ScrewedUpDice

Not that the above is related to the story, but I thought I'd use it while I can. Sorry for this being so horribly late. I fell victim to a succession of ideas that beat the word count, as so in a fit of irony with this piece I'm horribly short of the word count, coming in at 960ish, although I have managed to include all four ingredients. Sorry for any mistakes or inconsistencies that have got in under the radar, this has been very much a one night write and edit job. # Murchadh removed his jacket at the behest of the orderly accompanying him. As he did so he made sure that the script was firmly secured within its innermost pocket. Leaving any amount of currency in the barracks was an open invitation to casual theft, and he didn't trust anyone to hold the sum for him, nor its safety in any of his usual hiding spots. Besides, the script felt good in his pocket. A warm bundle of opportunity soon to be joined by its twin. Murchadh had built plans around this windfall, having made clandestine arrangements with a broker for a ticket back through the Breach. You didn't patrol Malifaux without making connections of that kind, or making sure you were owed a favour or three. Murchadh could almost feel the train ticket in his hand, and was seized with the feeling that it was slipping through his fingers. Fear rose up from his boots, muddying his hopes. The images of being back Earthside shifted on unsteady foundations. "I wish I could see it just one last time." "Pardon?" Murchadh's companion eyed him coldly. Apprenticed under the Project's overseer he didn't expect backtalk from a Guard volunteer. Murchadh propped up his bravado with humour, as he hung his jacket on the wall. "Keep an eye on this. I'll want it back." The orderly seemed to look through him. "I suppose I won't need it inside the machine." If the man smiled under the mask covering his mouth it didn't reach his eyes. In shirtsleeves Murchadh entered the surgical theatre. On seats that rose around him he saw men and women watching with keen interest. He turned his attention to follow theirs. To his right two men fussed around a machine that, along with their attire seemed out of place in the room. Dressed in oil blackened aprons, the hulking shape of the Construct towered over them, commanding the room. It was partially disassembled, arms disconnected and hanging from a hastily rigged chain system next to it. The torso was open in places, showing workings that baffled Murchadh. It heavy design and bipedal form was a far cry from the hideous arachnid machines of the Arcanists brought to battle. Its plating shone under the rooms lights. Murchadh tore his gaze away from the machine as a voice filled the theatre. He recognised it as belonging to Dr Morton, who currently had his back to him, addressing the assembled watchers. "What you seem before you is the next step in Construct creation. "Project Lazarus" has reached the point of fussing man and machine closer than ever before. As you are no doubt aware, Mr Hoffman has been called away indefinitely on Guild business, but progress continues even in his absence." Dr Morton moved as he spoke, walking around the edge of the circular theatre floor. The apprentice was ushering Murchadh into a wooden chair on the far left on the room, more usually used for holding patients undergoing medical procedures. Bolted to the floor and arrayed with straps it looked more suited to the lower levels of the cells. "With the Lazarus Construct prepared, we have its logic engine ready to be inserted. The Prime Directives have been firmly established within the machine" Dr Morton gestured to one of the two wheeled tables that occupied the centre of the room, between the chair and the construct. "We must now prepare the other half of the equation." Murchadh watched Morton as the doctor approached. Strapped into the chair as he was he had little choice. In previous meetings Morton and his apprentice had explained about the risks of convulsions, of breaking bones, or swallowing your on tongue during this type of procedure. Murchadh could see no good reason to refuse being trussed up. No good having the script if you were too broken to spend. The doctor had gone to great lengths to explain the grand nature of the project, and the important role Murchadh was to play. There were dangers of course, but they were few compared to the rewards. Murchadh's mind would be linked to the machine, and he'd ride it, as another man would ride a horse, before returning safely to his body, with the second half of his payment waiting on him. The apprentice approached syringe in hand, and carefully found a vein in Murchadh's arm. The Guardsman flinched, quieting the voices in the back of his mind with thoughts of money, and of Earthside. As the drug took hold the mental images slipped away, replaced by the doctor's voice ebbing and flowing. "Experiments have shown that the best Construct behaviour is achieved when the Soulstone is as freshly charged as possible." Morton reached into the box on the second wheeled table, and produced a fist sized Soulstone. It was empty, inert, hungry to be filled. Murchadh felt as though his soul was already being pulled towards it. "You'll note that this is the only 'Stone in the room. We want to avoid any essence being misdirected." He placed the stone carefully beside the box. "We've also taken especial care in the selection of this stone." "We've taken equal care with the soul that's to fill it. He is unaware of the nature of the procedure, and should be free of the trauma that can taint Soulstones and hence Constructs." Through his drugged haze Murchadh's thoughts were moving slow as molasses. The implications weren't lost on him though, fear stirred in him, but too late. He tried to make sluggish limbs break free of the bonds holding them, but they felt a hundred miles away, and weak as water. Morton nodded to his apprentice, stood beside the trapped Guardsman. A second needle pricked the man's throat. The Soulstone began to glow. # I think there's a lot still to go at with Lazarus. We'll see how Constructs are treated in 2.0 and TtB. Also sure there are more references to be crammed in. We started with music, so lets end with it

If you'll give me until late on Monday night I'll have something.

Sign me up. Hopefully I won't leave it all to the last minute this time.

I'm not going to have anything to put in. For all the hope of posting something with time to spare, I've failed utterly. Good luck to any and all who've got something in, or are putting the final touches to things.

Count me in. Hopefully I'll get something finished before the last day this time.

