Too Many Cooks, LLC
The Nameless wanted Deckherd Hall to be the home of the reopened V-Sea-W! The problem is, Deckherd Hall was tied up in the police investigations into the whole-ass Seventh Tower thing (including the discovery that it had been fraudulently acquired in the first place).
There being no immediate living heir to the Deckherd name, the hall was set to go up for auction upon the conclusion of the investigation.
But WHO else wanted Deckherd Hall, WHY did they want it, and HOW did the Nameless suborn them?
WHO #1: Borgin Karhowl, Mysterious Heir aka Victoria Karhowl, ancient-tinkerer-inhabiting-the-body-of-Cole-Ardmore. Bodyguarded by Casta, who was having a great deal of fun with it.
WHY #1: Big-ass workshop for the production of freaky machines, likely including multiple Lugos-esque robots.
HOW #1: After a hefty redesign, the Nameless secured an agreement to give her a basement workshop within Deckherd Hall.
WHO #2: The Spirit Wardens.
WHY #2: To have an outpost that could double as a potential meeting point between themselves, the Dimmer Sisters, the Black Knights, the Crows, etc.
HOW #2: After an ill-advised Linmer offer and ANOTHER hefty redesign, the Nameless fit in a series of fake walls and passages within Deckherd Hall that would allow the Spirit Wardens discreet access to the Dimmer Sisters et al.
WHO #3: The Bowery Beehive, being a shell corporation for the notorious mercantile syndicate known as the Hive.
WHY #3: The Hive was going to turn Deckherd Hall into a boutique high-end shopping mall, following Seventh Tower’s basic blueprint.
HOW #3: Sandro, Arvin, and Sizzle reminded the Hive what happened to Seventh Tower. The Hive has decided to build their mall at the former Palisade Avenue site, reasoning (correctly) that fixing that demolition area would be cheaper than taking on the Nameless.
WHO #4: Lady Anastasia Bowmore, and (to a lesser extent) Lord Stuart Bowmore
WHY #4: Lady Bowmore wanted to tear down Deckherd Hall and turn it into a memorial topiary garden, civic meeting hall, and general monument to the dead Lady Cassandra Bowmore. Lord Stuart Bowmore wanted Deckherd Hall for some other purpose, likely in the name of furthering his and Anastasia’s struggle for the Bowmore legacy.
HOW #4: This one’s complicated. There were assassination plots, kompromat plots, planted bombs, unintentional arson, and a drug-fueled Monotheism (the TCG sweeping the salons of the elite) duel. The long and the short of it is:
Lady Anastasia Bowmore was brought on board with the promise of a rooftop topiary garden, reflecting pool, and ten-foot statue* of Lady Cassandra Bowmore.
Lord Stuart Bowmore died of an overdose after scraping a win against Sandro, using his Golden Tablets/Joseph Smith Mormon deck.
The assassin Prudence (sister to Mercy, Charity, and Grace) attempted to assassinate Lord Bowmore but was convinced by Sizzle to take the W and leave after Sandro caused the man to commit suicide by drug-fueled Monotheism game.
Linmer foiled a Clockmaker-built bomb under Lady Bowmore’s bed in the process of investigating her plans.
The Wraiths were convinced by Arkin to abandon their kompromat plot and leave the Nameless to it, in exchange for a secret backroom lair within Deckherd Hall (a LESS HEFTY redesign).
Also, the Bowmores have a new chef named Beppo. Arvin has framed this man as a drunkard. This is probably fine.
*Due to some incidental Arvin arson, the Bowmore Estate was significantly damaged. As such, the planned memorial gardens, civic meeting hall, and twenty-foot statue had to be scaled back a bit.
Books’s Safety Tip:
If you wish to kill Moses in order to trap the Israelites in Nauvoo, Illinois: prioritize translating the Golden Tablets before the Angel of Death pushes Joseph Smith out his bedroom window, thereby avoiding both a supra-LD50 of proprietary noblesse psychogenic dueling venom & inadvertently killing several professional athletes in the process.
Downtime
Books
Acquired the “Bodyguard” veteran ability from the Cutter playbook.
Indeed, yes, very true, Books works with & enables The Nameless in order to the study the collateral damage they manifest in their wake. How often does one get the opportunity to collect lethal dosage data from a noble’s Monotheism duel?! But it seems a rather unsustainable policy to let the rogues, themselves, fall victim to their own cornucopia of chaos. It would be wisest to prevent any potential deaths…well, maybe just one. You know…as a treat.
Sizzle
0) deposit 2 coin into Stash: (8 –> 10); buy a tiny condo.
“You’re unpacked already?” Celene asks. Sizzle nods. “I travel light,” she says with a shrug, stuffing her now-empty pack in the hallway closet. Celene purses her lips, eyes glancing over the unpadded bedroll, pile of hats, a few bottles on the counter, and the neatly arranged firearms propped against the wall. “C’mon, we’re going to Nightmarket,” she says decisively. “You need a proper bed, at least. My treat.” Before Sizzle can protest, Celene grabs her by the arm and marches her out the door.
1) Roll to de-stress: 6! updated from 8 -> 2
”. . . You’d think that the worst thing about growin’ up in the Deathlands would be the ghosts an’ demons an’ such, but honestly, they don’t seem to care much for kids; they mostly left me alone until ‘bout five years ago. Nah, the worst part was the food. Everythin’ tastes like razors and slime, an’ the aftertaste is just a feelin’ of despair that lasts for hours and hours. First time I tried a city mushroom, dad, it felt like I was flyin’. . .”
2) Acquire an Asset: Cohort, Tier II – the Six Towers Advisory Board (S.T.A.B.)
She fidgeted with the edge of the notecards, flipping them back and forth as the nearly two dozen people in the newly designated Cassandra Bowmore Ballroom watched her expectantly. “That’s a great question, Olga, thank you.” She considered a moment before continuing. “I’m here, in a way, to make amends. I ain’t my old man, and me ‘n’ my associates ain’t gonna push folks out like Seventh Tower did. V-Sea-W was born right here in Six Towers; as we see it, this community is worth investin’ in. An’ that’s exactly why I asked ya’ll here today.”
Cruncho
Complete the Wickhamm clock.
Cruncho sat alone in the room. Silent, motionless. Not because he was relaxing. Because he couldn’t afford any unnecessary movement, any mistakes. Left hand over a collection of filled spirit bottles, right hand over a vat of electroplasm.
One at a time. Don’t fuck up.
Breathe in.
He pulls the ghost out of the bottle, into his body. It squirms for freedom. His senses scour the spectral nexus inside his silver endoskeletal implants and finds where the shard of Old Wickhamm is. The ghost thrashes for its life. Chum the waters, watch the feeding. Somewhere between what the ghost WAS and what it WILL be is the answer…HOW it became.
Cruncho sharpens his sense inward, focused on the ghost as it is overwritten by Wickhamm’s will. Notice the changes. Feel its electroplasmic energy twist and rearrange. Then the moment it is done, the freshly born Wickhamm is ejected into the bath, dissolving away.
Breathe out.
Again. One at a time.
Breathe in.