Session 20: Fantastic Beasts and How to Get Rid of Them

 November 1st, 2013 

The Irregulars were enjoying the Autumn Court's Halloween party when they all heard an explosion outside, and ran out to discover that the trod to Miami was destroyed. A quick look in the Hedge revealed fire and wind and summer leaves turning to autumn despite the fact that the Hedge isn't supposed to change like that. Tia summoned rain again in an attempt to curtail the fire that was slowly eating its way through the Thorns, but with little else to do the motley returned to party to preemptively offer their assistance to the Autumn Court. The Court advised them to enjoy the party as much as they could, and they'd be called if needed. They finished out the night in their free hotel rooms, after casing them for supernatural problems and discovering that one room lacked hand soap, and stopping up potential Hedge Gates for good measure.

Mid-afternoon the next day, Miguel called to take them up on their offer of help. Hobgoblins had wandered into the freehold due to the shakeup caused by the Trod's destruction, and the Irregulars were needed to help keep the curious hobs from becoming more than just a nuisance. One text with accompanying map pin later, and the group was sent off to track down the “shiny hand-faced thing another changeling had seen and spooked.”

The group headed to the location they were given and followed tiny handprint tracks in the much, as well as a trail of odd assorted trash (socks, a bent spoon, a scrap of mylar balloon, etc.) to one of the area's green spaces. There they found a creature someone quickly dubbed Hand-sel, a Hand-faced hobgoblin, going through some shiny trash objects. Simon borrowed some string from Eric, tied it to a wad of aluminum foil, and snuck up on the goblin. With the foil on string, he lured it back to a Hedge Gate that Tia found and opened, and that problem was dealt with handily.

Their next assignment was a warning about strange flooding near an IHOP, which was obviously an invitation to check things out. There they found part of the creek near the restaurant unnaturally flooded and murky, and heard supernatural humming that enticed the men in the group. Eric splashed at the water to try to lure the creature out, and was yanked in by a river spirit. He immediately lit up with his elemental armor, driving her off. When Simon went to poke at her with a stick he was yanked in as well. Chiara, meanwhile, was roundly ignored when she put her hand in the water, so she used Tia's rope (anchored to a lamppost) to jump in with a brick at hand. Tia swung about with her poker and Simon used his new switchblade and self-defense lessons, and Eric finished her off with an elemental punch through the face. With the rusalka dead, the river slowly went back to normal, and the motley put everything else on hold while they went to go clean off since river mud is yucky.

Miguel's next message involved something he “heard the motley had experience with”—sprights. Eric groaned loudly at that. They headed to the market street where the sprights had been spotted, and found a human complaining to a police officer about her wallet being stolen by “some flying rat thing.” It didn't take long to find the sprights themselves, a group of four. One exited a shop with an armload of shiny dimes, one followed a woman with sparkly jewelry, and two rummaged through a shop front for more “shinies” to take. Eric lured the one with the dimes to a Hedge Gate, Tia did the same with the one chasing down jewelry, and Chiara and Simon confronted the two in the shop. Simon lured one to the Hedge (with drugs!), while Chiara talked to the other since it mentioned getting the “shinies” for someone named Sam. Apparently Sam was “in the warm place 'cause the Hedge was cold.”

The spright led the group through the city to the botanical garden, where they found inside the (closed, due to the hour) interior garden a peacock-cat who could talk, named Sam. He refused to go back to the Hedge because it was rainy and cold and he hated it, and also refused to put on the cat sweater Tia bought for him because he had dignity. He did, however, agree to live with Chiara in her warm apartment if Tia would buy him a steak, complete with Pledge to hold her to the deal.

Miguel's final message was to check an apartment building to see if anyone was injured by a beast that got loose there. Another motley was in charge of chasing down the beast itself; the Irregulars only needed to do a damage assessment. Our heroes arrived to find some scratches on the outside of the building, indicating the beast had at least been there. Inside, Tia and Chiara got into an argument about whether some mold on the wall was from the monster (“it might be the kind that sheds mold!”), while Eric and Simon found, on the third floor, a door that had been forced open with a screwdriver and was left slightly ajar. Not beast damage. Mundane damage.

Curiosity piqued, Simon snuck inside, and found a body duct taped to a chair in the living room. It had been gagged with more tape, its head and upper body fatally bludgeoned, and its skin scaly—a changeling. There were bloody footprints and a rag presumably used to clean up the blood from the shoes (since it didn't extend beyond the body), and Simon found a white powder with iridescent elements in it on the body, and a wallet with money, a credit card, and an ID (Joe Esposito, presumably fake) still on him. Eric came in and determined nothing else in the apartment looked disturbed. Either the murderers weren't there for robbery, or were chased out by the hobgoblin before they could.

Eric called Miguel, who told them to leave immediately and call the cops, because this wasn't good (Huge Understatement).

NPCs Met
Sam the Peacat

"Enemies"
Hand-sel the Hobgoblin

A rusalka

Sprights

Other Stuff
Session 19: Halloween

Session 21: Fairy Dust (Part 1)