Mine is up, complete with awful title http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?41236-Iron-Quill-2013-%28Can-You-Keep-A-Secret-%29-Silent-As-The-Grave

Vardy was a man that didn't so much walk, as loom, with little in the way of morals, and a constitution similar to his physical stature. He baulked at nothing; be it the spilling of blood with fist, boot or blade, in a hot blooded street fight; the more methodical killing of anyone he was required to do away with; or the task he was currently engaged in, which seemed to be a natural progression, given the trajectory of his violent interacts with his fellow man. The wooden shovel sliced silently through the loose earth, avoiding the tell-tale sound of metal hitting stone that a more usual implement would produce. Vardy worked methodically, tossing earth onto a ground sheet, so as to obscure the evidence of disturbance. This was not his first grave robbery. Six foot down shovel tip met coffin lid. He crouched awkwardly in the narrow shaft he'd dug, the top third of the coffin revealed, and marred by his boot prints. He pushed iron hooks between the lid and body of the coffin, tossed the rope they trailed out of the hole and proceeded to follow them upwards, hands finding purchase on turf and gravestone in his ascent. A heave upon the ropes snapped the lid of the coffin, the noise muffled by the earth, while the miasma of decay filled the air with no such hindrance. Vardy descended into the reeking hole, and moving aside the sundered coffin lid, revealed its occupant, small in life, and wasted away further in death. Grasping the man by the collar of his funeral suit, his fist rivalling the sunken dimensions of the corpse's head, Vardy lifted him enough to loop a rope under his arms, and returned once again to the surface. Like some macabre fisherman he hauled his catch from the depth of the earth, without ceremony or consideration and deposited the corpse at the graveside. He then set to refilling the grave, finally topping the hole with the carefully cut sod which he had removed and placed aside as he began his work. His last act was to replace the wreath of flowers that had sat propped on the gravestone prior to his arrival. The shovel was broken down into the blade and two sections of haft to be stashed about his person. Bundling the body into the crude sack formed from the ground sheet, he swung it over his shoulder and left the cemetery unobserved except by stoats abroad on their own grisly errands. ____________ Vardy made his way to the meeting place by means circuitous and ill favoured by most right thinking persons in Malifaux. This wasn't done through any wish to avoid confrontation and questioning about his morbid cargo, but rather so as not to be seen with it at all, by anyone with a tongue given to wagging, and thus invite rumours that might pass for the truth, no matter how scant a foundation they sprang from. His destination was no more salubrious than his place of departure. Beyond the bounds of even the meanest rookery he slipped inside an abandoned building, descending rotting stairs that barely held the combined weight of Vardy and his passenger. Shouldering aside a door that was more paint and rot than wood he entered a basement filled by dim candle light, and occupied by another breathing human, the first time Vardy had been willingly in the company of either for many hours. He deposited the body upon a table at the centre of the room. The ground sheet seem to form the tablecloth for a particularly gruesome feast, the body upon it now lying miles distant and yards below the point where it had begun the night, resting in peaceful repose. The man who had been waiting spoke, only to be cut off. "That's another wager..." "Shut up Stoller." Stoller was as different to Vardy, as to be seemingly a separate species; a vulpine to Vardy's ursine. The only points of commonality the pair shared was their ragged appearance, and a dangerous, unsettling air that set them apart even in a place know for the malign hearts of the majority of its inhabitants. They were bound together by the thinnest threads of circumstance, desperation, the potential for profit, and the indulgence of the other in their most dark of urges. The three waited in silence, two out of choice, one with no choice at all. Vardy leant against a damp wall, arms folded, Stoller restless and pacing. The sound of the stairs creaking under the tread of footsteps brought both men out of whatever personal reverie they had been wandering in. Neither were actively alarmed, but both were ready; anyone happening upon them by chance was going to find their night ended in an unpleasantly terminal manner. The woman that entered the room did so in perfect expectation of the scene that would greet her. Going simply by outward appearance she looked more likely to be found in a gin palace, or in an alley near one, rather than in a dank cellar. The undefinable aura that separated Vardy and Stoller from the common man clung to her yet more heavily than to either of her companions however, marking her as one of their company. "Any complications?" Stoller spoke first, as was his predictable want. "I got what we needed, sweet as you like Faye." Vardy shook his head, the evidence of his task having been accomplished without incident being laid out the table before them. Faye held their gaze for a second longer, and finally addressed her attention to the corpse. "We finally get to talk, Kellow." ____________ "Where am I?" The spirit's voice skittered at the edges of conciousness for Vardy and Stoller, as if coming from rooms distant, rather than from the silvery smear in the air in front of them, no more consistent than the moon reflected upon storm wraked seas . Faye's perception was far clearer, thanks to breach born talent. Kellow's form was distinct, his voice clear. "Where? That hardly matters." The dead no longer held the perspective on the world they had when they were living, and while a breathing prisoner might wake screaming, the spectres were more detached. "Who are you?" "You're asking all the wrong questions. You should be asking what, not where or who." "What do you want?" "Better. What does anyone want? We want your secrets Kellow. We know about the deal." "What deal?" "You know the problems with secrets? Two people can't keep a secret. One can take it to the grave with them, but two? As soon as it's shared it's out in the world, and then all it wants is to be told. It wants to be found out. It slips out when you drink, or when you sleep. Used to be the best way to keep a secret, back Earthside, was to kill anyone who knew about it. How hard can it be? Dead men tell no tales." Kellow didn't seem to see the irony. "This side of the Breach, well, a secret is never safe. The walls have ears, the hills have eyes, and Neverborn freaks can get straight into your head, and pluck it out, then there's the Guild with the rack and thumb screws, or Arcanist magics. It's no surprise someone decides the risk is too much, and the best way to shut you up is to open your throat. Only that doesn't work like it used to back home. Someone like me brings you back. Here the dead don't get to stay silent." He seemed determined to prove her wrong for the moment. "You made a deal. Respectable merchant, but on the side you did work for the Breach smugglers. Ran their goods and kept their ledgers. Thought you'd kept your name out of it, but like I said nothing stays secret. Not when I want to find it out. There's always someone who knows someone else, who knows something he's not meant to tell, but lets on anyway You're the link in the chain. I want names and locations. I want to know where their lesser breach is." "You've got the wrong man." "You think just because you're already dead we can't hurt you? I can send you far worse places than where we pulled you from." Kellow stayed silent, but couldn't keep realization of his plight from showing on his face. "You need to understand we're not joking, and that it's not just you that's in danger here." Stoller stepped forward at this cue, and reaching into his jacket, pulled out an object and threw it on to the table, at the feet of the corpse. Kellow looked down upon a doll, well loved, and horribly familiar. Stoller filled the pause. "She's a bonny girl, be a shame if something happened to her or her ma." "Promise not to hurt them, and I'll tell you." "Start talking, and we'll see." # Sorry for the rather naff title. MYSTERY INGREDIENTS: THEME: How to Keep a Secret (Inverted somewhat) CHARACTER: The Bookkeeper (Kellow, after a fashion) LINE: "How hard can it be?" ITEM: Casket Word Count: 1,494 This has been a difficult one, as story ideas just kept growing beyond the bounds of the word count, or becoming better suited to being saved for something else down the line. I love to say this is a culmination of all of the stories that got put to the side, but it's mainly the product of trying to hit the deadline. Think that's about it with the excuses. Hope it's an enjoyable read.

