Carnevale - Session Nine: The Conspiracy Unmasked
The children of Gustavo di Benicio were now reunited. They knew their enemy was Angelo the Turquoise. Today, they would get revenge, and maybe some answers! In the morning, the group split up. Matilde took some to see Niccolo , while Deltorro and the others went to Silvia Franco. Between them, they were able to give a fair amount of information about Angelo. Silvia virtually admitted that he was one of her clients! Angelo lived over in the rich district of town, in a very tacky villa he had built. No one knew where his wealth had come from, but he was now trying to establish his credentials by acquiring a suitably high patron, or through academic works, or by marrying into a noble family. He had been rebuffed by the di Fontanaglias, and he was currently talking to the d'Anafesto family. Silvia also invited the family to a secret meeting early the next morning. Adrianna slipped off to find some underworld contacts. Had anyone ever tried to rob his house? She soon heard a story about a thief who had tried, and had suffered an unspecified but gruesome end. Clearly, his house was magically protected.
As the group compared notes over a late lunch, a sick-looking man staggered up to them. He had a message for the di Benicios. When they confirmed that they were the di Benicios, he coughed and then split open! The meaty, inverted ruin of his body formed itself into a horrific being - wetly raw, cackling, blade-taloned. People screamed and started running. Deltorro hit it with his chair, which just bounced off. Matilde recognised it - it was a demon of hell! She grabbed some holy water which the dwarvish Rabbina had given them and used it as a medium for her magic, which hurt the creature immensely. Adrianna's magical knife from Paolo was also able to hurt it badly, but the demon was extremely strong and might have slain them all. Greta turned herself into a hippopotamus, which was strong enough to stand up to the demon - briefly. The fiend threw her into a wall, nearly killing her. Naso flung himself at it and managed to knock it over, but it flung him behind the bar and crippled him. Even so, the old dog's spirit was so strong that he limped forward, even with his pelvis shattered, and tore the wounded demon apart. Something black burst forth from the demon's chest, but the dog grabbed it and worried it like a rat until it was destroyed.
After the attack, everyone was badly shaken and hurt, and Naso had a shattered pelvis! The group returned to the Dwarf Gate temple to rest, and told the Rabina about what had happened. She was upset that demons were being summoned, and offered to use her magic to help. After consulting with the dwarven ancestor spirits, she was able to tell Chiara and the others to find Angelo's apprentice Luigi: he would be able to help them. After an hour's rest, they set off to Angelo's house, to see if they could find his apprentice. They saw him studying through an upstairs window, but Matilde spooked him with her familiar Enzo, and Luigi rushed off to tell his master that the di Benicio children had once again survived... Rather than confronting a house on high alert, the siblings withdrew for now. They were also starting to feel suspicious. Demons didn't seem to be Angelo's typical modus operandi. Was another enemy involved?
It was starting to get dark, and the siblings decided to split up. Deltorro decided to try and find some of his drinking friends to see if they could help. Meanwhile, half the siblings went to talk to the di Fontinaglias, while the others looked for the d'Anafesto family. The Fontinaglias rebuffed their visitors, but Signore Orso d'Anafesto was more happy to receive them. He told them that while he was ostensibly discussing the marriage of Angelo il Turchino and his daughter Reitia d'Anafesta, he actually despised the jumped-up toady and was just stringing him along to have access to his excellent drinks cabinet! When the di Benicios explained their position, he was happy to help them by sending a messenger to try and lure Angelo out of his house, into an ambush.
The siblings, and the d'Anafesta page, reunited Angelo's eyesore of a house. There Deltorro told them that he hadn't been able to find his friends, because earlier that day a riot had broken out on the docks, and been violently suppressed. The revolution was drawing nearer. The d'Anafesta page went to the door, where he met the butler Rinaldo and delivered his message. However, Angelo didn't come out! He was still on alert from earlier. Cursing, the siblings decided it was time to throw caution to the wind! Led be Adrianna, they scaled the building and broke into the cupola where Angelo housed his unassembled orrery. Looking at the orrery, Matilde suddenly became suspicious, and moved the moons into position, where she discovered that a triple conjuction of the moons would occur in but a few days, on Friday 13th. Anyone who wanted to do anything magical would surely strike then! Time was running out to locate and stop their mysterious enemy.
