skills and training, usually related to combat, demolitions, and infiltration, accompany most of the names.

The letters found with the book are uniformly addressed to the names included within it. Scanning the correspondence turns up several things: lists of supplies and armaments, the residences and movements of Soviet officials, and unanimous acknowledgment of a state of readiness.

One entry stands out for its ordinariness: the function of one Vasily Utkin is listed as merely "Regalia." There is a street address in Krakow, Poland.

[Sierra]

From Nicolas's headquarters, you retrieved:

-The Aurora! Yay!
-A pile of money which it sounds like it is mostly going to Paula? She will gladly give you enough to cover your expenses if you want. Assume the disguise tattoo and your upcoming travel expenses are already accounted for, if that's the case.
-Roza's gun is a Tokarev Model TT33. 2d6 damage, 30 ft range increment, holds 8 7.62 mm bullets. This particular gun has obviously seen a variety of modifications to improve on the basic factory model and its precision is improved as a result. This is a mastercraft weapon and grants a +1 bonus to attack rolls.

[Ebiris]

Nadia buys a high fashion handbag (DC 11). It's not on her sheet but lets assume she's been using a regular one up until now since it's referenced all the time IC. Also a small luggage bag (DC 10) which probably should've been assumed up till now.

[Corwin]

Ivo's funds -> healing potions please~

[Sierra]

Myriam and (to a lesser extent) Grace are capable of acquiring these, if you want to throw the Ivo funds at them. Myriam was also doing research on stuff for you; you'll get an update on whatever progress she's made at the same time if you're talking to her offscreen. I'll summarize whatever she's dug up if so.

[Sierra]

Myriam proves curiously knowledgeable about the means of siphoning off and channeling someone else's money discreetly, and proves amenable to directing it towards her mysterious friends in exchange for magical healing supplies. After vowing to procure your provisions overnight, Myriam proceeds to update you on some intelligence gathered since your last meeting.

The first briefing is about the death of Abdul Hassan. Myriam produces a sheet of paper with a sketch of a man's face on it. It's fairly plain work, but it effectively captures the essence of its subject's character--police artist work, obviously. Two local men saw this figure on the road out of the city the evening before Hassan's death, Myriam explains. Neither the witnesses nor the police have any idea who he might be, and Hassan had sufficient public rivals for it to be merely one possible lead among many.

There is something very old about the face--not physically aged, as the drawing isn't intricately detailed and what's there could be anywhere from a young man to one entering middle age--but in its contours. It's something you'd expect to see looking at you from the wall of a dusty tomb, or stamped on ancient coinage. It looks regal. Demanding. The scalp is clean-shaven and the shading of the drawing suggests dark skin.

"The police are not pursuing this investigation with great alacrity," Myriam adds. "Mr. Hassan's countrymen were not terribly fond of him, it seems. So I asked my friend to look into the aftermath of the cult you spoke of, the one demolished in part by Mr. Hassan. No one matching this description--" she gestures to the drawing, "--has been mentioned in connection with that affair."

Myriam evidently considers the whole affair a minor concern, moving on to the next subject with a shrug.

"You asked me to look for supernatural occurrences reminiscent of possession, no? On the suspicion that subversion by some fell force is what set Roscoe Elgin on the road to ruin? I have spent some time searching for similar incidents, focusing my search on Russia since Elgin's notes suggest that some manner of encounter there triggered his transformation. Now, obtaining reliable intelligence from Soviet Russia is a dubious endeavor, but information was more open and records more reliable before the revolution. I began my search by consulting newspapers, scientific journals, and my own copious archives of notes on the supernatural. I believe I have found something--someone--that may be of interest to you.

