NBHK, Last week, a team of Keepers investigated some of the assassins from Wroat that attacked during The Train Job. From there, they recovered a book cipher that we used to determine the time of an incoming dead drop for the would-be assassins. Now our mission is to return to Wroat and follow-up on that lead. We also identified the mark that accompanied this cipher as being a shadowmark, indicating that a gang had claimed the area we were investigating. None of us were able to identify this shadowmark, but seemed as though this new organization had framed House Thuranni for The Train Job. Using the newspaper of that day, the 22nd of Zarantyr, we took an educated guess that the secret message in the paper was directing us to a dentist’s office in Wroat. Taking the Lightning Rail to Wroat, we stopped by a Temple of the Silver Flame on the way. I offered a prayer for strength, and despite suspecting we were more than we seemed, a kind Templar gave us his blessing to pursue the shadows plaguing his land. Approaching the healthcare district, we saw the shadowmark again, and knew we were in the right area. The Dentist’s office was named “The Resting Crown,” and it seemed relatively innocuous at first. I observed from outside as the rest of my squad ventured inside, using the passphrase “POWER,” to convince the receptionist to get us the “special” treatment. She was suspicious because apparently people normally get the treatment alone and at closing time, but they were able to convince her to let us in anyway. Dennis the Dentist came out to the front to guide us back for the procedure, and I slipped back into our group as they left the reception area.

Immediately upon reaching the back, we were confronted with a room full of medical cadavers. All of the cadavers were missing teeth, and Dennis claimed that the donations had been willing, but I find that claim suspect. Dennis claimed that the extractions were given to “The Host,” and demonstrated a sample tube through which teeth could be dumped, sliding down to some lower point in the facility. Evidently this experiment had been going on for many months, as the number of teeth collected by Dennis was staggering. In yet another demonstration of her value outside of a prison cell, Matilda d’Kundarak identified the shadowmark as representing “Earth,” and realized that this organization must be The Restful Watch, a group composed of rogue morticians.

Dennis then led us to the Vivisection Room, wherein lay two still living subjects, already missing several teeth. He then gave us the keys to the basement, so we could go downstairs and meet “The Host,” ourselves. Of course, we had no wish to leave these poor souls to be tortured, so our intent had been to try to stealthily take Dennis down before he could alert any of his coworkers. Fortunately, Dennis made the mistake of explaining that the Vivisection Room must be soundproof in order to prevent people on the street from hearing the screams. As such, it was a simple matter to close the door and whack the man unconscious. Freeing the restrained captives, we gather information from them, learning that there are other doctors downstairs.

Without the manpower to watch over the captives and carry on, we decided to tie up Dennis and leave him with the captives in the soundproof room to hide until we returned. Then, we began breach & clearing several rooms further down in the facility, taking out several rogue doctors on the way. The penultimate chamber contained a great deal of notes and paperwork about the organization’s work, but before we could browse it at our leisure we were assaulted by a psychic scream permeating the facility. On the verge of being incapacitated, we had no choice but to swiftly seek out and destroy the source of the noise or risk being defeated. As a result, we only had time to haphazardly sweep some of the documents into our bags before rushing down the stairs to meet “The Host.”

Unsurprisingly, “The Host,” was a horrific magical abomination. A gigantic pillar of screaming flesh covered in teeth, eyes, tongues, and meat sat in the center of the room, with numerous feeding tubes leading right into its various maws. Wasting absolutely no time, Asher, Matilda, and I eviscerated the thing with blades and a well placed channeling of the divine. Despite the swiftness of its execution, “The Host” nearly took us all down with its psychic screams before we could kill it. I am glad we worked so quickly.

Thankfully, the remaining cultists; for really that is what they were, died along with “The Host’s” final scream. As such, we were able to easily exit the dentist’s office alongside the freed captives and a still living Dennis, ripe for questioning. We turned both Dennis and his receptionist into the guards in Wroat.

Of particular note amongst the paperwork we recovered were two things: first, a note indicating that this particular group was a splinter cell of The Restful Watch, not acting under the command of the main organization; second, a letter from “D.” stating to “Place this in the props of that acting troupe, you know what to replace, no witnesses.” This is likely related to the attack on an acting troupe that took place last week. Hopefully this splinter cell is fully dealt with and we will see no more attacks in the name of teeth collecting.

YLA, Toryn Viphonastar