Object of Affection

7/27/2019 Object of Affection

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Chronicle : A Season of Mists

Story : Object of Affection

Storytellers Background:

Alice Liddell and Paul Rogers were a happy couple, in lovewith each other and only with each other. So thought Alice; littledid Alice know that Paul was already married, to a woman named

Jennifer.

One late night, while coming back from the theatre, Paul and Jennifer ran into a tall man, dressed in outlandish clothes.Something about him was wrong, and when he asked them thetime they ignored him and walked past him quickly. The man wasthe Hatter, one of the Fae and he took offence at not having hisquestion answered. He took the young couple back to his realm.

To punish Paul the Hatter magically trapped Paul in Paulspocket watch, a gift from his wife on their last anniversary.

Jennifer was transformed into a clockwork & steam Manikin andshe was forced to serve the Hatter.

Jennifer was able to escape from the Hatter, but was unableto bring the pocket watch with her. She vowed that she would useall her powers to find Paul again and return him to normal. To thisend she became one of the Pearl Satrap, and an avid collector of paraphernalia.

Alice in the meantime, after receiving no word from Paul,started to get worried and so began searching for him. Alice

eventually ran into the Hatter, who after hearing her descriptionof Paul, told her that he could help her find Paul, but that therewas a price for his help. Desperate Alice readily agreed, promisingthat any price was worth the return of her one true love. TheHatter took her to his realm, showed her the imprisoned Paul andturned her also into a clockwork & steam Manikin.


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Alice served the Hatter, and witnessed the Hatter selling theenchanted pocket watch to a cat-like changeling in return for aporcelain vase. Alice then made her plans to escape and find thatchangeling. She made it back to the Hedge, half-mad. Alice was

rescued by a Blackbird Bishop who helped her regain her sanity.Alice joined the order after her savior asked her to. Alyss, as sheis now called, uses her contacts to find the changeling who hasPaul, so that she might be reunited with her love.

Recently, Alyss found the changeling she was looking for.She tried to purchase the pocket watch but the changeling saidwhile it was still in his possession it was no longer his as he had abuyer for it. Alyss would not be stopped and so pulled in an owedfavour with Claude Rains, a Mirrorskin. Claude was to steal thepocket watch and return it to her.

Claude managed to gain entry into the changelings Hollow,but was discovered. In desperation he killed the changeling. Thisaction broke his sanity. He has become completely paranoid. Heavoids other changelings, fearing that they are agents of Alyss(who he has identified with as his Keeper) and so travels in

different forms.

Chapter One: Recruitment

Bill McGill, a skinny lizard (a Steepscrambler), has asked tomeet the player characters at the Kings Tavern at the Old

Edwardian Club. He has a business proposition. {The charactersshould know and trust Bill.}

Bill should arrive after the characters have seatedthemselves and have had a bit of chatting. Bill is accompanied byBishop Alyss, and introduces her as such. {One of the characters


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should have met Bishop Alyss during their prelude.} AnIntelligence + Politics roll uncover that Bishop Alyss is wellrespected in the Freehold, despite not actually belonging to anyCourt. She is one of the three prominent members of the

Blackbird Bishops, and is known for her compassion.

Alyss greets the characters, and swears the characters tosecrecy. Once they do, she explains that recently a thief cameinto her home and stole something dear to her. {Alyss looks quitepained, and about to cry.} She explains her version of her story,that she and her love were captured by a Fae known as theHatter. He transformed her into her present state and imprisonedPaul, her one true love, in a pocket watch. She managed toescape with the watch, and was found in the Hedge half-mad byBishop Rex (A Cyclopean Ogre). Alyss has sought a way to releasePaul from the watch. A horror of horrors, the watch has beenstolen. Alyss knows who that culprit is a Mirrorskin Darklingnamed Claude Rains. She knows this because the day before thewatch was stolen she had shown him the watch. Also he came indisguised as Bill, but they discovered his ruse much too late.

Alyss pleads with the characters to help her get back thewatch. She swears a pledge with them to return the watch to her,so that they can be stronger for the quest. She promises thecharacters favours, an increase in status, or whatever thecharacters want.

If asked why Alyss does not go to the Autumn Court aboutthis crime, Alyss says that she does not want others to knowbecause she does have enemies and they may then seek out thewatch to use against her. One particular foe is Satrap Anastasia.Maybe even Anastasia orchestrated the theft to hurt her. Alysstells the characters not to trust Anastasia for she is a mastermanipulator.


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Alyss tells the characters that Claude has an office atRosebank Mews where he works from as a private investigator.Bill went there but the place was locked. Obviously he knowswhat Bill and Alyss looks like and so is hiding from them, but he

wont suspect the characters, hence why they are asked to help.

If the players do not bite, then Bill pleads with thecharacters trying to play up on their emotions. He would say thatthey can clearly see that Alyss is deeply distressed and wontthey help to end that distress.