"Beginning in 1909 and proceeding for several years, I have discovered something of a pattern, a chain of madness throughout central Russia and Siberia. Seemingly normal individuals undergo a dramatic shift in personality and wreak havoc with amazing strength and brutality. Ultimately this aberrant behavior terminates in a violent confrontation with the authorities. This is not significant on its own; people go mad every day. It's other similarities that lead me to call this a pattern: the unholy ferocity with which the afflicted strike out before being put down, numerous unexplained mystical occurrences in their vicinity, agonized complaints of being burned alive. There is no apparent social link between these individuals. As far as I can tell, none were acquainted with each other. Incidents would occur hundreds of miles apart, seemingly with no relation to each other. The one thing they have in common, apart from a fit of murderous insanity, is that they are all dead. All but one.

"Uliana Petrova was a young peasant girl living an ordinary existence in a small village some miles from Omsk. The village was named Mylinsk. You would not find it on a map then because it was insignificant; you will not find it on a map now because it no longer exists. The Czarist authorities were never clear on what happened, save that it and the inhabitants were burnt to cinders...but given your own experience with Elgin, and what soon followed the town's immolation, I believe we can safely speculate. What is known is that Uliana appeared on the streets of Omsk, badly beaten, covered in ashes and blood, attempting to make her way west for reasons unknown. When police attempted to question her and detain her for her own safety, she reacted...poorly. After beating several to death with her bare hands, she was brought down by repeated rifle volleys. Somehow, she clung to life, and was transported over the Urals and into captivity, whereupon followed a marked change in demeanor, the girl becoming a tearful wreck insisting her actions were caused by the influence of evil spirits.

"This was 1913. The trail grows difficult to reconstruct during the Great War, and nigh impossible through the chaos of the revolution. Tracking down all similar cases that followed Uliana would be a monumental task. Miss Petrova, however, was last noted as being confined to an asylum outside St. Petersburg--" with a roll of her eyes, Myriam corrects herself, "--I'm sorry, Leningrad, after being traded around the psychological community as a medical curiosity, and I have turned my arcane skills towards locating her present whereabouts. She is still there. I had the uncanny sensation that she was looking back at me. If you can reach her--and if sustained captivity has not demolished whatever might have remained of her mind--then she may be able to tell you something of use."

Finally:

"Regrettably, your aristocratic adversary has been much more effective in turning aside my scrying. It's likely she learned some manner of countermeasure while working to further Ivo's research. I have as yet been unable to pinpoint Countess Konstantinova's exact location, but will continue to attempt such. In the meantime, I have an additional suggestion: scrying is always facilitated by possessing an object owned by the subject. Given that Roscoe Elgin is dead, I wonder if focusing on some possession of his might lead me to the mysterious entity behind him instead. It would have to be something carried by him principally after his transformation, during his reign of terror--the journal, I suspect, would not do. If you have such an object, I would be curious to attempt the experiment."

~

You have also received a brief telegram from Thomas Walker. It informs you that the Berlin police are now very quietly watching for your reappearance on the city's streets--or three of you, at least. Curiously, Erin seems to have escaped their notice.

~

Finally, Myriam's manservant delivers to you the following concoctions:

4x potion of Cure Light Wounds (CL1)
2x potion of Cure Moderate Wounds (CL3)
2x potion of Delay Poison (CL3)
2x potion of Cure Serious Wounds (CL5)
2x potion of Remove Disease (CL5)
1x potion of Cure Critical Wounds (CL7)
1x potion of Neutralize Poison (CL7)
1x potion of Restoration (CL7)

[Sierra]

Erin has identified the following:

Shockfist (+1 gauntlet, energy blast: electric): Although this gauntlet was obviously not designed for human hands, it can accommodate one without too much trouble. While wearing this, all of one's unarmed strikes count as lethal damage. The magical nature of the gauntlet also confers a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls. Additionally, the gauntlet discharges 1d10 points of electrical damage on a successful critical hit.

The following are not identified:

-A long spear with a hooked blade at the end.
-Shimmering blue body armor.

