Chronicle: A Season of Mists Story: Object of Affection Storytellers Background:

Alice Liddell and Paul Rogers were a happy couple, in love with each other and only with each other. So thought Alice; little did Alice know that Paul was already married, to a woman named Jennifer. One late night, while coming back from the theatre, Paul and Jennifer ran into a tall man, dressed in outlandish clothes. Something about him was wrong, and when he asked them the time they ignored him and walked past him quickly. The man was the Hatter, one of the Fae and he took offence at not having his question answered. He took the young couple back to his realm. To punish Paul the Hatter magically trapped Paul in Pauls pocket watch, a gift from his wife on their last anniversary. Jennifer was transformed into a clockwork & steam Manikin and she was forced to serve the Hatter. Jennifer was able to escape from the Hatter, but was unable to bring the pocket watch with her. She vowed that she would use all her powers to find Paul again and return him to normal. To this end she became one of the Pearl Satrap, and an avid collector of paraphernalia. Alice in the meantime, after receiving no word from Paul, started to get worried and so began searching for him. Alice eventually ran into the Hatter, who after hearing her description of Paul, told her that he could help her find Paul, but that there was a price for his help. Desperate Alice readily agreed, promising that any price was worth the return of her one true love. The Hatter took her to his realm, showed her the imprisoned Paul and turned her also into a clockwork & steam Manikin.

Alice served the Hatter, and witnessed the Hatter selling the enchanted pocket watch to a cat-like changeling in return for a porcelain vase. Alice then made her plans to escape and find that changeling. She made it back to the Hedge, half-mad. Alice was rescued by a Blackbird Bishop who helped her regain her sanity. Alice joined the order after her savior asked her to. Alyss, as she is now called, uses her contacts to find the changeling who has Paul, so that she might be reunited with her love. Recently, Alyss found the changeling she was looking for. She tried to purchase the pocket watch but the changeling said while it was still in his possession it was no longer his as he had a buyer for it. Alyss would not be stopped and so pulled in an owed favour with Claude Rains, a Mirrorskin. Claude was to steal the pocket watch and return it to her. Claude managed to gain entry into the changelings Hollow, but was discovered. In desperation he killed the changeling. This action broke his sanity. He has become completely paranoid. He avoids other changelings, fearing that they are agents of Alyss (who he has identified with as his Keeper) and so travels in different forms.

Chapter One: Recruitment

Bill McGill, a skinny lizard (a Steepscrambler), has asked to meet the player characters at the Kings Tavern at the Old Edwardian Club. He has a business proposition. {The characters should know and trust Bill.} Bill should arrive after the characters have seated themselves and have had a bit of chatting. Bill is accompanied by Bishop Alyss, and introduces her as such. {One of the characters

should have met Bishop Alyss during their prelude.} An Intelligence + Politics roll uncover that Bishop Alyss is well respected in the Freehold, despite not actually belonging to any Court. She is one of the three prominent members of the Blackbird Bishops, and is known for her compassion. Alyss greets the characters, and swears the characters to secrecy. Once they do, she explains that recently a thief came into her home and stole something dear to her. {Alyss looks quite pained, and about to cry.} She explains her version of her story, that she and her love were captured by a Fae known as the Hatter. He transformed her into her present state and imprisoned Paul, her one true love, in a pocket watch. She managed to escape with the watch, and was found in the Hedge half-mad by Bishop Rex (A Cyclopean Ogre). Alyss has sought a way to release Paul from the watch. A horror of horrors, the watch has been stolen. Alyss knows who that culprit is a Mirrorskin Darkling named Claude Rains. She knows this because the day before the watch was stolen she had shown him the watch. Also he came in disguised as Bill, but they discovered his ruse much too late. Alyss pleads with the characters to help her get back the watch. She swears a pledge with them to return the watch to her, so that they can be stronger for the quest. She promises the characters favours, an increase in status, or whatever the characters want. If asked why Alyss does not go to the Autumn Court about this crime, Alyss says that she does not want others to know because she does have enemies and they may then seek out the watch to use against her. One particular foe is Satrap Anastasia. Maybe even Anastasia orchestrated the theft to hurt her. Alyss tells the characters not to trust Anastasia for she is a master manipulator.

Alyss tells the characters that Claude has an office at Rosebank Mews where he works from as a private investigator. Bill went there but the place was locked. Obviously he knows what Bill and Alyss looks like and so is hiding from them, but he wont suspect the characters, hence why they are asked to help. If the players do not bite, then Bill pleads with the characters trying to play up on their emotions. He would say that they can clearly see that Alyss is deeply distressed and wont they help to end that distress.

