RPM:1 Escaped Sorcier Prisoner

Starring: 🏹 Ehsan, Florint, Hugo, 🐺 Ildefons, 💃 Milady Rosalie, 🐘 One-Tusk
Guest Starring: Captain Hernaut, Iosif Kettleblack, Bonacorso, Bluespeak
Challenge: Discovering how Zephryine escaped; finding Bonacorso; tracking Zephryine
Location: La Magie de Prison , Chirp (Village), Drumchapel (Hamlet)
Date Played: 19 Oct 2016

Gathering the Pride for a Mission

🏹 Ehsan:

Florint:

Hugo:

🐺 Ildefons:

💃 Milady Rosalie:

🐘 One-Tusk

I've read that Wildbloods "live between two worlds"- neither man, nor beast. Ever since the Revolution, I've felt that- the revolution is a constant ongoing struggle, so what do I do… load ships? Manage baggage trains for a group that is almost certain to explode (whether metaphorically or physically is an exercise for the reader). What am I? A freedom fighter engaged in an endless struggle for equality? Or just a lump of muscle?

Neither, of course. Even as a Stevedore, I still fight the revolution. My union brothers and I fight for the rights of labor- human and wildblood alike. In this chaotic world, ensuring that capital is not the phoenix that rises is of the utmost importance, even as we purge the world of counter-revolutionaries.

Which brings us to Rosalie's visit. A sorcier escaped the prison (mercy for the previous era is understandable, but a threat to the Revolution- why even imprison them, when summary execution is both more apt and more efficient?). We must retrieve them. I relayed this to Ildefons.

Investigating the Escape in La Magie de Prison

🏹 Ehsan:

Florint:

Hugo:

🐺 Ildefons:

💃 Milady Rosalie:

🐘 One-Tusk: I am no investigator, though none among us truly is. The sorcier used an illusion to escape, and left no scent for Ildefons' hounds. Hugo stood accused of being an accomplice, but I never believed it for a moment. Hugo may be stained by his family connections, but he does nothing to sully his name himself. We tossed the cell, we rousted the Guard from their bunks, and the result was a new name- Bonacorso.

Tracking down Bonacorso

🏹 Ehsan:

Florint:

Hugo:

🐺 Ildefons:

💃 Milady Rosalie:

🐘 One-Tusk

It is perhaps absurd, but I feel uncomfortable working with the Pride and not carrying gear. To a degree, it feels like my role. I had a thought that I could carry Bonacorso's footlocker, mostly to humiliate him- a drunkard and a layabout in the Pride should be made to feel ashamed. Perhaps there was some "animal cunning" in the choice, though- for Ildefons' coyote could grab Bonacorso's scent.

We found him in the Peasant and Courtesan, hiding. The chaos of that quarter (oh, what a world we could live in if streets were centrally planned, and not laid down by haphazard tradition!) made his capture a near thing, but captured him we did.

More to his shame: he took a bribe to release the sorcier. Sadly, he will not face the justice of the courts (a swift, speedy, and public trial and execution could have been a lesson to any sympathizers, regardless their motivations), for Ehsan killed him in an "accident".

I am displeased by this outcome, but not upset.

On Zephyrine's Trail and a Split in the Party

🏹 Ehsan:

Florint:

Hugo:

🐺 Ildefons:

💃 Milady Rosalie:

🐘 One-Tusk

Before his death, Bonacorso set us on the sorcier's trail- she left concealed in a caravan. My Union Brothers were able to help us trail her to the point where she left the caravan, and presented me with another task- delivering bird seed to a town of Chirp.

Again, I find myself trapped between two worlds- do I continue to just fight the revolution, or do I focus on the new world we are building? As eager as I am to crush out the last vestiges of the sorcier, I cannot neglect my duties to the world that we are building- I accept the task, despite needing to split from the party to accomplish it.

Fortunately, Ehsan takes initiative- her strange mount can carry the load, and get there and back faster than I could. She proceeds to Chirp and continued on the sorcier's trail- which leads us to Drumchapel.

Here, I see perhaps the best argument against summary executions of sorcier- the entire town is gripped by superstition and fear of witches. They were about to embark on a witch-hunt exactly as we arrived. For a moment, I was briefly optimistic- could this be the sorcier? Operating so openly and foolishly? Of course not. I suspect it's nothing connected to the sorcier. Lights in the darkness? Noises from the hill? Still, quieting superstition and dispelling rumors of magic is an important part of the Pride.

Off we go, to find a "witch".