October 21, 2023

Hook

C&M;R&H - Act 2 Scene 2: Blood and Chaos; Smoke and Mirror

Plot Synopsis

The group notices smoke coming from the docks on their way back to Zhangsiyuan, and discusses their next steps. They choose to first investigate the commotion on the Lake Xia docks, and on the way there, stumble into a journeyman severely burned and injured, who reveals that there had been an attack on the ship that came in, carrying messages and packages from Chongbai. The assailant seemed to be a strange, waist-height lizard that was sent by “the mean train lady.”

The group splits up, with a few speeding towards the docks, and eventually conducting a search for the lizard, while the others stay with the journeyman to ask for more information. Apparently, the lizard was targeting mail and missives meant for Zhang Mingxing, and had taken a bag, ate it whole, and Fireballed a good portion of the dock.

Bailin manages to spot the lizard, Vulture, beneath the waves and points some guards in his direction…chaos (literally) ensues and Vulture shrinks one guard down to miniscule size and eats him. After being shot, Vuiture sends a Fireball at Bailin, downing him in one hit, before Reese Hale and the others arrive on scene and help Bailin back up.

Yamato launches a Far Punch into the water, missing Vulture and sending up a cloud of mud and muck, obscuring Vulture’s escape away, but Bailin is able to track the device that he ate earlier, and they track him to the other end of the pier, where they see him begin climbing the side of a ship about 40 feet in the shipyard. Suddenly, 820 bricks fall out of the sky, nearly missing Vulture, and sinking the ship. After a few more chaotic moments, Vulture is knocked out, and taken out of the water.

The group performs impromptu surgery on Vulture and manages to extract a bag of storage, and find the package meant for Mingxing. They also take his armor, as well as a strange dish sized medallion with foreign markings. More chaos ensues, as Yamato gets transformed into a rat and summons a giant flying lizard (a Grazzoon), while Taka and Bailin race back to Zhangsiyuan with the medallion and two awakened familiars both going by “Bobbin.”

Eventually, things get resolved with the Grazzoon, and the medallion (revealed to be an artifact of legend, containing a small piece of Anubis’ mortal soul) is stored within the Zhangsiyuan Reliquary.

The party finally confronts Mingxing and talks through what they have discovered, and what is contained on the newly recovered package. Weighing all the options, Reese advises Mingxing to accept the promotion to Head of Research and Development at Zuanshi Steelworks, and to sign Hua’s NDA, to buy her time while the party works to stop Ying Ren, aka Han Chenwu, and Zuanshi Hua’s plot with the Ars Machina.

Noteworthy Postgame Events