I'm game.

Belated congratulations to mephiston, and everyone else that took part.

I seem to have taken a very different approach to everyone else. Find out quite how much here: http://www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php?39300-Iron-Quill-When-You-re-a-Professional-Pirate-Radio-Wars&p=512112#post512112

And done.

Cheers. It's all come together a bit too well, and is in need of a serious cutting down. Time to kill some darlings.

"This is aethervox station capa, alpha, rom..." static drowned out the signal as the Guild Operator nudged past the transmission frequency. A panicked twist of the dial brought the signal back "...ember, echo. Broadcasting at 203 in the medium wave. Good evening Malifaux.." The operator dropped his headphones and ran to the Officer's Mess. He hardly paused at the door, something that would have been an egregious breach of protocol had the news not been so important. "Sir, they're on the air again!" # The vox hissed and whined. O'Rahilly held the headphones loosely against one ear, ready to release them if there was a hint of the unearthly howling that had plagued the aether over the last few nights. The sibilant whispers he'd been able to ignore, mostly, but he suspected that was only because they hadn't been meant for him; the screams, had left his ears bleeding. Thankfully the only sounds he'd heard so far this night were the voices of other Arcanist operators, reading off their coded messages. He jotted down the pairs of letters and numbers, translating from memory as he went, jumping frequencies as needed to track the instructions. The relative rarity of vox receiver units meant there was little chance of parties unknown stumbling across the staccato transmissions; most public receivers were locked to a narrow frequency range of official stations by command of the Governor. It was the more earnest attentions of the Guild, or any rogue elements, the Arcanists needed to avoid, and they'd been quite proficient at the task, waging a silent war fought with technology and brain power rather than blade and brute force. # The Captain looked out over the ranked up Guardsmen, stood to attention in the lantern lit yard. "The Governor has tasked me with hunting down the Arcanist scum broadcasting their lies and terrorist messages across the 'vox network, and this city. Hoffman has provided us with his latest inventions in order to track down the filth spreading this poison, and Secretary Matherson's Elite Division will be operating these devices. They are transmitting their insidious message this very night, and we're going to find them, and silence them, permanently." The Captain paused, making eye contact with his Sergeants. "We do this as drilled. Two patrols will head out and triangulate whatever den the Arcanists are using. We converge upon it, and drag them out to face Guild justice. I want runners on the ground, and men on the rooftops. There'll be Watchers in the air and Austringers as well. The dog packs will be ready to chase the bastards down. I don't want anyone escaping. We move out in five." The ranks broke up, men falling out to make last checks on their kit, and prepare for the night ahead. # A string of messages was revealed letter by letter beneath O'Rahilly's pen, orders and reports transmitted from other short range broadcasters within the Arcanist network. What little rumour the disparate nature of the Arcanists' organisation permitted to travel said that Ramos had devised the code himself, and that deep in the bowels of Hollow Marsh a specialised arachnid construct tapped out messages with the tips of its many limbs, sending them out along a web of wires to broadcast stations. A message cut across the frequencies. The code was rapid, and O'Rahilly jotted it down as a string before decoding it. "2GP NE NW TRI" O'Rahilly confirmed the message, and considered it. The Guild's triangulation patrols were becoming a regular occurrence when the city was quiet enough for the men to be spared. Two groups increased their odds of success and their equipment was continually improving. He still believed that the Arcanists were ahead of the game, but there was no point taking chances. He adjusted the microphone and began his own transmission. # The Division specialist rotated the antenna and listened intently. The power reserve of the portable receivers was several limited and between that, the twisting streets of the city, and the ever present interference, getting a proper lock on the signal was an issue. He picked up the transmission, but not quite in the direction he'd expected, and there were ghosts of it at other points of the compass. He powered down the unit, the Sergeant's eyes upon him. "No firm direction this time Sir, but south seems to be the most consistent reading." "You heard the man. Move out." The Guards muttered as they moved off, complaining of the wild goose chase they'd been set upon. They'd moved in a wavering line across the city, under the order of Matherson's man and his device, for over an hour and had nothing to show for it. Intermittent communication from the other patrol had been delivered by the Austringer's Raptor, and from the Sergeant's reaction, they seemed to be having no more success. Returning empty-handed would bring punishment duties on top of more nights spent on this fiasco. # O'Rahilly ducked into the main transmission room, careful to tread quietly less his footsteps be picked up by the microphone. Lodge glanced around none the less, not even breaking his patter, as he read out news of Guild raids on the houses of Union members in the city. Lodge's