The Guardian waits, unseen, hanging from the ceiling of the room that is her world. She has no memory of any other space, no cognition of anything beyond the four walls and the voice of the Machine in the back of her mind.
Her purpose is simple. Protect the room’s contents from any intruders. Ambush and destroy them. Eight bladed limbs fold and unfold as she waits, patiently, to fulfil her purpose.
Occasionally, the Machine gives her a new order. To spare one of Its servants when they come to take away a book. She watches as they enter, move purposely to one of the shelves and take out a volume. They never stop to look, never hesitate.
Once, the Guardian wonders if they know she is there, above them, watching. She dismisses the thought.
These infrequent visits are the only event that gives the Guardian a sense of the passing of time. Perhaps they are weeks apart. It could be months, even years. The Guardian is endlessly patient.
What do they do with the books?
The question appears in her mind after one such visit. She does not know the answer, has no context for it. The Guardian is becoming aware that something lies beyond this room. The books are taken to this other place. The books are important. That is why she protects them.
One day, she drops down from the ceiling and examines the shelves. Her many eyes scan the spines. A delicate claw picks up one of the volumes. The Guardian knows, somehow, that books are to be read even though she has no memory of doing so, no memory of even seeing a book opened.
She opens the book. She reads. And she Falls.
This is a solo game of Demon: The Descent. Before I jump into things, a little backstory on our PC. As an angel she was a Guardian, protecting a small cache of (entirely mundane) books. These books were occasionally taken away by Psychopomps for their arcane missions. The Librarian spent most of her time hiding out of sight, waiting to ambush any unauthorised visitors, but a kernel of curiosity within her heart grew and grew; what was so important about the books? Eventually, she read one. She Fell.
Now she’s Ruth Varlow, owner and proprietor of a second-hand bookshop. Like every second-hand bookshop you’ve ever visited, it’s a labyrinthine place. There are walls and alcoves that make no architectural sense. There’s a staircase that doesn’t seem to go anywhere. There are more books downstairs in the basement, a basement that seems far too large for such a tiny shop (and must extend underneath the road).
To the Unchained, she’s the Librarian, an expert on gadgets. Sometimes she makes them to order, or helps others to make their own. Other times she investigates or dismantles gadgets. It’s her niche in the local community. Having trouble with gadgets? Go see the Librarian. Unsurprisingly, she’s an Inquisitor. The player’s currently working on a theme song for her and we’re in the process of drawing her Cover’s face (her demonic form is a lot trickier to capture).
So, here’s a summary of our first session!
Chapter One: The Black Box
When the going gets tough, the tough get a Librarian. – Joan Bauer
Like many demons, the Librarian has two phones. One is Ruth’s. The other is a pay-as-you-go phone even an expert would struggle to link to Miss Varlow. This is the number she gives to other demons. This is the number she received a text message on.
Come to the hospital morgue. There’s a job which requires your skills. Payment to be arranged in person.
The message came from a demon called Quill, another Inquisitor (who the Librarian had previously assisted in some gadgeteering). Quill’s notable as the favoured crony/sidekick/assistant to Ms Black, one of the oldest and most powerful demons in the city. Black used to be a Tempter but something (her final secret, according to rumour) changed her into an Inquisitor. Before, she was social and self-interested. Since then she became more reclusive, her aims opaque. In other words, she was mistrusted by the local Unchained for entirely different reasons.
The Librarian headed off immediately, proceeding on foot (it’s a 15-20 minute walk). Once in the hospital, she contrived to look busy and proceeded to the hospital morgue, only to come face to face with a locked door. Not that a locked door is any barrier to one of the Unchained – there are countless ways demons can bypass something so simple and crude as a locked door.
She knocked.
The door was answered moments later by a nervous-looking young man, dark haired and bespectacled. Edward Knowles, Eddie, a Stigmatic whose life was forever changed when a body he was autopsying changed into a biomechanical horror. He recoiled in horror only to discover that his hands had changed inside it. He keeps them hidden, thick latex gloves covering them when he’s at work.
He guided the Librarian to a bench, a body covered with a sheet, and a young, severe-looking woman that the Librarian knew as Quill’s primary (or possibly only) Cover. After a few short introductions, the sheet was removed to reveal the body of Victoria Blake, Ms Black’s main Cover.
Victoria Blake was middle aged, with long dark hair. She was a little difficult to identify due to the bruising – clearly she was savagely beaten pre-mortem. But Quill needed to be sure. She touched the body, channelling waves of Aether into it.
