2024.01.18 Session Notes

Intro: Character voice over

Characters: Daniel, Kevin, London, Sergei

London’s Office

Social Media Research

• The barista’s social media accounts are still streaming the empty glass factory.
• Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel sees it will glitch and flicker. The magic isn’t showing on the video but he can tell it’s there.
• The video pans somehow up in the air…
• One of the green feed flickers briefly shows a large group of people huddled together, one of whom is Geoffrey.
• Camera shatters.

Follow the White Rabbit

• A line of red yarn appears out of the camera lens and into the floor, which Daniel traces to a bookstore in the Old Quarter using a city map.
• May be a reference to Ariadne, who gave Theseus a ball of yarn to get through the minotaur’s maze; and who is one of the names on the list of those who could help us understand Alchemy of the Soul.

Valerian’s Oddities and Curiosities

Mr. Valerian

• Mentioned Ariadne comes there sometimes but hasn’t seen her recently.
• Muttered the name “Fulcanelli” when asked about Alchemy of the Soul; implied he has a copy of “the book” somewhere if we are interested.
• Gave us a lantern before we wandered into the stacks (which we returned before leaving).
• Fulcanelli was a French Alchemist and author in the 1920s. [Kat wonders: could he also be a Rift??]
• London has one more banked question re: Fulcanelli.

Our questions

We had five questions we could ask or items we could find in the White Rabbit’s Enclave thanks to Daniel. Here’s what we did with them.

How do we get IN to the Gingerbread House Enclave?

• Candy is a wish fulfillment drug that acts as a key to get past the veil and into the enclave without permission from the owner.
• Just remember that you could well end up in a cage and pushed into a furnace.
• She probably has something or someone that is waiting for Rifts who enter her Enclave this way.

How do we safely use distilled Rift energy?

• Distilling Rift energy is a dangerous form of magic that has been attempted many times.
• The idea behind it is that a Rift can be stripped of their magic and someone else can then use it.
• Legends from people who claim to have accomplished this feat say that anyone can use the magic but to truly unite with the magic, your own Rift has to agree to it.
• Having a Rift and using a vial of Rift tincture is said to be powerful but dangerous because it means you embody two Rifts at once. 

The research we read contains references to Alchemy of the Soul but we’d have to start referencing other materials/asking additional questions to get to that.

How do we protect ourselves from the distillation process?

• Stay out of the furnace if you don’t want to be distilled.
• The furnace was a tool invented by Rosina Leckermaul — drug trafficker who worked with a cult called “Magnum Opus.”
• She has disappeared off the scene lately. Rosina is now behaving “like an old lady, not like a powerful witch.” Like she’s “lost the spark” of something.

How do we get OUT of the Gingerbread House Enclave?

• The Gingerbread House is considered a particularly dangerous Enclave.
• The Enclave is controlled by the Rift of the Gingerbread Witch.
• She knows who is in and who is not.
• She opens the door to let people in and to let people out.
• Whoever controls this Rift controls the Enclave.
• The only known way out is: she lets you out, go through the furnace, or hijack the tincture (since we are not dealing with the real GB witch… we think).

Found item: runic chicken bones

And now we have…. A chicken bone. More accurately, a jar of chicken bones bearing runic inscriptions.

London’s House

Hans Woods Research

• DJ who was playing the MMA party where Briana was abducted.
• Known to always have a large stash of Candy available at his gigs.
• Grew up on the streets of the industrial zone.
• Music got him out of his bad situation.
• Has a sister named Rachel Woods.
• We get a home address through internet research.
• Daniel has one more banked question re: Hans.

Session ends with the group crashing in London’s half-renovated house, except Daniel, who is still agitatedly Doing Things. (Don’t use the upstairs bathroom.)

Open Loops

Our big question now is… what do we need to have — knowledge or items — to go back to the factory and rescue Geoffrey and company?

1. Find and question Hans Woods.
2. Find and question Rosina Leckermaul.
3. Find and question Rachel Woods.
4. Research Magnum Opus.
5. Pass around the vial of Rift tincture and see whose Rift may be amenable to using it. (We will need the chaos of this Rift once we go in to the factory.)
6. Who is A.W.?
7. Why does The Gingerbread Witch need an ”increase in production?”
8. Research and/or find and question Ariadne. She keeps showing up. (And is the only initial “A” we have in the case.)
9. Continue Alchemy of the Soul and “The Great Teacher” research.
   1. Ariadne
   2. Gregory Clay