broadcast was a different beast to O'Rahilly's work, and just as important. Set to transmit on a single frequency, and with a fairly strong signal, Lodge and others like him provided an alternative station for anyone with the means to receive them. The Arcanvox stations as they had come to be known, provided a platform for the Arcanist message, amongst news, general information and entertainment, all unfiltered by Guild control; a far cry from the staid and controlled official broadcasts. This came at a price though, and that was the signal being tracked by the Guild. "... and now time for a record, from out of Old London town." Lodge let the phonograph's needle touch the cylinder, and carefully removed his headphones. He walked silently out into the corridor, joining the retreating O'Rahilly. "What news?" "There's another Guild patrol out trying to triangulate a signal, but interference is being arranged." "They're always a step behind. Besides we've always got insurance." Lodge flicked a finger against the brass locket hanging around O'Rahilly's neck. "I'd rather not use it, if we don't have to." The smile O'Rahilly gave was bitter. "Well yes, it wouldn't be insurance otherwise. Who's dealing with the Guild?" "Our very own guardian angel." "Ha. They won't even get close." # The Guildsmen were spread out around the square. Those few unfortunate souls abroad in the middle of the night turned away quickly from the light of their lanterns shining down the streets and alleyways. At the centre of the open space, the Division specialist stood, antenna pointed southward, his commander next to him. "Sir I've got a positive fix, they're..." His words turned to a scream as he was wreathed in fire. The Sergeant staggered back, face singed by the heat, jagged spikes of metal that had been the vox receiver jutting from his chest. There was a piecing whine from above, as the Watcher plummeted, its wings alight, but still futilely flapping, its metal body red hot. It hit the ground with a shattering crash. A Fire Gamin appeared by the fallen construct, summoned from thin air, and skittered towards the nearest Guard, the cobbles beneath its feet hissing and cracking with the heat. The perimeter Guards recovered from the shock of the unexpected attack and turned their guns on the creature. Their accuracy was poor, but the weight of fire did the work, felling the creature, which exploded in a bright flash of burning, organic shrapnel. The Guards attention focused inwards: they didn't notice when their own men began to fall from gunfire, collapsing at the mouths of the streets and alleyways they had been protecting. Men and women festooned with pistols emerged from the sides of the square, catching the Guardsmen at the centre of a killing field. The remainder retreated towards the crashed Watcher, surrounding the Austringer who was frantically attaching a message to the leg of his bird, the ink hardly dry. The Raptor circled upwards, only to come spiralling to earth as another Gamin launched itself from a nearby rooftop, and brought the creature down, as a squawking, stinking mass of burning feathers, in the middle of the knotted Guardsmen. Outgunned, with their escapes cut off, there was little they could do, but sell their lives as dearly as possible. The Guildsmen charged. Kaeris circled high above the square on her mechanical wings, watching her forces dissect the patrol. Speed was of the essence, as there was the second group to deal with, before the alarm was raised. Something pinged off one of her wings, unsteadying her flight for a moment. She caught sight of a Guard on the rooftop, his gun raised, and swept down towards him, hands trailing fire. "I wouldn't have done that if I were you." # The next day the Arcanists reports of the ambushes were as divorced from the truth as the Guild's silence on the matter. "Early today the badly burned bodies of Guild Guardsmen were found in the city, having been attacked by parties unknown. Unsubstantiated rumours suggest that Sonnia Criid, head of the Guild's Witch Hunters, and known pyromancer, was seen with the patrols earlier in the night..." ____________ Word Count: 1570 Mystery Ingredients I've used everything to a greater or lesser degree. THEME: Heroism in the Face of Defeat (The poor Guild Guard with their last stand) CHARACTER: The Pirate (O'Rahilly et. all, manning the Arcanist's Pirate Radio). LINE: "I wouldn't have done that if I were you." (Kaeris, right at the end). ITEM: Brass Locket (Omniouly mentioned between O'Rahilly and Lodge. There was a lot more I wanted to do with this, but there just wasn't the words to have to plot get that far). There's a lot here I want to dig into, such as broadcast signal intrusions; where the Arcanists are transmitting from; the aether being just plain weird, turning the mind of listeners; the nature of the Guild broadcasts, including speakers declaiming the Arcanists; the Arcanists network; more of Kaeris; and a host of other things that disappeared during plotting writing and editing. The story almost started with a leap from a train. It's come a long way in a month.

I feel somewhat responsible for the Pirate thing, having picked it because I had no idea what to do with it, and foolishly liking a challenge. However, it seems the internet provides, in the form of the Great Lakes Pirates

This should be good. Sign me up.

Wow. Thanks everyone. I really didn't expect that, as it seemed a four or five way fight looking at the poll, and not one I thought I had a chance of winning. Congratulations to hippodruid, Victoria. Hope to see you all in the next round.

