Everything will be worked out OOCly first in order to make sure you guys can thread without being held up waiting on mod input, and so that you can use the results as soon as you’d like for other threads. Please keep all questions and responses to this thread for organizational purposes! They will be the mod’s priority to answer as soon as possible in the next couple of days. How your group actually comes across each clue (and if they have any missteps along the way) is ultimately up to you, so don’t feel like your IC actions are restricted by the brief!

The Coven thanks the group for their help. The objective is to find out who did this and why, hopefully bring them in, and destroy the source of the mist if possible. Beginning at the gates means this team will be able to trace a thick vein of the mist backward - along the river, toward the Harbor District, where it increases in concentration. Unfortunately, it only narrows it down to an area of about six city blocks, containing many inns and bars that primarily serve sailors and others who have come to Aefenglom by sea. With the uproar, it might be hard to find informants, but luckily, the Mirrorbound are still regarded well here by those down on their luck. Asking around at various inns will find results in a run-down place called The Rest Shanty, where the matron, an intimidating Arachne woman currently quite cranky from the eight very human feet growing out of the bottoms of her spider legs, seems to know everything that happens around the harbor. Ultimately, she’ll give up a key piece of information - she recently had to kick out a young woman, probably not from around here, who kept spewing anti-Monster propaganda to her regulars. She thinks this woman went down the street, to stay at that hovel above The Red Skies bar. She’ll offer a description if she’s tipped a little extra for the trouble of remembering, or if the boys are especially generous with their compliments.

The Red Skies bar is a very no-ask, no-tell sort of place, with a handful of cheap rooms above the raucous bar. The owner is a stout human who cares very little for what happens in his establishment. Asking probing questions will get him to admit that this woman paid extra to keep her presence there on the down-low. Either threatening his business or straight up bribing him (other methods can be successful as well!) will eventually score a key to the woman’s room upstairs.

She isn’t there, but a few notable items are scattered about. In the middle of the room is a large, cast iron pot bubbling with a thick, disturbingly violet liquid - one of the sources of the mist. It can be destroyed by extreme temperature - high heat or extreme cold. It seems to be an unstable alchemical compound and breaks down easily, according to her notes, which also include a macabre ingredient list of Witch’s blood (lots of it) and Monster parts. Also in her room: a torn ticket for a passenger spot on a cargo ship leaving to head north about an hour from when they find it. If they don’t pursue the ship, she’ll escape the city. If they do, she can be apprehended - though not without a fight, or a clever entrapment.

Interrogating her won’t be easy, but they can learn directly from her that she’s from Dorchacht, and came in September with others, but went rogue, not appreciating their more subtle methods of spreading anti-Monster propaganda (unfortunately, she will not give up the identities of her fellow spies, and she has no idea of their current whereabouts). She convinced four other Witches from Aefenglom to go along with her plan, though two of them thought they were actually helping Monsters avoid going feral, the idiots! She hopes this city tears itself apart. These people are only getting what they deserve, to become Monsters just like the filthy Monsters they love so much.

The Coven would appreciate if the boys brought her in, so that she can be tried and imprisoned for her crimes. Happy hunting!

Everything will be worked out OOCly first in order to make sure you guys can thread without being held up waiting on mod input, and so that you can use the results as soon as you’d like for other threads. Please keep all questions and responses to this thread for organizational purposes! They will be the mod’s priority to answer as soon as possible in the next couple of days. How your group comes across each clue (and if they have any missteps along the way) is ultimately up to you, so don’t feel like your IC actions are restricted by the brief!

The Coven thanks the group for their help. The objective is to find out who did this and why, hopefully bring them in, and destroy the source of the mist if possible. Unfortunately, the mist doesn’t come from the Walls, but their intuition is good - it grows thicker as they near the Shopping District. With the looting, and then the clean-up from the looting, the whole district is a disaster zone. The shopkeepers are wary and hostile, especially those whose homes and stores have been broken into and stolen from. They’re quick to blame Mirrorbound for the problems afoot in the city right now, and aren’t too willing to talk. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find an informant, however.

They just need to look… below the board, a little, so to speak. With the increased prominence of the Goblin Market this month, there are several of them scattered around the district in pop-up stalls, still trying to make a buck. A few daring ones are even trying to saw off their own new horns or claws to add to their tables. Eventually, by asking the right questions, one of said vendors, a plucky, chatty human sporting a new unicorn horn and a silvery mane, will let slip something interesting. A particular someone has been making their way around the Goblin Market stalls lately, he thinks the woman would absolutely go gaga for this damned horn and unicorn hair. She was buying all kinds of strange things, the vendor has heard. Where she got the money, who knows? The sorts of wares she was after, they don’t come cheap. Why, she bought a pair of mummified Harpy talons off him last week, and she was… His voice will lower to a whisper, she was looking for Witch blood. A lot of it. More than any of them could provide without - well, you know. Doing something illegal. Wouldn’t want that. Try Aisling, across the way, he thinks she spent more time at Aisling’s stall.

Aisling tries to keep mum about her customer, however. It’s a breach of confidentiality to talk about a well-paying customer! She can be convinced, however - by magic, by force or violence, or by cajoling. She’s not happy about all this fur she’s growing, she could be talked into talking by stressing the importance of stopping the mist from wreaking havoc, and she’s quite fond of saving her own skin. No matter how they get the information out of her, it’s the truth. She knows that the woman who has been buying up all the Monster parts, including some more macabre pieces, is renting an apartment above a bakery called Piece of Cake.

