The preparation room opens from within. The folklorist stands in the doorway, a gaunt middle-aged woman clutching a wrapped bundle of old funeral cards, while covered mirrors darken the undertaker’s shop behind her. One uncovered pane reflects a second figure, a gaunt young adult man with a narrow, colorless face, slick dark hair, and a black funeral coat buttoned to the throat standing directly behind Finnegan.
Mara Venn
My name is Mara Venn. I am the only one who survived the undertaker’s last encounter with Devoy’s local handler.
The Watcher
Only survivor of what, exactly? Keep your hands where I can see them.
The Watcher remains beside Finnegan, blocking the passage behind them. Mara’s eyes stay on the uncovered pane, not on either man, as the reflected stranger tilts his head a fraction too late.
Mara Venn
I made a bargain to keep the Wrettch records hidden. The handler wanted them found, but not understood. He said the family was part of what the patron was being prepared to receive.
Mara Venn
The cards name every transfer the undertaker remembered. One bears Cecil Wrettch’s mark, and another records what Devoy sent after him.
Behind Finnegan, the uncovered pane clouds from the inside. The reflected figure lifts one hand toward Mara’s bundle, while somewhere beneath the floorboards a funeral bell gives a single muffled note.
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep the Wrettch evidence safe
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine the Wrettch family's role in the patron's design
“"What was my father up to? What deity has that nutcase Lester Devoy been sending innocent souls too? Did my father know? Mara! Watch out!!"”
SUCCESS (Good Psychology, rolled +0)
Finnegan Wrettch
What was my father up to? What deity has that nutcase Lester Devoy been sending innocent souls to? Did my father know? Mara, watch out!
The reflected figure reaches through the pane without breaking it. Mara jerks the funeral cards against her chest, and the glass exhales a breath colder than the room.
Mara Venn
Your father was tracking Devoy’s transfers, Finnegan. He hid the Wrettch records because he knew souls were being collected, and he knew the names of the recipients.
The Watcher
Mara, move away from that glass. Now. Tell us the recipient’s name while you still can.
Mara Venn
Nharos. Devoy calls it the patron, an old hunger beneath the city. Cecil knew Devoy served something, but he did not know Nharos’s name until the final transfer.
The warning costs Mara her grip. Cards slide across the floor, forcing her to spend precious seconds gathering them while the reflected figure’s reflected hand closes around empty air.
Mara Venn
He knew enough to be afraid, not enough to stop the last delivery. That is what the cards prove, and why the missing one matters.
Quest Complete
Discover the identity of Lester Devoy's patron
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb
Quest Complete
Determine the Wrettch family's role in the patron's design
“Alright let's go”
Finnegan Wrettch
Alright. Let’s go.
Finnegan steps away from the uncovered pane. The reflected figure withdraws with the same delayed motion, leaving only a gray smear across the glass.
Mara Venn
The missing card is not here. The rest are enough to follow Cecil’s trail, if we reach the foundry before dusk.
Mara gathers the scattered funeral cards and binds them beneath the wrapped bundle. The Watcher takes the lead, keeping his weapon lowered but ready as they leave the preparation room.
The Watcher
Bell Foundry first. We use Voss’s concealed route, avoid the compound, and learn what that last transfer meant before Devoy gets another chance.
They pass through the undertaker’s rear passage into the cold street. Behind them, the covered mirrors remain still, and the funeral bell does not sound again.
Mara follows close with the cards secured against her chest. Ahead, the route toward the abandoned Bell Foundry disappears between shuttered storefronts beneath the failing evening light.
Quest Complete
Keep the Wrettch evidence safe