Sign me up. Story posted here

Shattered _____________________ Blood mottled his hands, stains in brown and red running all the way down his forearms, and splattering the rolled back sleeves of his shirt. His palms and fingers were webbed with cuts, a map of a thousand little scars, overlaid and overlaid again with fresh wounds. Beneath them all the oldest mark still stood out, longer than the others, a new life-line criss-crossing his palm. Crimson droplets had seeped into the floorboards, and bloody hand prints marbled the garret, chronicling their age in the inextricable reduction of unscored flesh. He stood by the room's sole window, and held two thin pieces of glass up to the light. The larger piece was palm-sized, its curves describing the sweep of a cheekbone, the edge of a smile and glitter of the eye, all terminating abruptly along its fractured border. The small piece was barely equal to a thumb nail, subtly curved. He held the two together, finding where they matched, never quite letting them touch. Palming the smaller piece he ran the ball of his thumb along the edge of the larger segment, blood welling up onto the glass. He bought the two pieces together again, and watched as they melded into one, the blood vanishing, along with any trace of a seam. The face was one part amongst many. The dismembered parts of a glass woman were laid out on the floor, what little furniture there was pushed against the wall to make room. The care lavished upon her was at odds with the degradation of both surroundings and keeper. A jagged section of torso caught the weak sun in the folds of the glass cloth and gently curved waist, casting dappled light on the growing damp patches of the ceiling. Part of an arm and hand lay, three delicate fingers curled, and the lines of the forearm ending in edges of wicked sharpness. Beside it a leather case, mildew furring the words "Mr J Walsh. Restorer" embossed into its side. Locks of hair, captured in crystal, lay encircling the head and shoulders. And on and on, the room a glittering with glass edges. The hollowness in the space between them was almost palpable, the ache of a vacuum needing to be filled. Whatever sense of self preservation remained to had stopped Walsh from assembling her more. Walsh turned from the window and regarded what he had wrought; a body built from glass fragments, each piece bought, bartered for, stolen or stumbled upon. Each one a fit for another, each one taking some small fragment of his life in the coupling, as he bled into the cracks between them, joints that would stretch for hundreds of yards laid out end to end. He felt the weight of the glass in his hand, the curve of the partially complete lips digging into his fingers, in a blood simulacrum of a kiss. He held the face up, almost nose to nose with it, his own image ghosting in the glass, a pale shade with hollow cheeks, straggling, blood matted hair and stubble turning to patchy beard. Turning the mask banished the reflection, and he looked through its half complete eye, and found himself battling the urge to press the glass to his face. Something in his mind rebelled, and with trembling hands he placed the piece on the table, retreating to the bed. # Walsh's reverie was broken by the sound of mismatched footsteps in the stairwell. Whoever it was they weren't to be allowed to interfere with his work. Fumbling for the small pistol he'd abandoned on the dresser top, he took aim at the doorway and waited, positioning himself between any assailant and the glass body. It was a act he'd had to perform often, but as yet no one had defeated the heavy lock he'd installed. Something struck the door, hard enough to shake flakes of plaster from the ceiling. The incongruous sound of metal grinding upon metal set Walsh's teeth on edge. He flexed his grip on the pistol, and drew a breath. There was the thud and jingle of something hitting the floor, and the door seemed to sag a little. Another punishing impact made the wood tremble, followed by more unwholesome wrenching. The door twisted inwards, propel by a heavy boot, pivoting upon the lock and hanging broken. The crumbled remains of the hinge fell from her twitching mechanical fingers as she walked into the room, all black eyes and manic grin. Rail thin and with shock of white in her short hair Walsh recognised her immediately, as the girl from Leveticus'. The gun kicked in his hand, firing both shots wide, bullets lodging in the wall behind her. The girl just laughed, and lifted a pistol of her own, doubled barrelled, with a mechanism of ticking clockwork. Ignoring the gun pointed at her as she advanced on him. "Sorry, should have knocked." She giggled again, choking back a snort, and cracked the pistol butt into the side of his face. Walsh toppled backwards onto the floor, fighting unconsciousness. A boot connected with his chin, finishing the job. "Glass jaw. Who'd have guessed?" # He awoke on his knees, to the feeling of the gun barrels pressed to his temple, iron fingers gripping his shoulder, and a boot pressing on his ankles. His jaw throbbed. He was knelt in the centre of her, amid the glass. The pull of the void inside her tugged at his mind. The old man was sat in the chair, cane resting against his augmented leg, holding part of her glass face in his mechanical hand. Walsh's eyes locked on it. He tried to lunge forward, but the hand on his shoulder restrained him, fingers biting hard into flesh. Sense overtook instinct, with the recollection of the mangled hinges, and he found his tongue. "What are you doing here Leveticus?" "I was going to ask you that, but it's obvious. I would have thought my intentions were equally transparent." "She's mine." "I think you're labouring under a misapprehension. Do you think I wouldn't notice you stealing from me? Do you think Alyce would have let you make it to the door? Do you think your pursuit of this wouldn't have raised eyebrows? Would you have made it this far without my protection?" "What protection? I don't need your help." "More than you know. The pieces you stole have been on display for some time, waiting for one of my customers to take the Captivating part of the name more literally than is good for them. I've been greasing palms and cutting throats to keep the rest of this city off your back, and letting you find the rest of the pieces. You've been like a bloodhound following her trail. I expect some return on my experiment." Leveticus seemed to remember the fragment of glass he was holding, weighing the piece in his hand for a moment, before bringing it down on the edge of the table. The glass didn't break, despite the force of the blow; instead it was the table that was marked. Walsh bucked in Alyce's mechanical grip, a scream wrenched from his throat, and blood suddenly streaming down his face. "You've given her too much of yourself Walsh. Too much by far. Unhappily for you that suits my purpose." Leveticus slipped into the tone he's used for lecturing Walsh when he'd visited the shop. "The glass prison was a punishment reserved for those practising forbidden magics. There's only one recorded incident of it, but everything the Guild pertaining to it has been expunged, apart from the fact of its happening. Only her cell remains. There's Soulstone dust melted into the glass they encased her in. Imprisoned in a cage as tight as her own flesh, and left to die, is it any wonder it absorbed so much of her? She longs to be reformed, and I'm inclined to help her. The road to hell is paved with good intentions Walsh. Whatever opening she found when she lured you into picking her up has lead you here." Leveticus spoke to the glass, not the man. "You've not been able to push him far enough have you? Given time he might have bent to your will, but I can offer you his body now." Leveticus stood, augmented leg creaking. Alyce holstered her pistol, and seized Walsh's wrists. The old man pressed the cold glass to Walsh's face. He could feeling his bones shift beneath its touch, their dull cracks echoing in his skull, felt more than heard. His cheekbone raised itself, and his chin narrowed, conforming to the inner contours of the woman's face. "If we reassemble you, you'll work for me. I'll require insight, and something a bit more practical from you. You might even get some revenge on the Guild. Do you accept?" Walsh nodded mechanically, but behind the glass his eyes were wide and scared. Leveticus reached for another piece of glass, and drawing blood began to reassemble the shattered prison. _____________________ Mystery Ingredients Character: The Glass Man Item: Clockwork Pistol Line: The road to hell is paved with good intentions Word Count: 1502 I'm about as happy as I'll be with this without pulling it apart, or exceeding the word limit.

