this post was submitted on 22 Feb 2026
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After catching their breath, Memory of a Dreamt Revelation roused a few of the Harvestmen they had knocked unconscious. As soon as they awoke, they were barraged with questions about what precisely they had seen while dismantling the beast. Memory of a Dreamt Revelation had chosen politics in the end, but still had a formidable mind for archaeo-engineering. Sadly, the Harvestmen were as ignorant as they were scared. "We don't know nothing, we swear! It was our boss who had the plan!" They gestured over towards one of the wode elves the other party members had beheaded. "All we know is what that rich woman told us, about there being a chance to make some money here."
Meanwhile, Nickel the Chronodrone, built by Eluran to study situations such as this, was examining the Squirrel Lord's damage. Turns out, the hull plating of the Gear Lords is incredibly strong. The Harvestmen must have been drilling into it for hours, and they had only managed to uncover a single inner component: its memory core. Nickel detached the memory core carefully, and the Brass Hand decided to head back to Veronis for more information.
Back at the Brass Hand headquarters, they plugged the memory core into some of Eluran's old equipment, and took a look at the Squirrel Lord's most recent memory. It had been peacefully scurrying around the forest, when a man in a cloak, wearing a visor, had approached. A visor resembling the ocular sensors of the Time Raiders, yet the man had only two hands, so he couldn't be one of them. He had laid some kind of device at the Squirrel Lord's feet, backed away, and then there had been some kind of explosion... And nothing. End of recording.
The man in the visor was a difficult person to pursue given so few clues, but Memory of a Dreamt Revelation had an idea: the rich woman. If she lived in Veronis, she could be tracked down. All they would need is access to the financial elite of the city. And Nickel was able to lean on Eluran's connections to secure an invite to the biggest ball of the year.
Reply if you want to know what they found at the ball.
I dunno, do we want to know what happened at the ball...?
...I'm pretty sure we do. :)
In the days before the ball, Memory of a Dreamt Revelation visited the homeless shelters in Veronis, asking the staff about anyone who might be preying on the local homeless community, offering work that's too good to be true. Those Harvestmen were poor and desperate, willing to say yes to anything that promised a bit of cash. Memory of a Dreamt Revelation got a list of about a dozen possible suspect descriptions, and gave the list to the Brass Hand before the ball.
The Brass Hand didn't fit in at all among high society. Memory of a Dreamt Revelation had the social graces to avoid attracting attention, and absolutely no interest in using them among this crowd. They showed up in a 100-year-old dress, once the height of fashion, now covered in holes and muck from being worn through all manner of hard labour and not taken care of. Most of their clothes are decades old and have been lovingly repaired, accented with revolutionary style. Not this one.
The rest of the party began attempting to make discrete enquiries, and although the list of suspects was narrowed down, every move drew looks and whispered comments. As the elf, polder, dwarf, dryad, chronodrone, and half-dragon drew more attention, their efforts to conduct their mission without causing more problems became more difficult. At last, they found their quarry: A wode elf named Opal Viridian, leaving the party early. But just as Nickel spotted her through the crowd, the guards began to approach, doubtless to question the troublemakers and waste precious hours, perhaps even arrest them.
Zala, the dwarf tactician, acted first. She shoved the guards and ran past them, distracting them so the rest of the party could make an expeditious retreat. Memory of a Dreamt Revelation decided to distract and disorganise the guards by jumping up on a table and reciting their antirealist manifesto at the top of their lungs, preventing anyone in the ballroom from coordinating. When the rest of the Brass hand were safely out of the building, Zala and Memory of a Dreamt Revelation made a run for the window, guards occasionally popping out of reality near them and reapparearing confused in the adjoining rooms. Zala jumped through the window, landed six stories below covered in lacerations and broken glass, and caught Memory of a Dreamt revelation safely in her arms.
The party tracked down Opal Viridian having dinner at a restaurant and negotiated with her for information on the plot to attack the Squirrel Lord. She revealed that she had been contacted by a man who wished only to be known as "Visor". Visor had asked for money, and promised a tenfold return on her investment. To her surprise, he delivered. And said that if she invested again, he could increase the money by another order of magnitude. Visor's next target? The Serpent Lord, near the desert city of Cragalin.
Reply if you want to know what happened in Cragalin.
Oh no, I sure hope the Serpent Lord survived...
The Serpent Lord's domain was too far away to reach quickly by foot. Fortunately, Memory of a Dreamt Revelation had a contact in the rail workers union. The Brass Hand arrived at Veronis' freight rail station, Memory of a Dreamt Revelation offered the foreman free labour for transport, and they were off. With two conditions: no time magic on the train, for locomotives in the world of Tempris are powered not by steam, but by time. And no character developing conversations after 9pm. The workers need to sleep!
As the train slowly pulled into the station at Cragalin, the Brass Hand spotted a crowd of people with notebooks at the ready outside. Memory of a Dreamt Revelation stood and waved to them, and that caused many to start frantically writing. Penny and Nickel explained that many decades prior, Cragalin had fought a war of secession from the city of Chronopolis. The Brass Hand had declared neutrality in the conflict, and in response, Eluran had resigned from the Brass Hand to serve in the war anyway, as a medic. The people of Cragalin viewed Eluran as a hero, and the Brass Hand as villains.
Memory of a Dreamt Revelation suggested making a formal apology for the Brass Hand's inaction in the conflict, but the other party members didn't think that was a good idea. They wanted to start their relationship with Cragalin off on a positive note. Memory of a Dreamt Revelation retorted, "Look outside, they've already formed an opinion of us. We need to do damage control." But they allowed Penny to step outside first and take the lead. Unfortunately for Penny, she couldn't say whatever she planned to say. As soon as the Brass Hand stepped onto the platform, they were swarmed with questions, the reporters shouting too loudly to get a word in edgewise-
I stopped the Director. And informed him that I have the Engrossing Monologue perk. When Memory of a Dreamt Revelation shouts, everyone within ten squares listens for one minute. His NPCs can't railroad Me. I'm railroading him!
"We come on behalf both of the Brass Hand, and of Eluran, who personally selected us as his heirs. We come to make a formal apology for the Brass Hand's past inaction, and to commend Eluran for his heroic and selfless deeds in service to Cragalin. In the spirit of that service, we bring a warning: The Serpent Lord is in danger. We will journey to the Serpent Lord's domain and defend it, for the people of Cragalin."
As they gave that speech, the mood in the crowd shifted. The tabloid writers sighed and put down their notebooks, knowing they couldn't publish any of the libel they had planned. The bystanders who didn't yet have an opinion nodded along, deciding that the Brass Hand couldn't be that bad. At the monologue's conclusion, the journalists eager to publish the scoop first rushed off. A man pushed his way to the front of a crowd and asked Penny (and only Penny) how she hoped to live up to her grandfather's legacy. She answered with humility and determination, sealing the city's approval of the new Brass Hand. And the party gave individual interviews until the foreman ordered the journalists to clear off the private property and make way for cargo.
The party decided to spend an hour in the city before heading off to the Serpent Lord's domain. Memory of a Dreamt Revelation went to a jeweller in search of obsidian lenses to repair an old heirloom. Penny, the only one who had been to the desert before, bought supplies and lots of water. Nickel and Arava saw the sights. They watched the folk hand ores to the Ant Lord's worker drones, clockwork ants the size of large dogs. And they admired the statue of Eluran at the fountain in the center of town, while Nickel reflected on the feelings of uncertainty and anxiety they had had ever since Eluran died. Penny comforted them. And then it was time to set off.
Reply if you want to hear what they found in the domain of the Serpent Lord.