Session 93 - Striking a Match

GM Observations
- Sorry for the delayed write-up. I’ve just moved from one side of Australia (Perth) to the other (Canberra) and it’s taken me some time to get to this. On the plus side, David and I are now in the same timezone which means longer sessions. Woo!
- This narrative carries on from Session 90, as Grant decides what to do after discovering that Lord Aurum was behind the assassination attempt on Lord Forst and Lady Erla of House Suril.

Part 1 - The Plot
- Grant weighs up the situation and decides that that his chance of remaining Trell is almost nil. Members of House Suril will attempt to contact Trell via Icon and that connection won’t reach him. Even if it did, he’s still cursed with the Breath of Eden which would attack whoever made the contact. There is no way forward on that front. He knows that Lord Aurum has tried to assassinate Lord Forst and Lady Erla, and Lord Aurum is influential on the High Council. Revealing what Lord Aurum has done could create a division within the Dwimmerlaik. 
- Grant initiates a series of conversations, firstly with Cooper Nassar, and then with Bastiano. Given that Grant is still infected with the Breath of Eden, they take ‘precautions’ to avoid the transfer of the hostile spell. Cooper confirms that the stone Icon is that of Lord Aurum - he is certain. Cooper also confirms that of the two memory canisters that he has in his possession, the canister of Galatea’s memories is complete, but the canister of Lady Sophia’s memories are incomplete. Discussing the situation with Bastiano, they devise a plan to one of the canister’s as bait, and hopefully trigger some conflict within the Empire. 

* Image is from the Lords of Gossamer Sourcebook (Joe Shawcross) - this is Cooper Nassar

Part 2 - A Disturbance in the Empire
- Bastiano and Cooper Nassar journey to Metro City. Cooper takes the canister of Galatea’s memories (and fabricates an identical canister). Bastiano volunteers to find ‘The Goddess’ (i.e.: Galatea) and convince her to travel with him and restore her memories. (Grant suspects that Bastiano is particularly interested in helping given that Galatea is an attractive woman) (GM’s note - yes, this is Bastiano that we’re talking about here)
- Meanwhile Grant has considered the implications of breaking his cover as Trell. His servant Arana will in danger, but he doesn’t trust her far enough to attempt to recruit her. So he decides to leave her for the time being and come back for her later. She has her own residence which is part of the main complex on the world assigned to Trell. 
- With Cooper’s assistance, Grant is transported to Chammont, one of House Suril’s realms and the residence of Lord Forst and Lady Erla. Disguised as an assassin from House Devish, he prepares in the realm and then performs an assassination attempt. Grant (as Trell) knows a great deal about House Suril’s defences and how to break them. He does not wish to kill Lord Forst or Lady Erla, but he wants to make it look like a solid, plausible attempt. He also wants to be thwarted in the attempt, but in fleeing, he wants to leave some of the evidence pointing to Lord Aurum at the scene.
- Grant’s assassination attempt goes very much as planned. Even though House Suril’s defences are in a heightened state of readiness, and more than one Dwimmerlaik Witch is on alert, Grant penetrates the defences easily (using Umbra). He very nearly kills Lord Forst before being ‘forced’ to withdraw, and even with the forces of House Suril on his tail, he still manages to find time to sow considerable discord in their ranks, committing numerous acts of sabotage across Chammont. 
- Grant does not see how the Empire reacts to this attempt. He returns to Metro City to find that the second part of the plan is ready to put into place. Using Umbra, Grant ‘blows up’ the building where Lord Forst and Lady Erla were conducting their observations of “The Goddess”. He destroys it sufficiently to convince any investigators that Trell must be have been killed. The canister which Cooper fabricated is also destroyed totally, but the canister containing Sophia’s memories is badly damaged (‘just as planned’)
- At this point, Grant withdraws from Metro City. Both he and Cooper Nasser have been very careful with the damaged canister so that each is certain that they can track it across the multiverse if required. They expect the damaged canister to be retrieved by the Enemy sooner or later, and then they should be able to follow the trail and find out where the stolen memories are being held.