I'll add a voice of agreement to this. The demo games don't build upon each other well when learning to play. It's game 4 before the standard method of starting the game is encountered for instance. Would it be better to run through like this. Game 1) Master and 2 puppets, per side, with the game starting with only the Master on the board. Exhaustion should be easier to introduce as it only happens on an action. Game 2) Master and 3/4 puppets per side, introducing ranged attacks and all on card abilities. Game 3) Add in "out of Faction models" to complicate activation, and Upgrades. Game 4) Add in the tactical quirk of Work Benches and it becomes the full game. The game needs to change up after each tutorial to keep interest, and introduce things as whole concepts, rather than piecemeal, modifying them continually.

I have indeed missed that section (insert swear). On my browsers (Firefox and iPhone) there is no heading for Definitions appearing in the top navigation bar when looking at the rules either, hence their absence. Clearly certain parts of the opening post become irrelevant, but I hope the majority is still pertinent. Having gone on above, I probably ought to do the job properly and work through what I missed. Important Definitions The first thing would be that this section ought to come, in some form, ahead of the rules, following the overview section, so everyone is working with the same understanding of terms used in the game, and can go backwards to check things rather than skipping ahead to find out what a term means (or more likely plough ahead thinking they know what it means). It seems to be a catch all section, and there are elements that deserve their own dedicated segment rather than being lumped in amongst other things. I'm thinking mainly of Counters, and examples thereof, and items that'd be more suited to sitting under a General Rules heading rather than at the back, such as Rounding, Friendly, Enemy etc. The entries for Counters and Stacking Effects seems to talk over each other with "...Counters ALWAYS stack with other Counters..." and "Only certain Effects stack..." It doesn't make for a clear first read through. There could be some expansion in the number of entries, adding Rips, Stitches, and Torn Apart and the like as the main rules for these are over-long when looking through for reference. This would be an especially useful addition if the section was moved to an earlier point in the rules. I suppose this hinges on if the Tutorial Games are going to be used as the "Read/Play This First" material, as they would have to introduce definitions of terms at an earlier stage. Two arguments for moving Definitions in the main rules would be 1) Players who have the 1st Edition are going to skip the tutorials and go straight to the rules, and will need things laid out clearly to avoid carrying over things from the previous version and 2) It makes sense to have the Main Rules and the Tutorials laid out in the same manner.