The body changed beneath her hands. A large set of wings, made of sharp metal feathers, hung loosely off the side of the bench. A smaller set was wrapped tightly around the body's torso. Each hand ended in three overlong, delicate fingers, arranged triangularly. The face had no mouth or nose and the eyes were black, huge, with tiny pinpoints of light glimmering in the depths if one stared into them. In place of bruises, pale palmprints were burned into her flesh. Eddie, hands trembling, no doubt remembering the day that changed his life forever, unfurled the inner wings to he reveal a void, a black space filled with distant stars. He didn't dare reach into that impossible, yawning emptiness. He closed the wings.
Quill’s face didn't change. She showed no outward sign of mourning, of sadness or anger, but that meant nothing. A demon has perfect control of their expressions.
Quill, satisfied that the body was truly Ms Black, took the Librarian outside (leaving Eddie to commence the autopsy). A taxi waited, the driver a demon known as the Courier. The Courier moves objects and people around in a variety of Covers and vehicles, most of them in some way enhanced with Embeds and Exploits. He’s a smuggler, moving cargo under the God-Machine’s nose, though he’s emphatically not a getaway driver and doesn’t take kindly to any demons who try to use him as one.
His Cover, a balding man, drove the two Watchers to the storage locker. Quill took out a letter from Black. She didn’t share its contents, but the letter contained a key to a locker belonging to a Mrs Schwarzschild, bequeathed to her. This is why the Librarian was retained; her expertise with gadgets will help to identify any in the locker, including any potential traps. Black was quite the gadgeteer, too. Quill promised one of her dead mentor’s gadgets – a one-shot – in return for services rendered. She also said she wanted the Librarian there are as a witness. She doesn’t want rumours of Black’s death to be greatly exaggerated or understated.
They arrived at an industrial estate. A bored clerk asked for ID when they tried to access Schwarzschild‘s locker. Quill produced a driving license with the name Schwarzschild, the mugshot matching her Cover’s face. Satisfied, the clerk took them to a locker, keys jingling in his pocket. The locker was little bigger than a safe deposit box. The clerk left them, saying he’d be at the desk when they were done.
At this point Quill began to sweat ink, words staining her blouse and smudging themselves into illegibility. The Librarian pointed out the glitch and she buttoned up her jacket, wiping her face. The Librarian investigated the locker before opening it, looking for catches and triggers, secret compartments, and any sign that it might be a gadget, even using Aether to investigate. The locker was mundane. Inside was a cardboard box, similarly mundane. Its contents:
One handgun, a polymer-framed Glock 9mm, the serial number carefully filed off.
Three cartridges of 9mm ammunition.
A roll of banknotes (totalling five hundred pounds).
A pair of diamond earrings.
A bundle of keys, colour-coded.
A lighter embossed with a stylised flame.
Three British passports, all with different names and photographs. None matched Victoria Blake’s face or name.
A small digital camera (empty).
A strange assembly of small wheels on a frame, each covered in letters from an unfamiliar alphabet.
The Librarian donned pair of winter gloves, using the Embed Right Tools Right Job to ensure they didn’t penalise her dexterity. She inspected the gun, again using Aether to be sure, before pronouncing it normal (though incredibly illegal). She turned to the obviously unusual device, reaching into it with Aether and discovering that is was, in fact, a Lambda, rare gadget containing more than one Embeds or Exploit, and that one of these was Special Message.
The Librarian asked Quill if the device was familiar, and while she had seen it on Black’s desk in the past Quill confessed she had no idea what it was or what it was supposed to do. The Librarian gave the gadget to Quill – this, clearly, was what Black wanted her to have.
Now she investigated the lighter and found, unsurprisingly, it was another gadget (containing Combustion) and that it could be activated by striking the flint. She passed this, too, to Quill, before investigating a few other items. She learned that two of the passports were forgeries and one genuine, but nothing else appeared to be a gadget.
After a brief discussion, Quill offered her the lighter and a thin card with a strangely oil sheen as payment. The card was the twin of the one she used to gain entry, a one-shot with the Authorized Embed installed.
As they moved to leave, the clerk approached. There was a jingling of keys with each step, jingling which grew to a horrible clanking as chains shot from his sleeves, wrapping around Quill’s arms.
A hunter angel, one known to local demons as the Gaoler.
