# Session S01 > [!overview] > [campaign:: [[The Friend, the Fiend, and the Shadow of the Night]]] > [session:: S01] > [prev:: [[2024-08-04_S00]]] > [next:: [[2024-08-18_S02]]] > [session date:: 2024-08-11] > [campaign date:: ] > [my pc:: [[Elsa Johansson]]] > [dm:: [[nellufy|Nell]]] > [player:: [[reyescion|Reyes]], [[elcucuy| El Cucuy]], [[jim0phee]], [[Leah Ferguson|Leah]]] > [pcs:: [[Dr. Niklas Windell]], [[Oskar Brodd]], [[Charles]], [[Elsa Johansson]]] > [active npc:: [[Algot Frisk]], [[Pastor Jon Jonsson]], [[Gjöl Edlund]]] > [discussed npc:: [[Sven Hjaerkason]], [[Iwana Jezewska]], [[Ann Hjortsberg]], [[Kaja Podrazan]], [[Milena Jerzek]], [[Sophia]], [[Johann]]] > [active locations:: [[Castle Gyllencreutz]], [[Vaksala Torg]]] > [discussed locations:: ] > > --- > > (tldr:: Summary.) ## Notes - We have established ourselves to be the new council, and the Order of Artemis. - Over the past two years, we have been working together on two expeditions dealing with vaesen. - [[Castle Gyllencreutz]] is visible to all - It's October 11, 1866. A Wednesday. - The castle is cold and drafty, despite the fireplace being lit. A feeling of not being alone in the room. - We all fall asleep, and are dreaming. - Watching three men dig up a coffin from a grave. - One has a lantern; the other two dig. - Unfamiliar clothes; not from Scandinavia, perhaps from a different time period. Slavic language. - An older woman in the coffin. Looks fresh, maybe dead a couple days buried? - Take the body through a forest, to a clearing. Large tree in the centre. Lays her against the tree. - The men recite something. - The two men go to use their hunting knives on her, and she wakes up. Bright red glowing eyes. - Third man hits his head. Knives and sounds of roars. - We all wake up at 3 AM, in our own rooms in the castle. - [[Charles]] has nightmares regularly, and jumps up to see where he is. Sees he is in his room in the castle. - [[Dr. Niklas Windell]] snaps open, but doesn't move. Listens and sits up, looking around, and going for a walk inside the castle. - [[Elsa Johansson]] stifles a scream. She lights a candle so that she's not in the dark. She listens to hear if anyone else is up. - [[Oskar Brodd]] wakes with a start, and has a long drink before settling back into bed, trying to go back to sleep. - Dr. Windell and Elsa walk through the corridor with her candle. - New recruits are part of the Order. We've interviewed them. - [[Algot Frisk]] is up and about downstairs, enjoying a cup of tea. - They discuss the dream, realizing it was a shared dream. - The sun comes up, and they watch the sunrise together. Awkwardly. - They go back to bed, but all forget the dream, and forget to talk with each other about it. - October 19th, 1866. 3 AM. - The previous dream continues. - The two men have opened the old woman's chest. Unnatural amount of blood oozes out. - Remove her heart and entrails. - The third man starts a fire. The organs are placed on a stone slab and cut into four pieces. They are placed on four stone plates, placed in cardinal directions, the organs are burned. - [[Dr. Niklas Windell]] wakes up from this dream, at 3 AM again. - He remembers that it's a continuation of the other dream, and he lights a candle and tries to write it all down. - [[Charles]] also wakes up from the dream. - Goes to the window again, for reassurance of being in the same place. He looks out the window for the tree or fire, but sees nothing. - Goes to his fireplace and tries to get the fireplace going again. - Then sits and tries to remember the details of the dream while staring at the fire. - Both are able to get the main details, especially the organs being cut into four pieces. - Charlie isn't not quiet while making the fire, so Dr. Windell can hear him. - They quarrel lightly through the walls. - They hear the footsteps of Aglot, and he knocks on both their doors. They both get told off. - The two talk about having had the dream last week. Dr. Windell remembers that Elsa had a dream last week, unsure about tonight. - Charles is not quiet. Brodd and Elsa wake up. - They talk about the shared dream. - Algot makes us tea, and we talk downstairs in the dining