Belated, but the ninja in London had the following:

-2x masterwork nekode. These spiked gloves require exotic weapon proficiency to use as weapons, but can otherwise be employed to provide a +1 equipment bonus to climb checks.
-A sky-blue pill.

[Sierra]

Correspondence, Mei Isayama

A bundle of letters, organized by date, between Ichirou Fukui and Mei Isayama, and extending back approximately six months (the start of the exchanges coincide exactly with Yomi's departure from the country). Mei's are handwritten in elegant calligraphy; Fukui's are frequently typed carbon-copies. The nature of the relationship between the two is nominally romantic, as wedding arrangements are frequently spoken of, but the tone of the letters is extremely businesslike. There is a great deal of talk about merging assets, none of which seems to be meant euphemistically, and working in common cause to the service of the empire.

The dialogue eventually expands to include a discussion on options for removing...unwanted obstacles. Mei first introduces the subject surreptitiously, and then baldly calls it what it is--assassination--when Fukui does not react negatively. Indeed, he quickly demonstrates some familiarity with the means of accomplishing such deeds. Fukui suggests that some "associates" he has employed in the past are well suited to the task and that he will contact them in regards to eliminating Mei's wayward cousin.

Production notes, Fukui Armaments prototype weapon "Raiju"

This is a series of memos from a Dr. Morimoto to Ichirou Fukui, mostly progress reports on official company letterhead. Fukui's responses are not included, but are fairly easy to infer from the tone of Morimoto's constant entreaties for patience. The nature of the project is not obvious, the knowledge of such apparently being known already to both parties, save that it's an experimental weapon being developed and tested in a secured wing of the company's factory in Tokyo. It's possible to infer from Dr. Morimoto's responses that mobility is the prime failing of the product incurring Fukui's displeasure (and, apparently, threats of withholding further funding).

Tsukino

The folder contains a record of Fukui's attempts to locate and contact the Tsukino clan. Initially it's a series of rumors--people and places reputed to have some connection with the group, that Fukui heard of while making careful inquiries amongst his political connections--recorded in Fukui's own hand, mostly refuted and dismissed as dead ends. Eventually, however, his efforts bear fruit: someone contacts him, via anonymous phone call late at night, and offers a meeting if he is truly interested in procuring their services.

It becomes clear that Fukui accepted the offer. Repeatedly. From here on out, Fukui keeps notes on anyone he meets in association with the group. Out of personal interest and as insurance in case it becomes necessary or politically advantageous to act against the group one day, he attempts to track the identities and whereabouts of the agents who meet him to take his requests (and money). This is considerably difficult given that they only ever appear dressed in the same black outfit, masked, and at night, but his last contact gives him several clues to work with: it was a woman, with a distinct Kyoto accent and bearing a sword.

Operating on the hope that her skill with the weapon stemmed in part from some youthful familiarity rather than purely the clan's training, he researches Kyoto families with a reputation for being knowledgeable about traditional weapons, either their creation or use, and comes up with a match: Sayuri Nishimura, daughter of a swordsmith who forges archaic weapons as prestigious status symbols for imperial army officers. The girl is twenty, still living with her family, working as a secretary to a minor government functionary. She reportedly has no hand in her father's enterprise, but Fukui has her movements monitored anyway and soon observes many unexplained disappearances. She's alarmingly good at evading pursuit, which does much to confirm his suspicions, though government agents loyal to Fukui manage to track her once to a small town called Ueno, in central Japan. The vicinity coincides with several rumors he'd earlier dismissed as outdated.

Fukui also has written down his most current means of contacting the group: a post office box in central Tokyo. Typically he receives a phone call at night after sending a letter to the box, at which time a formal meeting is arranged.

[Sierra]

Nadia liberated the following from the general's office (I'm assuming Erin will ID the thing the next morning, so):

Masamune (+1 katana, keen): A sterling example of the master's work, this masterfully crafted sword is enchanted through means lost to history and has an uncanny tendency to guide the wielder's strikes toward an opponent's weak points.