After the last couple of weeks, I'm making a little bit of an effort to get this posted before I dive into some game prep, before inevitably having to start working on final drafts for Realms of Magic and Mystery for Scion.
And things just lined up so we had a bit of a short session anyways, so let's just get to it.
So we pick up with Richard calling Kenneth while Eddy is taking Evette back to the cemetery gate, to let him know that the situation is taken care of. Naturally Kenneth would like very much to know just how it's been taken care of. Richard explains they wound up having to take his memories. Kenneth isn't surprised. Richard goes on to explain that they tried to tell Detective Popham the truth but he tried to lie to him and that went badly, and well... now he doesn't remember anything.[0]
Now, the next day there's sort of a pop-up bazaar, something sort of like a Goblin Market but not quite. I've mentioned this before. Rather than get into anything serious, the group decides to just take the rest of the day off in-character so we can move on to it.
So the next morning, Eddy's map begins to glow. Specifically, a line running through a couple of alleys. At sundown that day, in those alleys, a market is going to appear where ghostly wares, memories, and more become available for trade. Eddy used the Stillness key to let Evette back into the Underworld, rendering him temporarily mute, and his voice hasn't properly returned. So he has the woman working at the counter, Helen, call Kenneth to let him know that he should feel free to come over whenever.
But first, Kenneth has a visitor. Max shows up at his office about noon, at least a full day earlier than he'd implied when they talked on the phone before and without calling ahead of time. So Kenneth's a little caught off-guard but he's more than eager to take Max over to the wreckage of Bacchus.
On the way, they go over a few things. They talk briefly about Max's report to the FBI on the slot machine analysis, and that the report is everything Kenneth hoped, and Max is glad to be helpful. They also talk about what happened to the building itself, mostly just kind of dancing around the official story. Max asks about Mel, and Kenneth tells him what everyone else has been saying -- that he's left town, but some speculate that something happened to him.
Max asks if Rossi might be involved, and Kenneth is quick to say that he's trying not to speculate too much regarding Rossi's involvement, for fear of letting his feelings take him too far from things that can be proven in court. He thinks instincts should only be used in the pursuit of facts. Max finds that admirable -- he himself isn't any sort of professional investigator, just a consultant, so he's only got so much to add to that.
They get to the site and Kenneth uses his badge to get them past the construction guys. One of them goes and looks for a supervisor while Kenneth directs Max to the still-intact basement and the symbol in the floor. By the light of day it's a little fuzzy, like it's just a weird discoloration in the concrete. He tells him what he knows about the symbol, basically reiterating what he got from Carmen, and lets him get to taking a closer look as he moves to the top of the basement steps to intercept any supervisor that comes sniffing around.
Max spends a couple of minutes flipping through his red notebook, copying the symbol down, comparing it to stuff he already knows, that sort of thing, and it's not long before a guy in a suit with a hard hat comes over. He looks like the sort of guy you see come out to break ground on some corporation's new building with a golden shovel. He introduces himself as Kevin, supervisor for Conner Construction.
He asks Kenneth what this is about, and the agent explains that they're looking into irregularities in the construction of the basement as part of an ongoing investigation. He quickly reassures Kevin that none of his people are under investigation and they'll go if Kevin asks them to leave.
Kevin's fine for the moment so they proceed to make some small talk so Max has some time to go over the symbol, and at one point Kevin leans in and conspiratorially asks if this has something to do with Mr. Rossi. Kenneth just says he can't comment. So then Kevin asks what he knows about Mr. Staszicz (Mel), and Kenneth comments that he knows he's missing. Kevin says there's a rumor that someone chased him to some town in the middle of nowhere and now he's vanished down a mine shaft. Kenneth says he doesn't want to speculate, but says that the supervisor can give a sworn statement if he himself knows anything. Kevin insists he doesn't know anything solid.
Max finishes up and Kevin gives Kenneth his business card and says to call if he needs any help. Kenneth gives him his own business card if he thinks of anything.
Kenneth and Max return to the car and Max confirms that the symbol does indeed seem to be a combination of symbols. He asks Kenneth if he wants to bring his associates in before getting into this any deeper, but the agent says he doesn't want to concern them yet and they'll hear about it regardless. So Max asks Kenneth to point out which parts of the symbol have been identified, and that seems to confirm Max's own suspicion/interpretation.
He's pretty sure he's seen that third, unidentified part of the symbol before. Sometimes at sites of destruction but he doesn't think it's directly connected to the earthquake that leveled the place. He thinks it might be some sort of symbol related to a summoning, and how he's seen it in relation to literally and figuratively explosive incidents, particularly in cult stuff. That perhaps cults have used it to try and get something's attention.
Max asks if anyone's shown a particular interest in the symbol, and Kenneth talks to Rossi and says he thinks Rossi might think there's something to it. They talk about how Rossi's enemies have accidents and that the mobster seems to think he can be responsible for them. Max identifies it as a definite ego problem, and seemingly a common one. They talk about Mel a little bit, too, that Mel was a believer as well.
Max explains that symbols like that tend to be declarations of intent. That even if in a case where someone thinks they're summoning something using the symbol in a ritual, you can still read into the symbols what the result is going to be, what these cults want and what they're after. That there's a lot you can read into the symbols an occultist takes interest in. And that if Rossi is interested in such things, then at least one of those symbols must mean something he's interested in.
Kenneth asks if he can borrow Max's notebook to copy some stuff down and do some research. Max is reluctant, but he agrees to do so as long as Kenneth doesn't keep it too long and agrees to mail it back to him when he's done. As they're in Max's rental car, he drops Kenneth off back at his office with the notebook and an address to mail it to when he's done.
And as I mentioned, we had kind of a short session, so we left off there for now.
Later, folks!
[0] -- Which is a slight exaggeration that he doesn't remember anything, but either way unless someone does something really stupid he's out of their lives altogether at this point.
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