*9–10 January, 848 IE — Nightmarket* ### Stillman's Distillery They came through the wall in the dark, the whole crew joined at the hand, using the passage through the old guard tower foundations that [[Watcher]] had mapped from the surface. [[Crow]] led the crossing. The technique worked — but [[Boo]], stepping through last, turned back and found something she had not expected: a faint impression in the ghost field, not faces, not names, but the undeniable fact of five people having passed through solid matter. A ripple that would persist. She told the others. Nothing to be done about it. They pressed on. The first level of [[Stillman's Distillery]] was a staging area: eight numbered bays stacked with kegs and small casks bearing the distillery's maker's mark, arranged with the care of someone who runs their operation tightly. Everything was staged for the morning's deliveries. A clerk's podium stood empty beside the loading doors; at the rear, a freight platform descended to production levels below. The back office held two rattling file cabinets and a desk of unnatural neatness. [[Cam]] worked through the day's delivery orders while Crow opened his senses to the room — finding only the residue of yesterday's workers moving through familiar routines, and the scar on the wall where the crew had entered. [[Nyx]] and Boo split the file cabinets between them: supply on one side, customer accounts on the other. The Mortar and Pestle's folder was easy to find. Ninety days of routine orders, and at the back a record that stopped Crow mid-page: all deliveries to the establishment were charged to the account of one Aldric Venn — Camden Street, Charterhall, held at the Bank of Duskwall. The first time the Professor's name had ever appeared attached to a location. Boo noted it carefully. Cam recorded fifteen other customer accounts as well — bars, private buyers, an art dealer in the district — intelligence that might find uses. Boo pocketed a dusty bottle from the display shelf on the way out — bourbon from the American Southeast, an import, probably from a crate that had traveled farther than anyone in the room. The crew exited through the loading door; Crow latched it from inside, walked back through the wall alone, and emerged on the far side without difficulty. By the time they made their way back beneath the [[Ink & Anvil]], they had what they came for: a delivery window, a courier's name, and Aldric Venn's street. --- ### Steve The afternoon of the tenth was cold and grey, wind pushing coal smoke through Night Market from the direction of the foundries. The crew spread out around the distillery approach and waited. A cart arrived mid-afternoon, drawn by a goat of advanced age and considerable grievance — old Gracie, who had long since ceased to care what cargo she was moving. Her driver was young and unhurried, in the manner of people settled into work that asks little of them. Eight kegs were loaded. Cam confirmed from half a block back that he was heading for the Alchemist Parish. [[Freakshow]], wearing the clothes and bearing of a man whose associates moved coin through channels that avoided daylight, stepped up beside the moving cart in traffic. The driver — [[Steve]], as it turned out — was suspicious in the practiced way of someone accustomed to strangers wanting things from him. The negotiation went further than Freakshow had planned. Steve got the full purse before he agreed to pull over. In a side road off Night Market, Steve found the clouds absorbing. Nyx and Cam worked the back of the cart with the efficiency of people who had thought through the problem in advance. Nyx's compound went into both targeted kegs through the corks without leaving a visible mark — clean enough that there was nothing to find, even for anyone who thought to look. They were back on the pavement before Steve had decided what shape the first cloud was. Freakshow confirmed the marked kegs were tagged for the Mortar and Pestle. Steve confirmed they were his first stop. The parties separated. [[Watcher]], on the rooftops over Charterhall, reported afterward that Steve had conducted the delivery in the manner of a man who has never told a lie and was trying to learn under poor conditions. Somehow the kegs went in regardless. The door closed behind them. The Reclaimers' evening drink was waiting to be tapped. --- **System Notes** - Crew spent 1 coin (crew kitty) to bribe courier Steve; crew coin: 3 → 2 - [[Freakshow]] used disguise kit; +1 stress (flashback) - Discovery: [[Aldric Venn]]'s address — Camden Street, Charterhall; account at the Bank of Duskwall - Two kegs of Stillman's ale delivered to [[Mortar and Pestle]] on January 10th have been dosed with Nyx's sickness compound; onset ~12 hours, duration several days - Complication: the crew's group passage through the distillery wall left a detectable psychic impression in the ghost field - All characters: +2 XP; all characters: +2 stash (crew advancement benefit) [[2026-06-27-Transcript|Chatlog]] ![[Screenshot 2026-06-27 161717.png]]