A few things spring to mind ahead of everything else, so here they are first... Are we going to be able to see the Tutorial Games rules as well, as these will be as vital to learning the game and getting people interested as the main rules themselves. No Definitions Section - This was an important reference in the first version of the game, and certainly needs to be included in some form in Unstitched, possibly even moved to the front portion of the rules so people are reader as intended rather than filling in meanings by inference. There's no word either way on attacking friendly models. Is it allowed and is it going to be necessary? There is no ruling on if the text on a card overrules the rules as written in the book. I'd assume that they do, but it's the stuff arguments are made of. Can we have separate activation trackers for each player, as trying to keep things straight with even only two players and changing activation priority needed head space that'd be better occupied with the game. For 3 or 4 players it's a headache for everyone. Before my thoughts on the rules, there are a few issues with the Cards as presented on the site at the moment The Executioner is listed as a Death Marshal, while much of the rest of the Guild models have become "Crime Fighters" instead. The details for the Rotten Belle are blank The abilities for the Ronin are missing. On the subject of cards, it's a shame to see things so cut down, on the Masters especially as the reduction of rules for other Puppets would seem to open space in the game to remain as complex as in the first edition. Not to mention the disappearance of many Puppets. After reading through the rules without playing through a game, here are my thoughts and suggestions. I've tried to split things by section, and where I've used numbered points it's to match the points in the rules rather than number my own musings. Edits, Notes, and Queries Game Overview This would benefit from giving a more clinical breakdown of the way a game turn works, proceeded by the more flavourful description, in order to provide a framework for the more detailed explanation of the rules to build upon. Elements Of War The suggested layout for the battlefield and surrounding area does not include provision for anywhere to place cards in play while making an action or animation cards. It might also help to mention the Control Hand at this point. In addition a diagram might be of use here, rather than relying on "to the right of" etc. 1. Battlefield There is no mention of using a board with squares on, such as the Terraclips terrain, which, to be fair, was alluded to in the Pattern Book last time. Talking of the Pattern Book is this the place to mention it. 6. Puppet Deck. Should this point to the "Meet Your Deck" section, and mention the need for a shuffled deck? 8. Out of Play. There is no specific area set aside for this, and it seems an offhand mention given the big role it plays in the mechanics of Upgrades etc. Battlefield Spaces Starting Work Bench The wording to this entry is different in style to the others in the section, which throws off the reading. It is far more of a rules piece than a description of the playing space if that makes sense. There needs to be a page number added here to point to the section on Work Benches, and possibly the addition of a line saying that this is where a Master is placed adjacent to when starting a game, and that they are marked with a coloured token chosen by the player. Impassable Spaces The first line should read "Place an Impassable Token (Black)" to match the style of the Neutral Work Benches entry. Understanding The Battlefield Splitting the definition of Adjacent and Range 1 into two separate points would be of help when flicking through the rulebook to clarify this, or simply highlighting Range 1, as it doesn't stand out as Range 2, and Range 3 do. I Can See You! Line OF Sight (LoS) While it may be an issue of the links in this section, the style/layout is different to the presentation elsewhere. While it is implicit a line about models not having a facing and having a 360° range of vision might help players coming from games systems where a limited field of view is taken for granted. For much the same reasons as the above it would seem wise to make clear that the LoS is taken from the space, not the model in it, by changing "From the acting model" in the first paragraph to " From the space occupied by the acting model" Meet Your Puppet Deck The introduction could be fleshed out saying there are 13 cards to each suit and that Jokers are included. To be a real pedant, it's not true that "Each card in the Puppet Deck has a Numerical Value and a Suit Value" as the Black Joker has no Suit Value, and it could be argued the Red Joker doesn't have one either. It'd be good to see the suits as printed in the font matched with the suits as shown on the Puppet Wars cards. The term Flipped is introduced in the Joker rules without having been previously mentioned, which is going to mean reading ahead in the rules for some people to find out when it does what it does. Discard Pile The wording of this section could do with being reworked to explicitly leave out cards in play (such as while making an attack action) and card in the Control Hand. Is it worth making clear that this can be done at any time, when the deck runs out? I also think that "Cut them" could be dropped from the list, as it falls under shuffling, but that's just me. The caveat about no player being able to look through the Discard Pile could be moved to a separate line, as it's an important point. Control Hand Size The first line explaining how the size of the Control Hand is generate deserves a line of its own, and "At the start of each Turn" and "At the end of each Turn" could do with being highlighted to make them stand out when skimming the rules. With the mechanics of how Control Hand Size is managed dealt with, the example would benefit from an example in which the player gains or losses work benches during the turn and can/needs to draw/discard cards because of this. Does there need to be a prevision for Puppets granting extra Control Cards?Using Cards While the flip, draw and play sections cover what each term means the language could do with beefing up to make these terms less interchangeable. Unless I missed it on a Puppet Card, Recycle has yet to be mentioned. Does the Random determination box out want to go elsewhere, as it's the go to method for dispute resolution and is a bit lost in the card section. An example of the mechanic, while mostly redundant, would serve to reinforce the use of the lowest card as the winning number, which feels counter-intuitive. Your Puppet Army What Makes A Puppet Given the role they play it'd be worth making clear from the outset that Master have different cards. Animation Requirement In a similar vein to the above, it might be worth adding here that some Masters alter the animation cost of friendly puppets. Characteristics (Ch) While it may just be a quirk of being used to other games, there doesn't seem to be a split between Characteristics (e.g. being a Metal Puppet) and what I'd think of as a Stats line of Df, Cb, UL, etc. The inclusion of the army building restrictions on Masters, Sidekicks and Pawns seems out of place here, being more suited to the "Fighting The War Section". Stitches - Rips and Being Torn Apart. It takes a very long time for the rules to truly lay out the mechanics of stitches and being Torn Apart, and this could do with being moved to an earlier section, as for much of the first read through it just sounds like Torn Apart is being used as a Puppety euphemism for being killed rather than being a specific and nuanced effect in and of itself. Your Master Puppet 2. Change the wording of "...at the start of play and begins the game In Play" to "...at the start of the game..." to differentiate between play and In Play. 3. What additional Standard Actions do Masters have? Either I've missed them, either in the rules or on the Master's cards, or they do not exist. Also, if these Standard Actions are only used by Masters, then they are, by their own definition, not Standard Actions. The Statistic Card (Upgrade Side) Does this want to be before the section dealing with Masters? Being a pedant again, there's no mention of the art work. Stitches Although it is mentioned later, could the fact that stitches are removed from the Puppet then the Upgrade be written in here as