If they approach the apartment with stealth, they can catch her in the act of packing up her things - moving around a large cast-iron pot of bubbling violet liquid, one of the apparent sources of the mist, sat square in the center of her living room. She’ll attack with powerful evocation magic the moment she spots the group, unless they subdue her first. She won’t go down without a fight. It could almost be mistaken for feral rage, except she’s wholly unaffected, immune to the mist.

Once they bring her down, interrogating her will be difficult. She refuses to talk initially, but can be made to by force, by magic, or by other methods. Eventually they can get the story out of her, quicker once they find the notes in her bag - at that point, why keep quiet? She tells the story gleefully, of how she and three others met a woman from Dorchacht, who wanted to tear this city apart. The other idiots wanted to help, she thinks, so the woman fed them some crock about helping keep Monsters from turning feral. Her? She wants to see Aefenglom become more like Dorchacht; Monsters are a menace, out of control. A feral turnskin killed her parents four years ago, and she’ll never forgive or forget. She’s glad she helped. She hopes everyone sees the light. It’s only too bad she can’t sail to Dorchacht with the witch who orchestrated the whole thing.

Her notes include information on the potion bubbling away - it can be destroyed with extreme temperature, either by super-heating it or freezing it. It’s unstable, made of Witch blood and a large assortment of the Monster parts she’d been buying from the Goblin Market, and easily breaks down. From there, they can turn her in to the Coven, enact justice in their own way, or whatever other approach they see fit. The Coven, though, would appreciate bringing her in, so that she can be tried and imprisoned for her crimes. Happy hunting!

Everything will be worked out OOCly first in order to make sure you guys can thread without being held up waiting on mod input, and so that you can use the results as soon as you’d like for other threads. Please keep all questions and responses to this thread for organizational purposes! They will be the mod’s priority to answer as soon as possible in the next couple of days. How your group comes across each clue (and if they have any missteps along the way) is ultimately up to you, so don’t feel like your IC actions are restricted by the brief!

The Coven thanks the group for their help. The objective is to find out who did this and why, hopefully bring them in, and destroy the source of the mist if possible. Starting at the city’s edge to find where the mist thickens leads them to the Eastern Residential District. The (mostly) humans here are highly upset by current events, many of them bearing extreme changes the closer they live to a particular six-block radius within the district close to the Wall. It’s hard to narrow it down further just by following the patterns of the mist; this area is saturated with the stuff.

This close to to the Bright Wall, the houses have grown shabbier and smaller, more run-down, though still nicer than the houses across the River Temese. A few Monsters, similarly affected and bearing their changes with strength and determination, live out here amongst the humans, and may be the group’s best bet to ask questions of. A pair of Puca in particular, siblings, seem like they might know something. One is reluctant to talk in anything but riddles, but the other gushes about Mirrorbound to her, and says that they must be trying to help fix things! They tried to fix things in Dorchacht, you know! They freed Monsters there. Hopefully the group will confirm that they’re trying to help, because it will make them both more cooperative.

Finally, after some conversation and cajoling (and maybe a few autographs for the brother Puca), the sister will admit that someone very off has been hanging around their neighborhood lately. Maybe 18, a Witch from the Coven, she thinks, but so young and overly enthusiastic. She doesn’t trust it. He comes around preaching that Monsters need to control themselves, that the possibility of going feral is the root of all problems in the city. He says that if they never went feral, they would be more accepted, would be able to live better lives like the humans do. She hates his attitude, hates that he indirectly places all the blame on her kind and acts like he cares sooo much about them. The siblings will give them a description of the Witch in question, and state that he’s been staying a few nights in Auntie Lem’s house (which happens to be right in that six-block radius). She’s much too nice to stupid humans.

Auntie Lem, a dog-and-lion chimera currently sprouting dragon horns and parrot wings, regards the Mirrorbound group with a frown when they reach her house. She stands in front of the door with her arms crossed, the picture of a stern auntie. She knows why they’re here, and she cuts right to the chase. They’re after that Witch boy, aren’t they? They had best not hurt him. He’s trying his best, he’s just- a little misguided at the moment. It’s not his fault that snake of a foreign woman has been whispering in his ear. He’s young and impressionable and thinks he can save the world. Eventually, either by force or by assuring her that they don’t plan to hurt the Witch boy, she’ll reluctantly let them into the house and up the stairs to the loft room. Inside are a scattering of notes, and a bubbling cauldron of purple liquid. According to the notes, the substance, the source of the mist, is a volatile alchemical compound made of Witch blood and a vast array of Monster parts, and highly unstable. It can be broken down easily by extreme temperatures - super-heating, or freezing the substance. When they first reach the room, they may be waylaid from the cauldron, however - because the Witch boy is currently escaping out the window. He doesn’t seem likely to fight, but he’s a fast runner, and not keen on being caught. Unless they trick him or attack him, he’ll be difficult to catch.

Eventually, once they’ve got him cornered, he’ll be easy to bring in, bursting into messy tears immediately and loudly proclaiming that he didn’t know what they were doing! It wasn’t supposed to be like this! He only wanted to help! The woman from Dorchacht told him that this would be a spell to spread a fog over the city that would block out the effects of the full moons, and keep Monsters from going feral. He didn’t expect her to murder Lily, or that the potion would do- any of this. He was stupid to trust her, and he realizes that now. He’s highly, sincerely upset, and can’t stop crying through the whole interrogation, offering information readily if he knows it.

From there, they can turn him in to the Coven, or enact justice however they see fit. They can also recommend leniency in his sentencing, should they take him in to the proper authorities, or they can recommend he be punished more harshly. The Coven will certainly take their words into account. Happy hunting!