Part 3 - The Enemy Within
- Grant goes to ground. He knows enough of the Empire now to position himself where he will learn about some of the fallout from what he has done. At first there is little news, but he forces himself to be patient. He also finds that his body wants to keep returning to the form of Trell, not Grant. He has not ‘been himself’ for some time. Nevertheless, he has to assume the identity of more than one Dwimmerlaik to move freely, listen, and learn as to what is happening.
- After a few days, news start to trickle in that House Suril claims to have been attacked by House Devish, and that some of the other noble houses have sided with House Suril. Grant notes that the Empress is involved and observes the prevailing viewpoint that a political settlement will be reached. Grant is less than satisfied with this and he decides to stir things up.
- Over the next two weeks, Grant tries to bring the Dwimmerlaik Houses into conflict with one another. Using the identity of the first (dead) assassin from House Devish and the (invented) second assassin, also from House Devish, Grant strikes targets of opportunity in House Cavalarn’s territory and he murders a Dark Witch from House Malkesh. Each time, he takes tokens where he can so that he can spread the suggestion that there are multiple factions involved in an undeclared war. 
- To begin with, Grant thinks that he is attempting the impossible. He is only one man, he can’t be everywhere and he doesn’t know the exact points to hit in order to cause real disruption to the Empire. But then, quite suddenly, things start paying off. House Suril has had a Mass Driver in its possession for many years (GM’s note - used against Arcadia way back in Session 34), and Grant sabotaged it in Session 81). There are reports of House Suril using this weapon against other Imperial Targets, but the Empress herself ordered Lord Krovaliss to intervene. Even though Suril’s Mass Driver was quickly destroyed, it’s clear that this situation is not over. 
- Grant takes a more subtle approach on his next attempt. Using information from House Cavalarn, he commandeers a battalion ‘on the orders of the Empress’ and uses it to launch an attack on House Suril. This is very successful, and he causes a great deal of damage to House Suril holdings before he decides to switch sides, join the defenders and swing the battle the other way, this time impersonating a Dwimmerlaik Witch from House Malkesh who has come to their aid. The result of this is even better than he expected, with two other noble houses offering an alliance to House Suril as each concerned that they may be picked off without allies. The concern is that the Empress herself could be siding against the minor houses.

Part 4 - The Cannister Moves
- Meanwhile, Grant is aware that the damaged cylinder has been removed from Metro City. Despite his many forays across Imperial-controlled Stair, he has kept tabs on its movements until it suddenly ‘disappeared’ from view. Grant contacts Lucien to get his point of view. Grant explains that the canister was taken deep within Dwimmerlaik territory before suddenly disappearing from his view. Lucien is wary of a trap. He think it it is possible that the realm is warded and warns Grant to be cautious.
- Turning his attention from tricking the Dwimmerlaik into war, Grant begins the long walk towards where the canister disappeared from sight. Using Mastery of Stair, he takes many shortcuts and he is very careful - he travels through Imperial territory in disguise, pretending to be a Dwimmerlaik Lord and he changes his identity frequently. He suppresses that he is a Warden of the Stair (which is well practised in) and he avoids sections of the Stair which are ‘hostile’. 
- At one point he senses the presence of another Warden but he avoids them. Even with Mastery of the Stair, it seems that it will take him considerable time to reach his destination.

Part 5 - Contact with Vala
- After more than day travelling, Grant receives a contact from Vala. She has clearly been talking with Lucien as she asks him to be especially cautious. She explains that Greywalker has reported that pockets of the Dwimmerlaik have begun openly warring against each other, even though the Empress is trying to stop the fighting. 

* Image by Jason Rainville
- Grant is intrigued and interested in hearing what Greywalker has seen. It sounds like his efforts have been making waves in the Empire. Vala assures him that this is the case. Vala praises Grant for his efforts in creating divisions within the Empire - his fellow Lords of Gossamer are trying to take advantage of that situation in an indirect fashion. In particular, Bastiano, Greywalker and Yaeger Zane have been stirring up considerable trouble for the Enemy. Grant then asks about Galatea and Vala assures him that she has recovered. Grant wonders if the Dwimmerlaik fighting one another might have impacted Ethan. He asks Vala if there has been any word from Ethan and she says that there has not. Vala wishes him luck and the contact is cut.

Part 6 - Following the Trail
- Grant feels very tired. Talking with Vala made him realise that he has started something and yet he hasn’t stopped in days. He decides to find a forested realm, and he goes down a burrow as an animal in order to rest. He sleeps deeply before returning to the trail.
- Grant reaches a section where the Stair is little more than stepping stones and there is no apparent wall, ceiling or floor. Apart from the grey stepping stones, all else appears to be void. Grant finds this quite disturbing but he carries on. At last he comes to a stepping stone that contains a trapdoor - the Door leads down. 
- Grant takes a deep breath, lifts the trapdoor and notes that there is a faint purple glow coming from the realm below.

…. and that’s where we left Session 93. I’ll try to get Sessions 94, 95 and 96 written up over the next few days.


And lastly, since it’s been awhile that I’ve done any LEGO Lords of Gossamer, I’ll show you a Work In Progress shot of a shadow box that I’m working on to display the characters. Yes, some are missing horns, hair, Yaeger Zane’s wings etc and the blocks aren’t perfectly lined up yet. I’m still working on it. (Macavity is missing too)



From top to bottom:

• Row 1 - Stolvir, Yaeger Zane (currently missing wings and chainsword), Red-Eyed Dwimmerlaik (currently missing hair/horns, weapon)
• Row 2 - Lady Sophia, Grant (missing weapon), Ethan (missing shield, weapon, Macavity), Abbie
• Row 3 - Drake, Lady Vala (missing hair, weapon), Lucien (missing weapon), Isabelle
• Row 4 - Greywalker, Mordecai, Jodan, Bastiano (missing weapon)