Moving at a sprint, the siblings rushed down the stairs to the first floor. They knew that they had triggered Angelo's magical alarms, and hoped to reach Luigi before he could respond to them. Deltorro was the first to reach Luigi's room. The startled apprentice looked up as the door flew open, half stood out of his chair, and received a headbutt that stunned him from the good doctor. The others piled into the room and restrained the unconscious man. But now the defences had arrived. A cloud of small flying creatures, all made of ice, flew up from the ground floor. Behind them, a solid wall of water, shaped vaguely like a man. Adrianna opened her mouth, and fire came forth: a gift of her draconic heritage. It caught the ice mephits full-on, melting them all. Meanwhile, those with bows attacked the water elemental as it surged slowly up the stairs towards them. The elemental was barely affected! They retreated into the room and slammed the door. But then water came pouring under, above, and to the sides of the door, and the water elemental flooded the room, nearly drowning them. The battle that followed was ferocious. Only Matilde and Via's magic and Adrianna's ensorcelled knife seemed truly able to hurt it, but the elemental was able to swallow the di Benicios up inside it and drown them. Finally, they were triumphant, but not without cost: brother Stephano had run out of air inside the elemental and was dead.
Extremely battered, and with one family member dead, the group decided whether they would press on or retreat. They decided that, for better or worse, they would not get another chance at this! But as they searched the house, it became clear that Angelo had already retreated before learning the outcome of the battle. His magical laboratory had a secret trapdoor, leading to an inverted underwater tower. Angelo had escaped through it, into the sewers, and out. The di Benicios decided to move in: the house was theirs now, and (after removing some of Angelo's tackier decorations!) it would serve as a good home to replace the one that he took from them.
They also interrogated Luigi. He was willing to talk almost immediately, as he wanted to align himself with the winning side. In exchange for becoming Matilde's apprentice, he said everything he knew of Angelo's operations. For one thing, he explained how Angelo had become so rich: he and his tritone allies would sink ships, and then retrieve the cargo from underwater. Angelo would then use his water magic to dry out the waterlogged cargo, smuggling it through the underwater tower into the city to be sold on the black market. Far more interesting was the revelation that Angelo was also responsible for acquiring and smuggling the aboleth into the red dragon Carnelio's house. After reading the journal, it appeared that there was a conspiracy in Vanzenia - and that Gustavo di Benicio had been part of it. Part of that conspiracy involved Carnelio poisoning his father Morignus with aboleth secretions to slowly drive him mad. Gustavo had been about to confess his part in the conspiracy on his deathbed, and that was why he was silenced. But what was the point of all this? And how did the demon fit in?
The group snatched a brief few hours of sleep before heading to Silvia Franco's meeting. In her dreams that night, Via had a vision. As the full moons rose in the sky, she heard a voice calling to her. The voice was Stefano's.
As the group compared notes over a late lunch, a sick-looking man staggered up to them. He had a message for the di Benicios. When they confirmed that they were the di Benicios, he coughed and then split open! The meaty, inverted ruin of his body formed itself into a horrific being - wetly raw, cackling, blade-taloned. People screamed and started running. Deltorro hit it with his chair, which just bounced off. Matilde recognised it - it was a demon of hell! She grabbed some holy water which the dwarvish Rabbina had given them and used it as a medium for her magic, which hurt the creature immensely. Adrianna's magical knife from Paolo was also able to hurt it badly, but the demon was extremely strong and might have slain them all. Greta turned herself into a hippopotamus, which was strong enough to stand up to the demon - briefly. The fiend threw her into a wall, nearly killing her. Naso flung himself at it and managed to knock it over, but it flung him behind the bar and crippled him. Even so, the old dog's spirit was so strong that he limped forward, even with his pelvis shattered, and tore the wounded demon apart. Something black burst forth from the demon's chest, but the dog grabbed it and worried it like a rat until it was destroyed.
After the attack, everyone was badly shaken and hurt, and Naso had a shattered pelvis! The group returned to the Dwarf Gate temple to rest, and told the Rabina about what had happened. She was upset that demons were being summoned, and offered to use her magic to help. After consulting with the dwarven ancestor spirits, she was able to tell Chiara and the others to find Angelo's apprentice Luigi: he would be able to help them. After an hour's rest, they set off to Angelo's house, to see if they could find his apprentice. They saw him studying through an upstairs window, but Matilde spooked him with her familiar Enzo, and Luigi rushed off to tell his master that the di Benicio children had once again survived... Rather than confronting a house on high alert, the siblings withdrew for now. They were also starting to feel suspicious. Demons didn't seem to be Angelo's typical modus operandi. Was another enemy involved?