Chapter Two: The Search for Claude Rains

Scene: Talking to Changelings in Rosebank There are five changelings who live and work in the Rosebank area. The five changelings are: Ravenstar, Claude Rains, Nuala, Avalon, and Skuzz. While in Rosebank the characters should feel that someone is watching them, especially after learning that Claude would frequently pose as other people during his investigations. Have people look at them then quickly turn away. Have people stop talking as the characters approach and then quickly move away, or look at them peculiarly. Try to make it seem that Claude could be hiding in the crowd, and maybe he is! Claude Rains is a Mirrorskin Darkling Private Investigator. Claude Rains has an office in the Rosebank Mews, right above Nualas shop. Claude Rains is of course missing but maybe lurking around the centre disguised as someone else. What he looks like normally is a transparent man, a real Invisible Man.

Ravenstar is a Gravewright Darkling Goth who works at the Exclusive Books in the Rosebank Mall. Ravenstar is based on Death from Neil Gaimans The Sandman. Ravenstar knows very little about Claude. She tried being friendly with him, but he just wanted to be left alone. Nuala is a Dancer Fairest who owns a music store. She looks like a beautiful elf, just like the one in Neil Gaimans The Sandman. Claude rents an office just above her music shop. She hasnt seen him for over a week now. She thinks that he is probably on a case. He would often disappear for days. She says that he was quite a loner, but he always had a smile for her. Avalon is a Hunterheart Beast who owns a nightclub in Rosebank. Hes affiliated animal is the wolf. He is only in the area at night, spending the day with his motley (a bunch of drug dealers), or resting, or enjoying time at his posh house in the suburbs. Avalon previously hired Claude to do some work for him. Joking about when you need something secret done you turn to a darkling. Claude was a loner, but an excellent investigator with his ability to look like anybody. Skuzz is a Blightbent Elemental who wanders around Rosebank as a beggar. He is a Pearl Satrap, though not many changelings know that. He tends to gather and trade pledges. Because he is a dirty old beggar people ignore him, but he sees much. Skuzz is a tool for giving the characters any information that they do not pick up or miss. He will tell the characters more about Claude, but he wants a pledge or a favor in return for his information. Scene: Getting into Claude Rains Office Claude Rains office is locked. {If any of the characters have contracts or skills to handle an alarm system, then there is an active electronic alarm system. Otherwise the alarm system is a simple homemade one, i.e. bells and wind chimes and string.}

Present the characters with a challenge (Conflict) of how to enter the office. Decide on the consequences appropriately. If they try to enter the office at night, there is a paroling security guard to worry about, and during the day there is the suspicious Granny Slagg. Any suspicious noises will draw the attention of the guard or of Granny Slagg unless someone distracts them, or does something creative. Scene: Inside Claude Rains Office Claude Rains office is Spartan, with only the bare minimum of furniture. No computer, no pictures or posters. There is a desk, two chairs, a waste basket and a filing cabinet. The desk is clean and no trace of paper can be seen, although a fine line of dust is starting to appear which should indicate that nobody has been in this room for over a week. If you open up one of the desk drawers, then you will find a camera and a bunch of receipts and a piece of paper written in a feminine handwriting which gives directions on how to get to a Hollow. The clue reads: Henry oTooles Hollow, Tonight. Use the doorway in the cemetery. Take the left path at the fork, and carry on past the whispering wood until you reach the crying brook. Then take the path right until you reach a patch of Amaranthine. The Hollow is hidden but you should be able to find the entrance. If the characters look in the filing cabinet, then they will find a few folders. There is one named Current Case, names of previous cases, and one which is named Flat Rental Agreement. The Current Case folder is surprisingly empty, and the Flat Rental Agreement will give the characters information on where Claude lives in Johannesburg. Scene: On the way to Claude Rains flat The characters should find out where Claude lives, either from investigating his office or from speaking to Skuzz. On their way there, while walking down the street the characters should

be overtaken and passed by a flock of noisy children. Once a good distance ahead, the children top and congregate in front of an old house. Pointing and shouting, they begin to chant in a sing-song tone: White-face, witch-face, wont catch me. Slow and old and cant see! If the children are asked about their raucous behavior, a redheaded, freckle-faced boy, very vocal and obviously the leader, is happy to explain. According to him, an old witch lives in the house. He knows shes a witch because she is old. No sooner has this been explained than the children suddenly run off, shrieking and giggling. From the direction of the house, the characters hear a screeching, grating voice, the sound of fingernails on a blackboard. Get out of here you little bastards! An ancient woman, Granny Sourdust, an Antiquarian Darkling, stands in the front door. She seems to be ancient and weathered, cobwebs surround her and dust falls from her joints. She squints at the characters, trying to determine if they are part of the group of harassing children. After a moment, saying nothing, she turns back into the house, slamming the door behind her. She will not speak to the characters if they try to talk to her. Further done the road, they will come to a block of flats. Claude Rains lives at room 23. Again the characters will have to find a way into the room. The neighbours do not know Claude Rains as Claude Rains. He goes by the name of Hawley Griffin.