room. - A fellow member, a priest, is downstairs. [[Pastor Jon Jonsson]], originally from Iceland. He looks older than he should. He's in his mid-40s. - He's at the end of the long table, reading newspapers. - Looks like he's wearing his winter coat. Doesn't look like he sleeps well. Prays a lot. - He occasionally visits someone at the asylum who requests an Icelandic priest who speaks the language, visits every other day. - He keeps things close to himself. - He's reading the Uppsala Post. - Charlie talks with him. He doesn't really sleep… he dreams. - He is reading an article from the [[1864-10-15 Uppsala Posten]] - Article is about [[Sven Hjaerkason]], a thief and murderer - [[Vaksala Torg]] is a market area - They talk about the shared dream - Elsa can tell [[Pastor Jon Jonsson]] is listening to them, so she asks if he has dreamed it. - He says he hasn't dreamt of what we are discussing. - Dr. Windell asks, but he hasn't heard of similar tales - The vaesen in Sweden are different than in Iceland - Mentions Gryla, a female vaesen who eats disobedient children - The woman in the dream… nothing distinct about eating children - Eventually [[Pastor Jon Jonsson]] gets up and wishes us well, around 5 AM. He doesn't go upstairs, but goes to the chapel. He usually starts to pray at 6 AM. - October 20th, morning. Saturday. - Nothing in the library that's associated with the ritual. Suspect it's related to witchcraft. - October 27th, Evening. A Friday - We awake in another continuation of this dream at 3 AM, October 28, 1866. - The red starring eyes, glaring at the men through the mist. Morning gloom. - The men remove four empty glass jars with lids. Collect the four ashes into each of the jars. - Corpse still leaning against the tree. - One man grabs an axe and beheads the corpse. The third man puts the head in a sack, and they walk towards the graveyard. - Standing around the coffin, and they drop the corpse into the coffee, places the head towards the corpses feet, faced towards the ground. Long nails hammered into the back of the head. - Coffin is nailed shut and returned. - The men head to a small farmhouse. Screaming children, woman's voice trying to soothe them. - Four jars placed on the counter, and one man heats milk on the stove. - A little girl, aged 10, sees the jars. Shakes and drops the jar, and the lid falls out. Screaming from the other room. Female voices trying to calm them down in the same Slavic language. She sweeps most of the ash back in, and adds other ash from the jar. - Third man is drinking and doesn't notice this. - [[Oskar Brodd]] wakes up, 3 AM. Has this dream. Goes to Elsa's room to knock. They talk briefly in the hall, and Mr. Brodd goes to wake the others while she gets up - Dr. Windell starts writing down the dream, while talking with Mr. Brodd - Mr. Brodd bangs loudly on Charlie's door. Dramatically opens the door, not dressed at all. - Mr. Brodd notices the large scar on his left side. - Elsa goes downstairs early to get Algot to put on tea. - Charlie is putting on his shirt still as he comes in - The Uppsala Posten is laid out at the far end of the table. An old paper. [[1866-10-19 Uppsala Posten]] - Unrest about the [[Vaksala Torg]] district - Algot gives us tea and heads to the library - The ritual of the coffin, and the head nailed in… we go to the library to see if we can find anything on it. - Algot is reading a Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Little Mermaid - Elsa helps Charles look for books in the Slavic language (0 success) - We find nothing. And Charles' shirt is inside out. - There's an anatomical book with pictures, and Elsa goes bright red. So very bright red. - Mr. Brodd helps Dr. Windell research in the library (1 success) - The closest thing they can find is a [[Revenant]]. An undead spirit of an evil spirit. - Records of people trying to banish one by burying the remains in consecrated ground, with a cross on a casket. - Burning it doesn't work at all. - By this point, the sun is rising and we go about our normal day. - It's now the early morning hours of October 30, 1866. A Monday? A Monday. Maybe. - We are back in the dream together. - The two men pour