The Librarian whipped out the lighter and activated it with a flick, enveloping the trio in fire and burning her arms badly. The lighter was a booby trap. Thinking quickly, the Librarian used Fungible Knowledge to reprogram her brain, switching her impressive knowledge of mechanisms into an understanding of fighting stances. Her attempt to pull Quill free proved fruitless, however, and the fire she had unleashed had only ripped away the Gaoler’s human façade. A ruddy orange glow, like a forge, emanated from his eyes and mouth. His skin rippled as chains moved beneath the surface and steam hissed between his teeth.
As wings unfurled from Quill’s back, the Librarian decided it was time to manifest at least a part of her true nature. Metal claws slid free from her fingers and toes and a second pair of limbs unfolded from her torso. These powerful metal limbs smashed through the chains, scattering broken links, and Quill broke into an immediate run.
The Librarian followed suit, her talons providing an impressive advantage. She easily overtook the other Inquisitor, catching a glimpse of her compatriot’s transformation. Quill’s wings were large, beautiful, rippling fractal patterns swimming across their surfaces. Her eyes dripped with ink, as did her fingers, each of which ended in her namesake.
As she smashed through the glass front door, the Librarian heard her phone ringing. Additional limbs made it easier to look at the caller ID – Eddie – and answer even while fleeing from a nightmarish chain-angel. Eddie told her, terrified, that somebody was taking the body away. The Librarian said to stall them, to which Eddie said he didn’t think he could stall these people… Realising what he meant, the Librarian ended the call.
Quill burst through the shattered doorway. Behind her was the Gaoler, his human shape now nothing more than tatters of clothing draped from the chains that constituted his nightmare body, hammering into walls, half swinging and half dragging his clanking form after Quill. Conflicted, the Librarian fled, her limbs quickly moving her headscarf to cover her face before retracting back into her torso. Her claws slid back into her hands, though her talons remained, biting into concrete and powering her towards, then up, a nearby chimney. There she paused, using Right Tools Right Job to turn her glasses into a rudimentary telescope. She caught a glimpse of wings at ground level; Quill and the angel weren’t following.
She quickly retreated to street level, afraid of risking compromise, of her face being seen, and hurried back to her home. Even with the last of her demonic form no longer manifest, her clothes were singed. The Librarian needed to dress her burns and change her outfit before she could go to the hospital.
En route, the Librarian tried to call Quill. No answer. Next, after some thought, she called a Saboteur known as Violet. The local Saboteurs are mostly members of, or cowed by, a small ring that favour incredibly careful, subtle and surgical strikes against the God-Machine.
Violet(s) isn’t a member, or cowed by anything. Some think she’s got a deathwish. She’s probably the only local demon you could call and say ‘The God-Machine’s servants are stealing a body, wanna stop them?’ and not get laughed at or trapped arranging a complicated payment scheme. Violet was suspicious, but decided she’d head to the hospital.
At home, the Librarian rewired her brain again, switching her proficiency to medicine and expertly wrapping bandages around her arms and changing, hiding her bandaged hands with long sleeves and a fresh pair of gloves. Satisfied, she left quickly, hailing a taxi to the main entrance. At the hospital she rushed to the morgue door. She tried knocking again, but nobody answered. Using her new medical knowledge, she collared a tired looking doctor and convinced him to use his ID to open the door for her. Inside there was no sign of the body, Eddie or Violet. The Librarian hurried to the staff, asking after the body and using the Embed Cause and Effect to try to use this discussion to lead to it being found. The body couldn’t be found, nor a record of Victoria Blake in the system.
The Librarian went outside, drawn by a pulse of Aether, to find a pretty young blonde woman in a leather jacket. Violet. The Librarian noted a slight blue glow under her collar. Violet had also arrived too late, but Eddie soon appeared and explained he’d watched two men, wearing labcoats over business dress, take the body away without any interference from hospital staff. They’d wheeled it into an ambulance driven by a third man, an ambulance that looked a little… off to his (Stigmatic) eyes. The Librarian, always the quick thinker, asked if he’d noted down the license plate, but sadly the license plate was just a string of numerical code, impossible to trace. The CCTV coverage is poor in the city where our game is set, so the Librarian was forced to concede, at least for now, that they could not be traced.
The Librarian thanked Violet for coming and Eddie for running surveillance. Violet said the Librarian owed her a similar drop-in service sometime, which she agreed to. The Librarian headed home again, calling Quill. Still no answer…
A few days later the Librarian accepted a delivery, the Courier delivering a parcel and a message. The parcel contained the odd device she’d given to Quill. The note was a cryptic statement –
Vox in excelso
A knight has fallen
Her purpose is simple. Protect the room’s contents from any intruders. Ambush and destroy them. Eight bladed limbs fold and unfold as she waits, patiently, to fulfil her purpose.
