The Affair of the Orphan Ship
If you want to travel in style and secrecy, you take the ‘Hebe Stanton.’ It has operated unimpeded for decades, but after docking in Valparaíso, the captain and his entire crew abandoned it.
Aspects
- Relevance: Heart
- Relevance: Moon
- Incident
Visitors: Heart
| Visitor | Start | Failure | Success | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Louize Haig | ’I could care less about what happens with the ship. I’m far more interested in a certain piece of cargo.' | 'One of the passengers had a monster in the hold. He abandoned it there, but an associate of mine generously took it into his… let’s call it a laboratory. But he requires stronger seals to keep it contained.' | 'This should suffice, yes. Very unfortunate that this creature won’t be filling your menagerie, Librarian. Of course, if I were to join the faculty, I’m certain I could work out a transferance of property. The Dottore’s always looking for additions to his collections, no?‘ | After finding suitable measures for containing a monster, Dr. Haig offered to bring it to the Haustorium - so long as she could join the faculty here. |
| Lic. Enrique Esquivel | ’The agents of the Southern Cone have taken an interest in her contents. And with that germanófilo in their ears, it can’t be for anything especially constructive.' | 'I plan to look around before they board. It should be cleared of anything dangerous, but a lot of adepts have taken the Hebe over the decades. I wouldn’t be surprised if they left a cursed weapon or two behind.' | 'Europe’s already in the midst of their own occult arms race. We hardly need something like that on our side of the world. The Dottore’s seen enough for… well, however many lifetimes they have under their skin.‘ | Senator Esquivel went to neutralize any dangerous occult items which may have been left on the Hebe Stanton, ensuring they stay out of the hands of agents of the Southern Cone. |
| Capt Tuponotanga | ’Heard from a friend on the crew that the hull’s taken some scratches. Things have started seeping through, and not just water.' | 'Coral’s crusting over the furnaces and amber’s spreading over the bulkheads. Anything caught in the sea’s grasp is hard to take back, but there are ways.' | 'The pearl-arts of the Witch-and-Sister… not often invoked, but brutal problems need a brutal hand to solve them. Hopefully this keeps these powers down for the foreseeable future.‘ | Tuponotanga resolved to use the Witch-and-Sister’s ‘pearl-arts’ to dispel the sea-powers encroaching on the ‘Hebe Stanton’. |
Visitors: Moon
| Visitor | Start | Failure | Success | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sra. Bartolina Mamani | ’Seems the captain is searching Valparaíso for the ship’s cat. Ridiculous as it sounds, he has good reason…' | 'When cats travel, those who travel with them are kept safer, especially on the sea. This particular cat stayed on the Hebe for decades, so I doubt its disappearance is entirely coincidence.' | 'Animals flee in anticipation of disaster, and it seems omen has fallen upon the Hebe and perhaps even Valparaíso. A new earthquake may be born there soon. It’s happened before, after all. If I get the warnings to my contacts, they should spread it well-enough… and hopefully people will be wise enough to listen.‘ | Fearing a new earthquake could be born in Valparaíso, Bartolina warned her contacts there to spread news of a coming disaster.‘ |
| Sra. Paloma Silva | ’The Hebe takes the seaways to Port Noon every few moons. Losing access to it would be inconvenient, to say the least.' | 'It is a fragile thread to the Old World beneath the Hours’ notice. I can make other arrangements, but it is far more difficult to conceal something new than reveal something old.' | 'Getting this info into the right ears and out of the wrong ones will be a challenge, but with the War heating up, these routes grow all the more necessary. The Iron Chain must remain unbroken.‘ | Paloma arranged for the creation of other routes between Port Noon and the Old World beneath the notice of the Hours and their servants. |
| Tte. Anatolio Cruz | ’Vaspils know to leave the surface well-enough alone, but the bay of Valparaíso has seen a concerning number of sinkings as of late. A few were spotted near the Hebe before it docked.' | 'Vaspils can only eat what is found in the sea. The wars have fed them well-enough, so I doubt this is simple hunger. I’m here to learn of its complexities.' | 'The Sea is always hungry, and now it entreats the vaspils for offerings. I can incite them to rebel against it, as the Lionsmith’s children are wont to do, and hopefully the Sea will retreat for good.‘ | Tte. Anatolio believed the vaspils were sinking ships at the behest of the Sea, and set off to incite a rebellion against its demands. |
Faculty Consultations
| Faculty | Start | Finish | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robigo | ’The Hebe’s had many bodies, many faces. I’ve always had a kinship with her; and she’s well-acquainted with my countenance.' | 'When it was otherwise, I took a voyage on the Hebe from Macau to Gibraltar. So much was to be learned from my companions on that voyage, and so much good work was done upon our arrival. In the festering belly of a ship, some of the mightiest works of the Grail meet the most bountiful potentials of the mortal flesh. ‘ | Lesson: Maggephene Mysteries |
| Shura the Pythian | ’It is the Sea where thirst and hunger thrive most, and it is the Sea which may abate it. It is the Sea where the thirstiest gather.' | 'The Ligeians rarely meet, but once, they took seven cabins upon the Hebe. I know not if they spoke, but I believe their thirst abated, if for a single moment - and it was Maman Marinette who boarded first, who departed last.‘ | Lesson: Wolf Stories |
| Isidoro Dahlmann | ’Sailors’ traditions run deep into darkness. ‘Never leave a mirror exposed’; ‘only sail evenings by moonlight’; ‘keep coral round the throat’. Now another is beginning to surface from the murk…' | 'Leave one’s regrets on the shore.’ Where the seas touch the Bounds, when sorrows rest upon the waves, we find the shores of the Sea of Regret. And there, one can be so easily ensnared in the jaws of her children.‘ | Lesson: Sea Stories |
| The Feathered Woman | ’These hidden vessels existed in the dawn of the world, before steam or steel were tamed. Even then, they pulled their cloak-shadows from the earth.' | 'There was a time when secrets were sheltered in the glinting light of the quieted volcano, but when Blood ran through the Wood, a new Hour reclaimed the secrets that should stay hidden. Forbidden things are sheltered in obsidian, in mirrors that swallow light, in furious eruption now cooled.‘ | Lesson: Glassblowing & Vesselcrafting |