the milk into the jars, and mix it. Each takes two jars and go into the other room. - Four beds, one in each counter. Women are holding down frantically screaming children between the ages of 4–7 - The men make the children drink. Each child becomes calm and falls asleep. - The men and women leave the room after the children sleep, while the third man watches in the doorway. - They stop and notice a mirror next to the door. The reflection seems one of the children… the one that got the fourth jar… sits upright in their bed. A boy slowly turns his head towards the mirror, closed eyes. Opens eyes. The eyes are red for a moment, and the jaw unhinges. - …we wake up. It's 5:30 AM. - Dr. Windell writes in his journal. - Elsa gets her housecoat on, and waits at the door. - Mr. Brodd gets Charlie up, and makes sure he's dressed. - We head downstairs. Algot is there, waiting for us as though expecting us. He has tea. - In his hand, he has an envelope. A letter has arrived by a runner, a young boy. It's addressed to the Society. - Mr. Brodd takes it. The paper is yellowed. It's not soiled, but it has seen some things. - [[1866-10-30 Letter to the Society]] - A fourth body was found - It's referring to events written in a recent article [[1866-10-29 Uppsala Posten]] - [[Iwana Jezewska]], first victim (midwife) - [[Ann Hjortsberg]], second victim (seamstress) » Swedish - [[Kaja Podrazan]], third victim - Worked for the Lindquist family - [[Gjöl Edlund]], [[Vaksala Torg]] police commander - Charlie is aware of the migrant community as a [[Vagabond]]. Has heard the name of [[Iwana Jezewska]] in passing. She lived in [[Vaksala Torg]]. - We decide to head to [[Vaksala Torg]] early in the morning. 6:30 AM - ±100 people in the square; 15 are law enforcement trying to secure a crime scene in an alley in the north of [[Vaksala Torg]] - The opposition is lead by Union labor representatives, speaking in Swedish with a foreign accent, wanting justice for the dead - Mr. Brodd clears a path through the crowd, and the three follow - Alley is blocked off by four policemen - One is the district commander, [[Gjöl Edlund]], checking on what the commotion is outside - The crowd is getting restless… they are angry and a riot could break out - Elsa bats her eyelashes at a young officer, and offers the assistance of the talented [[Dr. Niklas Windell]] (1 success) - We are admitted into the crime scene, and follow Dr. Windell in - At the crime scene, there's a younger doctor examining the body, trying not to throw up - Brodd has Elsa stay back from the gruesome body, but attends with Dr. Windell - The victim is young, maybe 17. On her back, very pale, no visible signs of struggle. She is smiling, as though she has last seen the love of her life. - Dr. Windell examines the body. (2 successes) - The body appears to be exsanguinated. - Notices two puncture wounds on her neck, matching the distance of an adult male's canines. - Mr. Brodd suggests she could have been tied and hung by the ankles to be drained, but doesn't appear so. - Mr. Brodd asks for the girl's identity. [[Milena Jerzek]] (sp?) » worked at the linen factory - Charles and Elsa look around the alley (2 successes each) - Find her footsteps, arriving from the city's edge, coming from camps on the outskirts. - In front of the body is a single set of footprints, but they seem like they are appearing from nowhere. - There's a second set of dog-like footprints that lead out of the crime scene. Patches of rough dog-like hair in the bricks. - Elsa's sixth sense… a chill down her spine. The footprints in front of the body makes her suspect something is supernatural here. The dog-like hair doesn't seem right to her. It's not normal dog fur, but is supernatural. - Elsa takes some of the dog fur and stores it away. - Charles notices there is a group of street urchins, a young child pokes his head out and then back into the abandoned building. - The dog's footsteps disappear, but looking up, there's hair high up a wall of a different abandoned building. - Charlie suggests he and Elsa break into the abandoned building - They see a little girl, 9–10 and a little boy, 5–6. Huddled together with a blanket.