Occasionally, the Machine gives her a new order. To spare one of Its servants when they come to take away a book. She watches as they enter, move purposely to one of the shelves and take out a volume. They never stop to look, never hesitate.
Once, the Guardian wonders if they know she is there, above them, watching. She dismisses the thought.
These infrequent visits are the only event that gives the Guardian a sense of the passing of time. Perhaps they are weeks apart. It could be months, even years. The Guardian is endlessly patient.
What do they do with the books?
The question appears in her mind after one such visit. She does not know the answer, has no context for it. The Guardian is becoming aware that something lies beyond this room. The books are taken to this other place. The books are important. That is why she protects them.
One day, she drops down from the ceiling and examines the shelves. Her many eyes scan the spines. A delicate claw picks up one of the volumes. The Guardian knows, somehow, that books are to be read even though she has no memory of doing so, no memory of even seeing a book opened.
She opens the book. She reads. And she Falls.
This is a solo game of Demon: The Descent. Before I jump into things, a little backstory on our PC. As an angel she was a Guardian, protecting a small cache of (entirely mundane) books. These books were occasionally taken away by Psychopomps for their arcane missions. The Librarian spent most of her time hiding out of sight, waiting to ambush any unauthorised visitors, but a kernel of curiosity within her heart grew and grew; what was so important about the books? Eventually, she read one. She Fell.
Now she’s Ruth Varlow, owner and proprietor of a second-hand bookshop. Like every second-hand bookshop you’ve ever visited, it’s a labyrinthine place. There are walls and alcoves that make no architectural sense. There’s a staircase that doesn’t seem to go anywhere. There are more books downstairs in the basement, a basement that seems far too large for such a tiny shop (and must extend underneath the road).
To the Unchained, she’s the Librarian, an expert on gadgets. Sometimes she makes them to order, or helps others to make their own. Other times she investigates or dismantles gadgets. It’s her niche in the local community. Having trouble with gadgets? Go see the Librarian. Unsurprisingly, she’s an Inquisitor. The player’s currently working on a theme song for her and we’re in the process of drawing her Cover’s face (her demonic form is a lot trickier to capture).
So, here’s a summary of our first session!
Chapter One: The Black Box
When the going gets tough, the tough get a Librarian. – Joan Bauer
Like many demons, the Librarian has two phones. One is Ruth’s. The other is a pay-as-you-go phone even an expert would struggle to link to Miss Varlow. This is the number she gives to other demons. This is the number she received a text message on.
Come to the hospital morgue. There’s a job which requires your skills. Payment to be arranged in person.
The message came from a demon called Quill, another Inquisitor (who the Librarian had previously assisted in some gadgeteering). Quill’s notable as the favoured crony/sidekick/assistant to Ms Black, one of the oldest and most powerful demons in the city. Black used to be a Tempter but something (her final secret, according to rumour) changed her into an Inquisitor. Before, she was social and self-interested. Since then she became more reclusive, her aims opaque. In other words, she was mistrusted by the local Unchained for entirely different reasons.
The Librarian headed off immediately, proceeding on foot (it’s a 15-20 minute walk). Once in the hospital, she contrived to look busy and proceeded to the hospital morgue, only to come face to face with a locked door. Not that a locked door is any barrier to one of the Unchained – there are countless ways demons can bypass something so simple and crude as a locked door.
She knocked.
The door was answered moments later by a nervous-looking young man, dark haired and bespectacled. Edward Knowles, Eddie, a Stigmatic whose life was forever changed when a body he was autopsying changed into a biomechanical horror. He recoiled in horror only to discover that his hands had changed inside it. He keeps them hidden, thick latex gloves covering them when he’s at work.
He guided the Librarian to a bench, a body covered with a sheet, and a young, severe-looking woman that the Librarian knew as Quill’s primary (or possibly only) Cover. After a few short introductions, the sheet was removed to reveal the body of Victoria Blake, Ms Black’s main Cover.
Victoria Blake was middle aged, with long dark hair. She was a little difficult to identify due to the bruising – clearly she was savagely beaten pre-mortem. But Quill needed to be sure. She touched the body, channelling waves of Aether into it.
