====== 2021-04-21 Wreck of the Dream ====== We are on our way to Bucharest to meet a possible suitor (ProsperoTepes) for our sister (StellaMaria). Beautiful Venice. We are visiting the local branch of our Company (to check the books). We are accompanied by the CompanyOfCrowes. We are greeted and asked state our business. We wait. Shortly, we are led inside. GiovaniMicari is the local factor. He is disheveled and obviously distressed. He even stutters. We ask about his health. ++++ We learn of the wrecked ship | He is nervous because we covered a ship that has wrecked and it may damage the company. He is trying to determine how to prevent the payout. There was a single survivor. The rest of the crew died before the wreck. They were murdered! The sole survivor was a passenger. We don't have the ship's manifest. The passenger has gone mad. He claims another survivor jumped ship and tried to swim. One crewman is missing. Perhaps we could find the missing man. He gives us some details * Location of the wreck. * BraduroTePesi was the survivor, being cared for at a local convent. * Description of the other survivor. * Date of wreck March 22nd (5 days ago) * Missing survivor GiamiDosoni Many of the crew had their throats ripped out, and were disemboweled. He feels there is something following him. He awoke with his locked bedroom window open! His sister MirabellaMicari may have seen something. She says she has not, but she certainly closed that window. BenjiMicari arrives (he is GiovaniMicari's boss). He is meeting a client (some Turk named SenorTombo). BenjiMicari gives us the stink eye, then takes his client into his office. We leave the office. ++++ ++++ We Question Braduro te Pesi | We head towards the monastery (Franciscan) where BraduroTePesi is being cared for. When we arrive, we are disarmed (we leave a trusted man with our weapons). The doctor tells us BraduroTePesi is mad beyond comprehension. BraduroTePesi is in a straitjacket. Thin face and reddish hair. He is babbling about eating insects. We ask him a few questions, but he suddenly flinches without being hit and hides in the corner. We try to calm him down, which AmbrosioTornelli looks at him with second sight. BraduroTePesi looks at him (I am CasperGaspari! I stole his things!). I saw them. There was blood. There was blood. ... More crazy. Lots more. We end up leaving. ++++ ++++ Ask around the docks | We go down to the docks. We visit the salvage company that searched the wreck. They describe the horrible carnage on board. The dead crew was not even armed. The ship was on course, then made a sharp turn into the rocks. The ship caught fire. Maybe it was on fire before the wreck? VincenteTornelli asks where someone escaping the wreck might wash up. They call up an old sailor. We question him. He saw a big animal come out of the water under the docks. Big and hairy. I work with him to draw a picture (looks like a wolf-man). ++++ ++++ We search the wreck | We decide to head to the wreck. We get the boat from GiovaniMicari. We point out we are not sailors. VincenteTornelli grabs him and makes him go with us. FilippoTarantino pilots our boat to the wreck, beached on a shoal. We can see the fire broke out below decks. VincenteTornelli asks him about SenorTombo. He holds the policy on the wrecked ship. AmbrosioTornelli offers me to help him with his magical investigations. I, of course, agree. We arrive at the wreck. VincenteTornelli sends GiucamoTarantino and FilippoTarantino over first. We can see down through the main deck where the fire burned through. We can see a lot of blood around the lifeboat. The ship is shifting on the sands, rocking in the waves although it is stuck on the bar. GiucamoTarantino checks out some burned areas on the foredeck. We all go on board. AmbrosioTornelli and I setup a ritual at the helm. There are torn ropes tied to the helm, and there are dark stains (blood?) all around. VincenteTornelli and GiucamoTarantino go below to the mid-deck. They go to the Captain's cabin. All they find is a small statuette of a squid man (?)