Field Report - A Death in the Family

This is Tayrn.  For those who have not been informed, Quon Jih-Eaux of the Silent Mongoose society has been killed. I can assure you all that the gentleman who killed him will be sorted out.

Our team toe enter the tournament of Lao Mao should have arrived at this point. The team includes Diego and Ghengis as combatants in the tournament. Alistaire Traficant, Baron Sang, Aremasu and Joe have also journeyed as their retinue. We will inform you if anything happens of interest there.

Old Man Crow, Vivek and Lord Hoshi will be returning Quon Jih-Eaux's body to his ancestors in Macao.

Agent Profile - Danh Tu

OK, some of you were probably wondering whatever happened to that "monstrous Monster" we were talking about last time.  Well we brought him back to the present, gave him the name Danh Tu, and threw him in the harbor outside of Kampong Saom, Cambodia. 

Aren't you glad I cleared that up?

Actually though we weren't quite that capricious.  Due to poor understanding of the netherworld and juncture travel we ended up in Vietnam when we came back with Tarkus and Danh Tu.  Danh Tu was an abomination, or so the nomeculture goes.  In his particular case that means he has webbed feat, pale gray skin, slit eyes, a rather hideously toothy mouth and bad breath.  I suppose you might have guessed the bad breath on your own.  On the other hand he is a charming person if you can stand to be around him.  Upon returning it was quite clear that he had zero chance of fitting into society. 

Madrigella had a waterproof computer made through some connections of hers, with a specially bright screen, and we jimmied a way for him to patch into a cable that runs from Bangkok to Kampon Soam.  With that we have stayed in touch with him, and he has served as an ad hoc member of the Silent Mongoose society.  Vivek has particularly befriend him, both of them feeling somewhat cut off from normal society I guess. 

He's the Aquaman to Vivek's Batman I guess.  Best not to think that way, since I am guessing I would end up as Woozy Winks in that analogy. 

Anyway if you go to Asia you might encounter him, but for the most part he keeps his own company.  He is sometimes hard to contact, as he does enjoy exploring and feels little need to stay at home all the time. 

Agent Profile - Tarkus

Let me take you back, way back, to the age of the caveman. OK, maybe not that far. Just back the beginning of the Rogue Elephant Society when we were operating out of a cheap hotel in central Florida.

Well, we still are operating out of that hotel. Mr. Oliphaunt isn't all that motivated. Anyway he recruited me and Tayrn first. Me and Oliphaunt knew somewhat about the other junctures, although not nearly as much as we know now. Anyway we did the recruitment thing, picking up the late (but not much lamented) Jack Munroe, Madrigella and Old Man Crow. So we had a team of sorts and we knew about the other junctures. Upon careful review and discussion and a certain amount of drinking it was determined that the 1850 juncture was probably the safest for us to visit.

So naturally we ended up in 2056.

Yeah, we didn't know as much as we thought we did.

2056 is not a good juncture for amateurs to visit. And its very hard to get a good drink there, unless you make it to Norway and you like mead (I did and I do, but that is not germane to the story).

At any rate, through a series of interesting encounters I found myself with Madrigella at the Captain Michael Eisenhower Correctional Facility. For a change I was on the pleasant side of the bars. We were investigating some sort of monstrous monster who had rebelled against the system. The nice thing about a system as stratified as that one is that they are afraid not to believe a superior.

Anyway while there we encountered Tarkus, a young man with a distinctive style who was due for processing. Apparently, he had been caught transporting stolen goods. But what was fascinating was the long list of crimes he had apparently committed. Crimes in 2056 are a bit different than current crimes. And apparently one of his larger sins was that he had reconstructed over 20 cars from the 1950s to the 2015s, old gas guzzlers. This was of course an environmental crime. He also had some spotty involvement with the Dallas Rockets and he had been accused of being a Jammer (no big deal, that. Most criminals are accused of being tied to the Jammers. Hard to prove, and it makes the station look good).

Anyway we needed some muscle and a guide, so we busted him. It's not like we had to bribe him with much; just all of Oliphaunt's cars.

Tarkus is a driver; it's what he does. He's good at it. I don't know how much more I can say than that. He's good with firearms, but not spectacular. Oh, and he and Johnny Grease have something going on. I won't speculate, but it seems to involve glaring and swearing. He does get on with the Car-Puchin though.

Ok that's enough history for one day. Talk to you later.

Agent Profiles

Tayrn here. Here is a sheet giving you a rundown of our rosters. It's a work in progress, and of course is incomplete but it has a lot to start with.

Agent Profile - Ghengis

Hey, it's your friendly neighborhood Duck here.  Anyway I'm here to write about Ghengis our kung fu hippy from gangsta city.  Only he's not really from gangsta city. 

Thousands of years ago there was a great empire on the Mongolian steppes of Mongolia.  Did I mention that Tayrn didn't hide the key to the liquor cabinet very well today?  Come and get it.  Or, you know, what's left of it.  Anyway Ghengis lived in this great empire in the year 67 or so by our reckoning.  Don't bother looking in the history books for records of this empire.  It's not there anymore.  Ghengis  saw to that, apparently. 