The body changed beneath her hands. A large set of wings, made of sharp metal feathers, hung loosely off the side of the bench. A smaller set was wrapped tightly around the body's torso. Each hand ended in three overlong, delicate fingers, arranged triangularly. The face had no mouth or nose and the eyes were black, huge, with tiny pinpoints of light glimmering in the depths if one stared into them. In place of bruises, pale palmprints were burned into her flesh. Eddie, hands trembling, no doubt remembering the day that changed his life forever, unfurled the inner wings to he reveal a void, a black space filled with distant stars. He didn't dare reach into that impossible, yawning emptiness. He closed the wings.
Quill’s face didn't change. She showed no outward sign of mourning, of sadness or anger, but that meant nothing. A demon has perfect control of their expressions.
Quill, satisfied that the body was truly Ms Black, took the Librarian outside (leaving Eddie to commence the autopsy). A taxi waited, the driver a demon known as the Courier. The Courier moves objects and people around in a variety of Covers and vehicles, most of them in some way enhanced with Embeds and Exploits. He’s a smuggler, moving cargo under the God-Machine’s nose, though he’s emphatically not a getaway driver and doesn’t take kindly to any demons who try to use him as one.
His Cover, a balding man, drove the two Watchers to the storage locker. Quill took out a letter from Black. She didn’t share its contents, but the letter contained a key to a locker belonging to a Mrs Schwarzschild, bequeathed to her. This is why the Librarian was retained; her expertise with gadgets will help to identify any in the locker, including any potential traps. Black was quite the gadgeteer, too. Quill promised one of her dead mentor’s gadgets – a one-shot – in return for services rendered. She also said she wanted the Librarian there are as a witness. She doesn’t want rumours of Black’s death to be greatly exaggerated or understated.
They arrived at an industrial estate. A bored clerk asked for ID when they tried to access Schwarzschild‘s locker. Quill produced a driving license with the name Schwarzschild, the mugshot matching her Cover’s face. Satisfied, the clerk took them to a locker, keys jingling in his pocket. The locker was little bigger than a safe deposit box. The clerk left them, saying he’d be at the desk when they were done.
At this point Quill began to sweat ink, words staining her blouse and smudging themselves into illegibility. The Librarian pointed out the glitch and she buttoned up her jacket, wiping her face. The Librarian investigated the locker before opening it, looking for catches and triggers, secret compartments, and any sign that it might be a gadget, even using Aether to investigate. The locker was mundane. Inside was a cardboard box, similarly mundane. Its contents:
One handgun, a polymer-framed Glock 9mm, the serial number carefully filed off.
Three cartridges of 9mm ammunition.
A roll of banknotes (totalling five hundred pounds).
A pair of diamond earrings.
A bundle of keys, colour-coded.
A lighter embossed with a stylised flame.
Three British passports, all with different names and photographs. None matched Victoria Blake’s face or name.
A small digital camera (empty).
A strange assembly of small wheels on a frame, each covered in letters from an unfamiliar alphabet.
The Librarian donned pair of winter gloves, using the Embed Right Tools Right Job to ensure they didn’t penalise her dexterity. She inspected the gun, again using Aether to be sure, before pronouncing it normal (though incredibly illegal). She turned to the obviously unusual device, reaching into it with Aether and discovering that is was, in fact, a Lambda, rare gadget containing more than one Embeds or Exploit, and that one of these was Special Message.
The Librarian asked Quill if the device was familiar, and while she had seen it on Black’s desk in the past Quill confessed she had no idea what it was or what it was supposed to do. The Librarian gave the gadget to Quill – this, clearly, was what Black wanted her to have.
Now she investigated the lighter and found, unsurprisingly, it was another gadget (containing Combustion) and that it could be activated by striking the flint. She passed this, too, to Quill, before investigating a few other items. She learned that two of the passports were forgeries and one genuine, but nothing else appeared to be a gadget.
After a brief discussion, Quill offered her the lighter and a thin card with a strangely oil sheen as payment. The card was the twin of the one she used to gain entry, a one-shot with the Authorized Embed installed.
As they moved to leave, the clerk approached. There was a jingling of keys with each step, jingling which grew to a horrible clanking as chains shot from his sleeves, wrapping around Quill’s arms.
A hunter angel, one known to local demons as the Gaoler.
