BellRow Troubleshooters

After the capture of The Mad Hatter the BRT took a water taxi back to Captain’s to keep suspicion down. Once at the office, Opifera tied the Hatter down to bed. “Now we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. Which will it be?” Opifera started. “Just give me the mask and I’ll go” he begged. “Forget about the mask! You’re going to answer our questions. Who do you work for?” Opifera led the interrogation, while Apu read his surface thoughts and Natalia stood by with a menacing glare in her eyes. In the minutes that proceeded we found out that Bartley DeGrada had stolen the mask from a world renowned merchant vessel The Pink Seashell, two years ago while working as a dock hand. Soon after procuring the mask he got a position at Braille’s Mask Emporium through Madame Klivson creating elaborate masks for her and her “high society friends.”

It was only a year ago that he began to understand how the mask worked. He claimed it “unlocked” his talents. As for his bloodlust, he had already had a thirst for vengeance. The mask awoke those dormant desires. His madness is beyond reversal.

An hour later, a young woman dressed in the robes of Morrow knocks at the door. It’s 5am. Opifera answers the door while Natalia remains on watch and Apu rests. “Hello, my name is Sister Helga . I’m here from the Church of Morrow.” She says politely. “Sorry sister, we’re not interested in converting right now. Try next door.” “I’m not here to convert you. I’m here about Pauline Greyvine. Can I come in?” Opifera lets her in. Helga explains that Pauline has gone missing and that the church suspects us of foul play because we were the last ones she had been seen with. Despite Helga’s accusation, Opifera points out yes, we did meet with Pauline when we were hunting down Laura’s killer, but that she was on her own crusade against Thamarites. That was the last we had seen of her. Having no money to hire the BRT, Opifera offers to help Sister Helga if she can offer her services to the guild in exchange. She knew the next day could bring an ambush. One more couldn’t hurt and many of the members of the guild had suddenly gone missing. So Sister Helga was filled in on The Mad Hatter.

Once Apu had his strength back he did a little hands-on research of the mask. He found out that it secretes a substance that acts like a mind altering, addictive drug. We had no way of really knowing what the substance was without any alchemical knowledge. But Apu assured us that it is quite potent and had the ability to unlock your deepest desires in a twisted manner. With this new found knowledge, some members of the BRT were uncomfortable turning a Mask of Murderous Psychosis over to what Opifera said was probably a cult serving the Forgotten Ones. The resolution of this issue was pretty simple- Natalia smashed the mask with the butte of her gun, breaking it into many pieces. This probably didn’t destroy it permanently (the Making & Breaking college has several spells that can be used to re-assemble objects), but it would prevent it from being used for a while.

The Mad Hatter was turned over to the trollkin bounty hunter, Selric Ankoran. The bounty hunter was also willing to try to persuade the Watch to round up Felelle (the creepy gobber who wanted the mask) and his associates. We’d do this by leading the Watch to the mask after handing it over to Felelle. At twelve midnight and consecutively there after, Selric will check his mailbox for leads to Felelle.

Later that night, Felelle showed up followed by his menacing entourage (an ogrun Torgus Irongrip and a Jin woman Cecilia). The ogrun was complete muscle, while his partner was sleek, equipped with four long bladed daggers. “Where is my mask?” “Well, let me explain. We have the mask but it had a bit of an accident.” Apu replied. “Accident!” exclaimed Felelle. He looked around nervously. Torgus and Cecelia moved closer to Opifera, while Apu stood on the far side of the room. “We were able to pry it from The Mad Hatter, but Opifera has a reputation for face shots, and unfortunately the mask didn’t make it unscathed.” Apu hands Felelle the mask in a bucket. Felelle looks furious. “Your life won’t be forfeited, but you’re not getting paid!” Apu breaks in “We went through dangerous situations to bring the mask back.” “WHOLE! I NEVER ASKED FOR IT BACK BROKEN!” “You didn’t specify. You just said you wanted the mask.” Opifera spoke up. “Torgus, place the money on the desk.” Felelle instructed, picking up the bucket and sidling along the wall behind the desk. “Is that sufficient?” “Yes.” Apu answered. Felelle makes his way to the door. He places his hand on the door, “Kill them.”

Torgus made to grab Opifera, but with a stroke of incredible luck he tripped. Cecelia tossed a vial into the next room that filled the room that Natalia and Helga were in with a noxious gas. Opifera attacked Cecelia and hit on the first blow, crippling her left leg. Though down, Cecelia soon got up again. Their battle continued. Torgus finally got up and turned to give Opifera a serious blow from behind. Cecelia hit once with a small blow to the vitals, but Opifera continued to fight, despite her condition.

Apu was (eventually) able to charm the Ogrun (Torgus Irongrip) and Sister Helga used Body Control spells to trip, stun, and generally harass the other side. Meanwhile, Natalia took a shot at Felelle, just missing him. He fled from the office, while she pursued. Outside they faced off in the streets. Few pedestrians watched greedily as Felelle had placed the bag of gold down, but many steered away leaving a wide breath for the duelers. Felelle began to show signs of nervousness after his entourage failed to reappear. He fled with the mask, leaving the royals behind. Natalia quickly grabbed the royals and sprinted back up the stairs to find Opifera and Cecelia dueling in the doorway. Near death, Cecelia finally collapsed down the stairs.

The current situation is that Opifera is badly injured, Apu is exhausted, Sister Helga is very, very tired, Cecelia is unconscious and tied up on a bunk on the second floor and an extremely large Orgun (Torgus) is downstairs, and thinks Apu is an old friend. Natalia is unscathed. Despite the fact that the BRT are still standing, one slip and we would have fallen. On a side note, we need to get a new office we can plan some defenses for. Not to neglect the crumbling staircase, with a large trollkin and massive ogrun twice making their way up to the office in one day. For future reference, it may be safer to take the back entrance.

With Torgus now Apu’s friendly slave, Apu did some digging into Torgus’ history. He and Cecelia have been working together for about 7 years. They’ve been doing work for someone called Waernuk, and have an apartment on Blake Street, at the Painted Window. Torgus and Cecelia have only been working for Felelle for a couple of weeks, and don’t know where he lives, although they usually met him near something called the ‘Old Colossal’, which is near a tunnel to the undercity. Opifera recalls that there is a cave system there that may be where he is hiding out.

Apu told Torgus that Felelle has made some ‘important people’ unhappy, and that it would be a good idea to not take any more jobs from him, for someone who can ‘solve problems quietly’ would be dealing with Felelle soon. Torgus expressed his appreciation for the information.

Though Torgus is friendly now, Apu is exhausted and is not sure how much longer he can maintain his hold on him. Will our weary gang be able to take down the uninjured Torgus? Tune in next week for “Attack of the Rampaging Ogrun!”