Beasby’s Revenge
The Nameless’s next job was given to them by Lady Claddage, wife of private banker (and alleged embezzler) Lord Claddage. The lady had decided that the social fallout of her husbands crimes was too extensive for her to wish to remain married to him, and so asked the Nameless to help her fake her own death.
Upon arrival at Claddage Manor, the Nameless quickly found themselves in a bespoke house of horrors, as the entire mission was revealed to be pretext for a deranged Cassiopeia Beasby to take bloody revenge upon those who had wronged her. The Nameless slew Beasby and just barely escaped with their lives.
Mayhem!
Mysterious Mission Masks Macabre Mania, Massacres Mansion Masonry!
The home of LORD AND LADY CLADDAGE was defiled by STRANGE RITUALS and MAGICAL MISHAPS, resulting in CONSIDERABLE PROPERTY DAMAGE and LOSS OF LIFE.
Lord Claddage, no stranger to our pages, is suspected of TREASON and EMBEZZLEMENT in his role as bank director. With her husband’s impending downfall, the Lady Claddage hired a group of UNKNOWN ROGUES to FALSIFY HER DEATH, to evade the reach of the law and the contempt of good society.
However, the former Spirit Warden CASSIOPEIA BEASBY, having been driven to RAGE AND MADNESS at the reveal of her identity and subsequent sacking, conspired to infiltrate the Claddage Manor and seed it with all manner of DEATH TRAPS, GHOSTLY WEAPONRY, and THEATRICAL ACCOUTREMENTS.
The rogues, proceeding inwards on their intended malefaction, instead found themselves confronted by a BLOODY TALE OF WOE, as well as DEADLY DEMONIC AND SPIRITUAL PHENOMENA. The noise from their struggles called BLUECOATS AND SPIRIT WARDENS ALIKE to the scene.
Our would-be frauds found themselves injured by BLADED WEAPONS, SPIRITUAL POSSESSION, and SELF-INFLICTED EXPLOSIVES TO THE STOMACH. Despite these grievous wounds, all lived to tell the tale by means of an IMPROVISED FLYING COUCH, which combined with ARCANE SPATIAL DISTORTIONS to permit their escape from the FORCES OF LAW.
Aside from purloining several valuable objets d’art, the villains also managed to obtain a LEDGER NAMING SEVERAL SKOVLAN SPIES, which might prove a valuable asset.
While Cassiopeia Beasby is dead and disintegrated, the fate of Lady Claddage is unknown at this time. The Lord Claddage remains under suspicion and watch.
Dear Scurlock
Dear Scurlock:
I find myself thinking of the old days lately. You know the ones I mean . . . the OLD days. I know you will not laugh at me to say so: breaking a world is far easier than running one, after all, and we did have such fun in the breaking, didn’t we?
And yet, you are Scurlock now, and my own title has lost its menace long ago. “The Immortal Emperor” . . . What a bore he sounds, eh? The Immortal Emperor sits idly at dozens of state functions, or bruises his backside on a succession of thrones, or gives tedious commands that please nobody but the fools that see to them. Now, “the Cinder King”, THAT’S a man to know! Fire and waste, shattering champions and forces single-handed, sweeping the old away in a glorious explosion!
And yet, here I sit at dozens of state functions, etc. Perhaps sometimes I inspect a military column and salute dozens of conscripts and officers more dead and boring than any ghoul I once raised. Ah, Scurlock, the Cinder King truly is dead, and the dreadful, dreary, dull Immortal Emperor sits in his place.
But enough of my musings. I hear tell you have found our old friend Lugos again! Or, the most important part of him. I hope you’re able to use him in some intrigue or scheme of yours. Do set him loose on some feckless nobles for me. I imagine he’s been starved of terror and blood these centuries past.
I know something of the scoundrels you employed to retrieve him, and it’s quite curious: through some chicanery in the ghost field, two of them seem to have had visions of you! One saw your ministrations to the wretched Miss Beasby (capital work, you absolute artist), and the other saw your work from the OLD days, before “Lord Scurlock” made his little rookery in Six Towers. I do not offer advice or issue commands on this, only a friendly warning. Keep an eye on this band of blades in the dark. I think they will prove interesting.*
With heartiest best-wishes,
His Exalted Imperial Majesty blah blah etc etc