Pawns & Needles
Deckherd Hall, recently renovated into a luxurious gambling establishment, has received a (beautifully embroidered) threat from Lugos. In response, Bluecoat Captain Morgan Clelland hires the Nameless to quell the possibility of a second Deckherd Hall Massacre.
After some initial investigation (which reveals the renovation’s financial backers as the Seventh Tower Consortium), the Nameless decide to intercept Lugos before he can interfere with the grand opening.
The Nameless track Lugos to the abandoned Claddage Manor and begin their infiltration. Flan and Sizzle uncover (and behead) the partially flayed corpse of former Spirit Warden Cassiopeia Beasby, learning that her metal Spirit Warden skeleton has been augmented with sharp, needle-like claws. Arkin discovers a clockwork spider in the manor’s vents just before Sizzle’s hawk alerts the Nameless to Lugos’s return.
As Lugos descends into the manor, the ghost of Cassiopeia Beasby re-possesses her decapitated corpse and, head in hands, attacks Flan and Cruncho. Arkin and Lugos confront each other, revealing that Arkin’s “kill switch” had been removed by the Clockmaker. After a brief but desperate battle involving an inventive booby trap, clever use of electroplasmic current, and a well-placed railing, the Nameless just barely manage to behead Lugos and destroy the reanimated Cassiopeia.
In the aftermath, Flan loots the art gallery while Cruncho confiscates Cassiopeia’s metal skeleton and persuades a gravely injured Arkin not to destroy what remains of Lugos. Casta appears at the door of the manor, demanding Lugos’s head, but Sizzle convinces her to back off in exchange for owing a favor.
The opening night of Deckherd Hall goes off without a hitch, and Flan throws a successful pizza party.
House Call
Nat Marseilles and Chuck Morgenstern stare silently at the pile of gears and desiccated meat that lies at the main entryway of Claddage Manor. The duty Bluecoat looks on uneasily, trying to decide if they’re actually supposed to be there or not.
“So . . .” Chuck begins.
”So, the robot roommate to the demon and the vampire is dead now. ALSO killed by the Nameless.”
“With electroplasmic ammunition, I’d say, yeah . . . And they took a trophy. Two trophies.”
“Yep . . . A Spirit Warden’s enhanced skeleton, and the head of a millennium-old robot assassin, in the hands of the Nameless. Not good. Not good at all.”
“VAMPIRE spirit warden. It’s flayed . . . Ugh, tastes like it’s a year old-“
“GOD, CHUCK. DISGUSTING.”
“Hey Nat, ya gotta meet the meat! That’s all I’m sayin’, ya GOTTA meet the meat!”
“Whatever. So-“
“So, year old Spirit Warden with flaying and vampirism. Cassiopeia Beasby. How’d her spirit survive so long? Couldn’t possess the old body, the silver skeleton woulda killed it . . .”
“She was hitching a ride somewhere. Maybe with the robot, maybe somewhere else. Gone now though.”
“Sure. And the note?”
“Talked to Captain Clelland. He’s definitely on the take now. Probably told the Nameless all about the robot’s threat. Now he can waltz in and take credit for Deckherd Hall’s opening night going smooth. They’ve got their mole, and their mole’s digging upwards.”
“Fuck . . .”
The two sit in silence for a moment, before turning to one another.
“We should call this in to the Imperial City.”
“We SHOULD call this in to the Imperial City.”
”. . . But we’re not going to, are we?”
“Nope! Gotta handle this-“
“-Gotta handle this our way. Yeah . . . Yeah.”
The two exit the building. As Chuck passes the duty Bluecoat, he slaps them lightly on the cheek.
“Just stay quiet. Better for all of us,” he remarks, a manic gleam in his eye that evokes a crazed weevil and definitively seals the lips of this Bluecoat.