well. Fighting The War Setting Up A Puppet War I understand that it might be hard to include, but could we see a time estimate for the various sizes of game? A change to the wording of the different levels to clarify that the numbers are in addition to the Masters would be a very good thing to add, as would working the limits to the numbers of sidekicks at each set tier. The "Remember!" box needs to have the restriction of only having 3 of the same Pawn added in, as it's going to be a rule that gets forgotten, or missed while scanning the book otherwise. Step 5. The mechanic for setting up from a map then swapping out Starting Work Benches for those selected by a certain player seems clunky. If there was an additional counter or token for starting benches, then this could be placed while laying out the battlefield, then swapped out or left as appropriate, rather than the faffing that could take place with the written way of doing things. Obviously this is only going to really be an issue with multiple starting positions and multiple players, so I'll hold my hand up to overcomplicating things myself here. The above aside, there could really do with being an additional step added for placing the Master on the board, or at least a splitting of the paragraph to make it clear how you place the all important first model on the battlefield, as at the moment it is lost amid the larger list. Step 6: The direction to move to playing Puppet Wars seems to be unnecessary, as it's the next section. The Note box out would be better moved to under Step 2. Playing Puppet Wars This section really needs to open with a summary of the games steps/turn order. 1. Would it be worth noting that at the start of most games for most players that this will be 5. It's an exercise in redundancy, but it's probably worth making crystal clear. 2. The note about playing 5 complete animations breaks up the flow of the rules, especially as the sub steps are all written with the implied lead in of "..all players do the following in order..." Having been mentioned Animation Round is never strictly defined, and it really needs to be made clear for the game to work as intended, as it ties directly into how Exhaustion and the Control Hand work. "First: Animation Cards" seems to lead nowhere. The list needs to stick with using Control Hand rather than shortening it down. The Animation Card is mentioned then abandoned in the rules. Does it stay in the play area? While it is mentioned in step 6 as being discard this could do with being separated out into a separate point. There is no mention of what happens if you don't have an Animation Card high enough to activate any Puppets, which could be added in as a box out. 2.7 The wording here gets itself tangled up. A possible change would be "...move a number of spaces equal to its movement value..." rather than have the word times in there. A page reference for the Actions would be a good edition in the physical copy as well. Does a step 8 need to be added in to essentially say wash, rinse, repeat? 3.1 "..in this Turn", not "on this Turn" I'll mention this elsewhere (either at the top or the bottom of the post, so apologies for either repeating myself here, or below), but keeping track of animation is difficult with only the one tracker and altering turn order, as it can't just be left with one player to move the counter at the end of their activation, as that leads to confusion. Each player need their own tracker. The "A Turn I Puppet Wars" box out really needs to open this section, to provide a structure for the first read through. Losing and Winning A Puppet War From a purely wishy washy positive game experience side of things, I'd put how to win before how to lose. It seems to put the emphasis on the loser making a hash of things rather than the winner playing well. It'd be nice to see a bit of flavour in this bit about tearing them apart next time. The Tools Of Animated Puppets Animation Details The first paragraph here feels redundant, as its unrelated to what's about to be covered. A section about how Puppets are bought onto the board might be better, as at the moment the player only has a Master on the board, and no idea what is happening with the rest of his Puppets. Animating Puppets There seems to be no explicit restriction included here to the effect that you can't activate someone else's Puppets. What Animated Puppets Do Once again the phrasing seems to be tangled, and it'd be more readable to drop time entirely and have it as "An Animated Puppet may move a number of spaces equal to its movement value)..." A line break before "Additional effects..." in this paragraph would help this section stand out, as would re wording to read "Additional effects on your Puppet can increase of decrease its allowed number of Moves or Actions during its Animation." Animating Puppets Currently In Your Toy Box This can be reads as though the Puppet animates from its Stats card rather than from on the board. The sentences just need swapping around to read differently. Exhausted Puppets This section feels as though it is in the wrong place and would fit in better placed under the section dealing with Actions rather than here. There also the feeling that Exhaustion tokens might stack on a model, something which could do with being denied explicitly in this section. Effects that Change AR This box out should be moved to go below the "Puppet Animation Requirement" section. Taking Control of a Work Bench The Mine! Action says Enemy Work Benches says that you can change them to either Friendly or Neutral. This entry makes no mention of changing it to a Neutral Work Bench. Movement Harking back to the LoS section and 360° fields of vision, is might be worth spelling out that models can move in any direction. There is no mention of movement values in this section which seems to be a serious omission. Actions It's mentioned somewhere above, but there are no Master Only actions here. There is also no mention that Actions may be modified by Abilities, which, while it comes up later, is worth preparing people for. Performing an Action Example "Your total is based on the highest Numerical Value.." is there no cheating down in Puppet Wars? Cb and Attacking While it is mentioned that a model with Cb 0 may still attack it would be nice to see it explicitly stated that the player is able to use cards from the Control Hand with them. Action Value The addition of a sentence about Dodging chancing this, or the box out being moved to sit below it would be good, as it effects how the mechanic works in a fairly major way. Resolving a Successful Attack The specifics of Rips and being Torn Apart have still not been laid out at this point, and a page reference in the physical edition would point to these being more than just interchangeable words for wounded and killed. Scrounge The Scrounge action is repeated here, after being identically written up in the Actions section. There is no explanation of what the Special cost of Scrounge is, unless I'm miss reading things, as it is surely a (0) action as written? I Need This While it can't be an action, as it happens after a successful attack I Need This seems in a limbo between being the next step to an attack action or being something in its own right. Clarity is needed here. Rips And Tearing Apart Puppets I've said in the above that this section needs to referred to, and getting to it I'm not sure it's in the right place, but nor am I sure where it would go instead. The big issue that comes to my mind in this section is this... What happens if an Attached Upgrade with extra stitches is removed from a Puppet that has lost all its own stitches? Is that Puppet automatically killed? When a Puppet is Torn Apart, do the following: For the sake of keeping things on the board utterly clear, would it be easier to transpose steps 1 and 4 so the model is only removed from the board at the last possibly juncture to aid with placing Counters etc. When as effect specifically Tears Apart an Upgrade While I can see that 1 allows players to reclaim their own upgrades from the enemy if they have the ability to tear them apart the use of 2 eludes me, as why would a Puppet be in play at the same time as its upgrade? And thankfully for your eyes and my hands, that's all I've got. Hopefully it's all of use rather than the overlong ramblings of a Malifool. I can't wait to see Unstitched on the shelves and to lead the Puppets to War. May your Jokers always flip red.