It was starting to get dark, and the siblings decided to split up. Deltorro decided to try and find some of his drinking friends to see if they could help. Meanwhile, half the siblings went to talk to the di Fontinaglias, while the others looked for the d'Anafesto family. The Fontinaglias rebuffed their visitors, but Signore Orso d'Anafesto was more happy to receive them. He told them that while he was ostensibly discussing the marriage of Angelo il Turchino and his daughter Reitia d'Anafesta, he actually despised the jumped-up toady and was just stringing him along to have access to his excellent drinks cabinet! When the di Benicios explained their position, he was happy to help them by sending a messenger to try and lure Angelo out of his house, into an ambush.
The siblings, and the d'Anafesta page, reunited Angelo's eyesore of a house. There Deltorro told them that he hadn't been able to find his friends, because earlier that day a riot had broken out on the docks, and been violently suppressed. The revolution was drawing nearer. The d'Anafesta page went to the door, where he met the butler Rinaldo and delivered his message. However, Angelo didn't come out! He was still on alert from earlier. Cursing, the siblings decided it was time to throw caution to the wind! Led be Adrianna, they scaled the building and broke into the cupola where Angelo housed his unassembled orrery. Looking at the orrery, Matilde suddenly became suspicious, and moved the moons into position, where she discovered that a triple conjuction of the moons would occur in but a few days, on Friday 13th. Anyone who wanted to do anything magical would surely strike then! Time was running out to locate and stop their mysterious enemy.
Moving at a sprint, the siblings rushed down the stairs to the first floor. They knew that they had triggered Angelo's magical alarms, and hoped to reach Luigi before he could respond to them. Deltorro was the first to reach Luigi's room. The startled apprentice looked up as the door flew open, half stood out of his chair, and received a headbutt that stunned him from the good doctor. The others piled into the room and restrained the unconscious man. But now the defences had arrived. A cloud of small flying creatures, all made of ice, flew up from the ground floor. Behind them, a solid wall of water, shaped vaguely like a man. Adrianna opened her mouth, and fire came forth: a gift of her draconic heritage. It caught the ice mephits full-on, melting them all. Meanwhile, those with bows attacked the water elemental as it surged slowly up the stairs towards them. The elemental was barely affected! They retreated into the room and slammed the door. But then water came pouring under, above, and to the sides of the door, and the water elemental flooded the room, nearly drowning them. The battle that followed was ferocious. Only Matilde and Via's magic and Adrianna's ensorcelled knife seemed truly able to hurt it, but the elemental was able to swallow the di Benicios up inside it and drown them. Finally, they were triumphant, but not without cost: brother Stephano had run out of air inside the elemental and was dead.
Extremely battered, and with one family member dead, the group decided whether they would press on or retreat. They decided that, for better or worse, they would not get another chance at this! But as they searched the house, it became clear that Angelo had already retreated before learning the outcome of the battle. His magical laboratory had a secret trapdoor, leading to an inverted underwater tower. Angelo had escaped through it, into the sewers, and out. The di Benicios decided to move in: the house was theirs now, and (after removing some of Angelo's tackier decorations!) it would serve as a good home to replace the one that he took from them.
They also interrogated Luigi. He was willing to talk almost immediately, as he wanted to align himself with the winning side. In exchange for becoming Matilde's apprentice, he said everything he knew of Angelo's operations. For one thing, he explained how Angelo had become so rich: he and his tritone allies would sink ships, and then retrieve the cargo from underwater. Angelo would then use his water magic to dry out the waterlogged cargo, smuggling it through the underwater tower into the city to be sold on the black market. Far more interesting was the revelation that Angelo was also responsible for acquiring and smuggling the aboleth into the red dragon Carnelio's house. After reading the journal, it appeared that there was a conspiracy in Vanzenia - and that Gustavo di Benicio had been part of it. Part of that conspiracy involved Carnelio poisoning his father Morignus with aboleth secretions to slowly drive him mad. Gustavo had been about to confess his part in the conspiracy on his deathbed, and that was why he was silenced. But what was the point of all this? And how did the demon fit in?
The group snatched a brief few hours of sleep before heading to Silvia Franco's meeting. In her dreams that night, Via had a vision. As the full moons rose in the sky, she heard a voice calling to her. The voice was Stefano's.
Art: 'Saint Augustine and the Devil.' Michael Pacher, c. 1475.
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