Opal shuts down as the first flakes of snow fall. The storm doesn’t deliver enough snow to stick but it marks the change of season. The mines shut down for the day, the steaming pond is full of revellers, musicians have set up on porches in the cold instead of inside inns, and folks are out walking and enjoying the holiday.
Abigail Sawyer, the Koyatki “Ghost Whisperer”, pays a visit to the Salt House. She says that the thing has left the body of the nobleman, who immediately recovered and went home with no memory of the preceding days.
She says, “I don’t think the exorcism had anything do do with it’s departure. I think it left on it’s own.”
Abigail is very interested in this creature / phenomenon and offers to help however she can.
Once again, the troupe is at a loss for what to do next. They decide to go to the Duergar to see if there is anything waiting for them.
Mar’Khabazza: “Is there anything we can do for you?”
Duergar – “Is it that you need money?” He reaches into a puch and pulls out three orbs of Duergar gold.
This is helpful but not a solution to the situation. They are looking for a way to raise money over the winter to get a head start on assembling wagons before trading season starts next year.
October 4, 7761
The evening finds Ravenna carousing and whoring in the Menagerie.
She meets up with an interesting man who buys her plenty of drink and eventually leads her from the Menagerie “for more privacy.”
As they depart, she realizes that she is being followed by three men so she pulls her man to to the side into a narrow alley to have a moment with him while planning an ambush on the three followers. But in the embrace of her would-be paramour, she feels dizzy and paralyzed in a manner reminiscent of the drug used by Kyle so many months ago.
She collapses to the ground and the four of them drag her further into the shadows. Eventually she is immobilized and lashed to the back of a mule and for the next few hours is led out of town along what turns out to be the Rangers Road to a clearing populated by hoods clustered around a massive boulder upon which a bonfire is roaring. Flanking the bonfire is the Slenderman and Elder Sarophas.
Rough hands grab her and dump her unceremoniously in front of the boulder and, in the commotion, a gentle pair of hands reaches out to her arm. There is a rush of clarity and suddenly all traces of the paralyzing drug, and any alcohol in her system, vanish. As she lays there, a part of the boulder appears to detach from the larger mass, and a shadowy figure slashes her bound wrists and then moves out of the firelight.
The Slenderman crouches on the boulder above Ravenna while Elder Sarophas addresses the crowd. His oratory spews hate for “all witches, active or cured” and his invective lays the ills of humankind at all users of essence. “These witches are born corrupt and whether cured or not will always be corrupt!”
In a flash, Ravenna casts a sleep spell that flattens a half dozen of them. She then whirls and catches Elder Sarophas with a summoned bolt of fire that kills him instantly. As Ravenna leaps to her feet and starts laying about with her spells, from the bushes to one side of the clearing, additional bolts of electricity are flung into the crowd. With a hiss of rage, the Slenderman strikes Ravenna with his fists and she retaliates with a bolt of fire that sears flesh and sets his clothes ablaze. He flings himself down a snowy slope to extinguish the flames and runs off into the night. At that, the last four Hoods flee, running down the Rangers Road back to Opal.
In the sudden silence, Ravenna hefts her climbing axe as Savenia Loresong steps out of the bushes with a relieved smile, which quickly fades as Ravenna’s bloodlust takes a hold and she uses her climbing axe to butcher the sleepers and hack them to pieces. She chops and hacks until she cannot lift her arms anymore, breath coming in ragged gasps. Savenia approaches cautiously, wraps her in an abandoned bedroll, and the two of them begin the trek back to Opal in the cold and dark.
Meanwhile, Magnus and Mar’Khabazza decide to hit the Crow Club – Mar’Khabazza promising that this would indeed be the night that all of their financial woes were to be resolved in a magnificent display of bravura. While Mar’Khabazza settles in at a table, Magnus spots an anonymous patron regarding Mar’Khabazza intently and assumes an assassination attempt is eminent. The attacker subtly draws a small knife and makes his way to where Mar’Khabazza is siting but Magnus intercepts him and throws the attacker hard to the floor, knocking him unconscious.
As the crowd gathers about, Gorgannon steps into the confusion and tells Mar’Khabazza and Magnus to leave before the watch appears. The two of them return to the Salt House, surprised that Ravenna hasn’t returned.
In the wee hours of the morning, Ravenna and Savenia return from the Rangers Road. Savenia has Masha draw a bath and Savenia cleans Ravenna up, taking time to comb out her hair and put her into fresh clothes. They have a late dinner / early breakfast and talk about the assassin and the kidnapping. With the death of Elder Sarophas looming over Ravenna and four potential witnesses surviving the bonfire on the Rangers Road, the troupe lays low for a few days to see what the reaction will be from the watch.