--the salvagers cleared out everything else of any value. GiucamoTarantino finds a small piece of paper in another room. Piece of a journal. > March 20th >> Should be in SF by noon tomorrow unless the weather holds us back. Captain says we will stay home for a month. We need a rest. I can't believe Edward died that way. Can't imagine being so drunk you get eaten by rats. >> Another strange occurance, Di Pesi was found coming out of the cargo hold. He seems tense and anxious. > March 21st >> He has a ring for his girl. //(more sappy stuff like that)// They find a small chest mid ships bolted to the wall. VincenteTornelli breaks it open, finds some money and the ship's manifest. * 12 casks of pepper (to be delivered to the church) * 13 crates of machina parts (to be delivered to BurnadeliAutomatons) * 18 casks of Cretan wine to Bayside Wine * 15 casks of dry goods (F.W. Catoni) * 16 crates of oriental rugs (Her Majesty's Furnishings) * 12 casks of salt * 7 caskets (BraduroTePesi) VincenteTornelli finds the navigation room. Most of the charts are burned. The chart of the bay is still pinned to the map table. AmbrosioTornelli and I don't get any reading off the ship. ... (more searching) I say we should check out the caskets because they belong to BraduroTePesi. VincenteTornelli shows me the squid headed statue. I don't recognize it, but AmbrosioTornelli says to remindes him of GodDagon (a caananite god). VincenteTornelli asks about SenorTombo. He runs a gentleman's club in Venice. FilippoTarantino asks me to allow him to breathe water. We talk, and I cast it on GiucamoTarantino and myself instead. We go into the cargo hold. We see many large crates and barrels are scattered in the hold. Several of the pepper casks have broken. Machine parts and other oddments glitter under or float in the water. I see a travel bag floating against the hull. It contains scissors, nail clippers, other grooming effects. I find a letter. It is a "lock letter". I put it safely in my pouch. In the rear, we find more crates and 7 coffins. We open one of the coffins. The bodies seem to be Greek fishermen. These coffins are way too rich for these bodies. One of the coffins is empty. We pull the bodies out and I examine them closely. They seem to have been dead for a couple weeks (maybe in the caskets when the ship left port). I find some puncture wounds on necks and wrists. AmbrosioTornelli and I discuss this, and we think they might be [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigoi#:~:text=Strigoi%20in%20Romanian%20mythology%20are,the%20blood%20of%20their%20victims.|strigoi]] (romainian witch-ghouls). I point out they are known to take the shape of animals. ++++ We head back to where we are staying. AmbrosioTornelli finds a note from VonHohenheim. He is in town. VincenteTornelli finds a loophole: no transport of large beasts (and we have a witness of a large beast coming off the ship). We set a double guard. ---- Next Morning ++++ The Great Lights go out | We head towards the office. We hear the Criers: 5 great people disappeared at a party last night. The party was at a mansion that turned out to be abandoned for months. No one knows who hosted the party. ++++ ++++ Mirabella is attacked | We arrive at the office. MirabellaMicari is not there. She seems to be feeling poorly. VincenteTornelli tells GiovaniMicari that the contract is invalid. We go to check on MirabellaMicari. She has the look of someone who has lost a lot of blood, and is unconscious. I examine her. I find puncture wounds on the inside of her arm. DoctorBuchenvelt is already there. He needs someone to do a blood transfusion. VincenteTornelli searches the room and finds no trace of entry. AmbrosioTornelli checks to see if anything was summoned. GiucamoTarantino offers to give her blood. I Heal during the operation. ++++ ++++ Visit with a friend | AmbrosioTornelli invites VonHohenheim to the villa, and he shows up. They seem to be old college chums. They discuss the recent happenings and the Golems. VonHohenheim is on holdover before his next campaign. He plans to make an extended tour of the healing traditions of the world. Discuss how to kill Strigoi. He has lots of great information. ++++ ++++ Tracking our Quarry | We hang out at the office and make sure nothing happens. AmbrosioTornelli enchants some of our weapons to better fight the Strigoi. FilippoTarantino and GiucamoTarantino go to serve our response to SenorTombo's claim. They find an abandoned house. They report back. They go back out to look for the gentleman's club. SenorTombo is there, but he intends to pursue this in the courts. We decide to follow SenorTombo. AmbrosioTornelli casts a spell on GiucamoTarantino to make him unremarkable. We follow him to a non-descript place in a maze of alleyways. SenorTombo goes inside (is let inside). ++++