The Librarian whipped out the lighter and activated it with a flick, enveloping the trio in fire and burning her arms badly. The lighter was a booby trap. Thinking quickly, the Librarian used Fungible Knowledge to reprogram her brain, switching her impressive knowledge of mechanisms into an understanding of fighting stances. Her attempt to pull Quill free proved fruitless, however, and the fire she had unleashed had only ripped away the Gaoler’s human façade. A ruddy orange glow, like a forge, emanated from his eyes and mouth. His skin rippled as chains moved beneath the surface and steam hissed between his teeth.
As wings unfurled from Quill’s back, the Librarian decided it was time to manifest at least a part of her true nature. Metal claws slid free from her fingers and toes and a second pair of limbs unfolded from her torso. These powerful metal limbs smashed through the chains, scattering broken links, and Quill broke into an immediate run.
The Librarian followed suit, her talons providing an impressive advantage. She easily overtook the other Inquisitor, catching a glimpse of her compatriot’s transformation. Quill’s wings were large, beautiful, rippling fractal patterns swimming across their surfaces. Her eyes dripped with ink, as did her fingers, each of which ended in her namesake.
As she smashed through the glass front door, the Librarian heard her phone ringing. Additional limbs made it easier to look at the caller ID – Eddie – and answer even while fleeing from a nightmarish chain-angel. Eddie told her, terrified, that somebody was taking the body away. The Librarian said to stall them, to which Eddie said he didn’t think he could stall these people… Realising what he meant, the Librarian ended the call.
Quill burst through the shattered doorway. Behind her was the Gaoler, his human shape now nothing more than tatters of clothing draped from the chains that constituted his nightmare body, hammering into walls, half swinging and half dragging his clanking form after Quill. Conflicted, the Librarian fled, her limbs quickly moving her headscarf to cover her face before retracting back into her torso. Her claws slid back into her hands, though her talons remained, biting into concrete and powering her towards, then up, a nearby chimney. There she paused, using Right Tools Right Job to turn her glasses into a rudimentary telescope. She caught a glimpse of wings at ground level; Quill and the angel weren’t following.
She quickly retreated to street level, afraid of risking compromise, of her face being seen, and hurried back to her home. Even with the last of her demonic form no longer manifest, her clothes were singed. The Librarian needed to dress her burns and change her outfit before she could go to the hospital.
En route, the Librarian tried to call Quill. No answer. Next, after some thought, she called a Saboteur known as Violet. The local Saboteurs are mostly members of, or cowed by, a small ring that favour incredibly careful, subtle and surgical strikes against the God-Machine.
Violet(s) isn’t a member, or cowed by anything. Some think she’s got a deathwish. She’s probably the only local demon you could call and say ‘The God-Machine’s servants are stealing a body, wanna stop them?’ and not get laughed at or trapped arranging a complicated payment scheme. Violet was suspicious, but decided she’d head to the hospital.
At home, the Librarian rewired her brain again, switching her proficiency to medicine and expertly wrapping bandages around her arms and changing, hiding her bandaged hands with long sleeves and a fresh pair of gloves. Satisfied, she left quickly, hailing a taxi to the main entrance. At the hospital she rushed to the morgue door. She tried knocking again, but nobody answered. Using her new medical knowledge, she collared a tired looking doctor and convinced him to use his ID to open the door for her. Inside there was no sign of the body, Eddie or Violet. The Librarian hurried to the staff, asking after the body and using the Embed Cause and Effect to try to use this discussion to lead to it being found. The body couldn’t be found, nor a record of Victoria Blake in the system.
The Librarian went outside, drawn by a pulse of Aether, to find a pretty young blonde woman in a leather jacket. Violet. The Librarian noted a slight blue glow under her collar. Violet had also arrived too late, but Eddie soon appeared and explained he’d watched two men, wearing labcoats over business dress, take the body away without any interference from hospital staff. They’d wheeled it into an ambulance driven by a third man, an ambulance that looked a little… off to his (Stigmatic) eyes. The Librarian, always the quick thinker, asked if he’d noted down the license plate, but sadly the license plate was just a string of numerical code, impossible to trace. The CCTV coverage is poor in the city where our game is set, so the Librarian was forced to concede, at least for now, that they could not be traced.
The Librarian thanked Violet for coming and Eddie for running surveillance. Violet said the Librarian owed her a similar drop-in service sometime, which she agreed to. The Librarian headed home again, calling Quill. Still no answer…
A few days later the Librarian accepted a delivery, the Courier delivering a parcel and a message. The parcel contained the odd device she’d given to Quill. The note was a cryptic statement –
Vox in excelso
A knight has fallen
- Quill
Comment