Chapter Two: The Search for Claude Rains

Scene: Talking to Changelings in Rosebank

There are five changelings who live and work in theRosebank area. The five changelings are: Ravenstar, Claude

Rains, Nuala, Avalon, and Skuzz.While in Rosebank the characters should feel that someone

is watching them, especially after learning that Claude wouldfrequently pose as other people during his investigations. Havepeople look at them then quickly turn away. Have people stoptalking as the characters approach and then quickly move away,or look at them peculiarly. Try to make it seem that Claude couldbe hiding in the crowd, and maybe he is!

Claude Rains is a Mirrorskin Darkling Private Investigator.Claude Rains has an office in the Rosebank Mews, right aboveNualas shop. Claude Rains is of course missing but maybe lurkingaround the centre disguised as someone else. What he looks likenormally is a transparent man, a real Invisible Man.


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Ravenstar is a Gravewright Darkling Goth who works at theExclusive Books in the Rosebank Mall. Ravenstar is based onDeath from Neil Gaimans The Sandman . Ravenstar knows verylittle about Claude. She tried being friendly with him, but he just

wanted to be left alone.

Nuala is a Dancer Fairest who owns a music store. She lookslike a beautiful elf, just like the one in Neil Gaimans TheSandman . Claude rents an office just above her music shop. Shehasnt seen him for over a week now. She thinks that he isprobably on a case. He would often disappear for days. She saysthat he was quite a loner, but he always had a smile for her.

Avalon is a Hunterheart Beast who owns a nightclub inRosebank. Hes affiliated animal is the wolf. He is only in the areaat night, spending the day with his motley (a bunch of drugdealers), or resting, or enjoying time at his posh house in thesuburbs. Avalon previously hired Claude to do some work for him.

Joking about when you need something secret done you turn to adarkling. Claude was a loner, but an excellent investigator withhis ability to look like anybody.

Skuzz is a Blightbent Elemental who wanders aroundRosebank as a beggar. He is a Pearl Satrap, though not manychangelings know that. He tends to gather and trade pledges.Because he is a dirty old beggar people ignore him, but he seesmuch. Skuzz is a tool for giving the characters any informationthat they do not pick up or miss. He will tell the characters moreabout Claude, but he wants a pledge or a favor in return for hisinformation.

Scene: Getting into Claude Rains Office

Claude Rains office is locked. {If any of the characters havecontracts or skills to handle an alarm system, then there is anactive electronic alarm system. Otherwise the alarm system is asimple homemade one, i.e. bells and wind chimes and string.}


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Present the characters with a challenge (Conflict) of how to enterthe office. Decide on the consequences appropriately. If they tryto enter the office at night, there is a paroling security guard toworry about, and during the day there is the suspicious Granny

Slagg. Any suspicious noises will draw the attention of the guardor of Granny Slagg unless someone distracts them, or doessomething creative.

Scene: Inside Claude Rains Office

Claude Rains office is Spartan, with only the bare minimumof furniture. No computer, no pictures or posters. There is a desk,two chairs, a waste basket and a filing cabinet. The desk is clean

and no trace of paper can be seen, although a fine line of dust isstarting to appear which should indicate that nobody has been inthis room for over a week. If you open up one of the deskdrawers, then you will find a camera and a bunch of receipts anda piece of paper written in a feminine handwriting which givesdirections on how to get to a Hollow. The clue reads: HenryoTooles Hollow, Tonight. Use the doorway in the cemetery. Takethe left path at the fork, and carry on past the whispering wood

until you reach the crying brook. Then take the path right untilyou reach a patch of Amaranthine. The Hollow is hidden but youshould be able to find the entrance.

If the characters look in the filing cabinet, then they will finda few folders. There is one named Current Case, names of previous cases, and one which is named Flat Rental Agreement.

The Current Case folder is surprisingly empty, and the FlatRental Agreement will give the characters information on whereClaude lives in Johannesburg.

Scene: On the way to Claude Rains flat

The characters should find out where Claude lives, eitherfrom investigating his office or from speaking to Skuzz. On theirway there, while walking down the street the characters should


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be overtaken and passed by a flock of noisy children. Once a gooddistance ahead, the children top and congregate in front of an oldhouse. Pointing and shouting, they begin to chant in a sing-songtone:

White-face, witch-face, wont catch me. Slow and old andcant see!

If the children are asked about their raucous behavior, a red-headed, freckle-faced boy, very vocal and obviously the leader, ishappy to explain. According to him, an old witch lives in thehouse. He knows shes a witch because she is old.

No sooner has this been explained than the childrensuddenly run off, shrieking and giggling. From the direction of thehouse, the characters hear a screeching, grating voice, the soundof fingernails on a blackboard.

Get out of here you little bastards!

An ancient woman, Granny Sourdust, an AntiquarianDarkling, stands in the front door. She seems to be ancient andweathered, cobwebs surround her and dust falls from her joints.She squints at the characters, trying to determine if they are partof the group of harassing children. After a moment, sayingnothing, she turns back into the house, slamming the door behindher. She will not speak to the characters if they try to talk to her.

Further done the road, they will come to a block of flats.Claude Rains lives at room 23. Again the characters will have tofind a way into the room. The neighbours do not know Claude

Rains as Claude Rains. He goes by the name of Hawley Griffin.

Documents

Object of Affection