Silver Slippers speculated that the empire was a Mageocracy, based on ancient pacts.  If the palaces and castles of the ancient city were held together by magic, than what happens next might cause them to more or less wink out of existence, leaving no trace.  Of course it's also possible that Ghengis  and his allies caused a localized critical shift.  

At any rate, Ghengis  describes his home kingdom as pretty bad.  Very repressive.  He was part of a resistance group, the one that finally succeeded at entering the castle.  The guards looked the other way while he and his allies fought a terrific battle with the priests of some heathen god from that part of the world (not that I have anything against heathen gods, of course).  Ghengis  kills the last one himself, after the battle has ended up with everything in the palace dead.  Unfortunately the last priest had opened a door to another world; wherein Ghengis  found himself trapped. 

Ghengis stumbled around the netherworld for a bit; fighting demons and other types, until finally tumbling through into those caves at Lascaux, France.   The ones with the cave paintings.  He ended up pretty quickly in a French jail.  Fortunately for him, Alistaire Traficant was in the area, investigated, and quickly figured out his back story (or at least this much).  He paid his bill and brought him to Mr. Oliphaunt.

Ghengis  isn't the most cheerful of fellows; he hates magic in all its forms.  His passion for hating magic makes us Ascended look almost pro-magic.  His outlook is a bit primitive but he is far from stupid.  He gets on with the Karpucian, and he apparently believes that Barry Ho is some kind of reincarnated angel.  The lest said about that the better. 

Baron Sang stays in human form when around him, however, and the Psychedelic remained on the periphery of involvement precisely to stay away from him.  He's never met Silver Slippers either, but he did meet Old Man Crow.  Apparently Old Man Crows style of magic didn't bother him very much; on the contrary he treated him with a certain amount of deference. 

Ghengis has got excellent kung fu as mentioned above.  His hands move faster than the human eye.  He claims that he used to be considerably more powerful, but that he was tainted by his journey through the netherworld or something like that.  Anyway he's still pretty good in my book.  Mr. Oliphaunt has been trying to convince him that as he fights the good fight, he can purify himself of the taint.  I don't know about that, but I guess it's worth a shot.  If you team up with him, use stealth; but once combat starts, let him get out front and do his thing, while you circle him, helping pick of enemies.  Obviously never introduce him to a magi of any kind, unless you want him to kill that mage.

Anyway writing this has caused undesirable sobriety, so I'm off.  Tune in later when I will be too drunk to type. 

Field Report - Jean Baptista

Hey this is Molly. Thanks for the nice words, Duck. Just wanted to let you know that I might not be able to attend the Battle in Bangkok. We have got an unusual message from Silver Slippers, who was doing some follow up work on the Emmental Council.

On the plus side, I do have an ally who will be attending. His name is Jean Baptista. He studies Savate and he's reasonably good at it. He's also a cook for Les Mets de Provence in Marseilles. Madrigella did a check on him, and found that he's well liked among the cooking community there in Marseilles. Apparently they are pretty protective of him. At any rate, he is going to be attending the fights, for reasons of his own. I suggest you make contact with him, assuming I am unable to attend. He may be of some use to you.

I hope I see you there, but if not, good luck!

Agent Profile - Molly O' Shaunessay

My admiration for the lovely ladies of the Mangey Unicorn Society knows no bounds despite the pain that each has inflicted on me.  Silver Slippers turned me into a frog for a brief period of time, Gretal accidentally stabbed me shortly after we met, and Lady Saturday has barely noted my existence.  And, in the greatest injury of all, Madrigella actually consented to go out with me for a brief period of time before breaking my heart.  But none of them hurt me quite the same way Molly did.  She hurt me with her fists.  Repeatedly. 
 
I guess I should note that Ms. Molly is the only one who you can go out drinking with.  I should also note that my comportment when I have been drinking is not always as . . . refined as I might wish it to be.  At any rate, many is the morning I have woken up in an ally after having spoken some ill chosen words.  Molly does always leave a bottle of aspirin in my pocket, and it's damned hard to stay angry with her. 
 
I guess that's Molly in a nutshell right there.  She fights better than any three people and she's so personable that you don't hold a grudge. 
 
She was an acquaintance of Tayrns back in the old country (for those who don't know, Tayrn's past is pretty interesting, but I'm supposed to talk about it).  Anyway when Tayrn left all that behind to work for Mr. Oliphaunt, the only person she stayed in touch with was a bare knuckle champion named Molly O'Shaunessey.  We used her on a couple of European jobs as extra muscle, and noticed that people just liked talking to her.  She has a natural gift for languages, fortunately.  So when Madrigella was dispatched to form the Mangey Unicorn Society, Molly was her first recruit. 
 
And that's her story.  If you end up working along side her, let her do the leg work.  In combat she'll be a bit fearless.  She is basically a boxer, but she has studied several other martial arts styles and is very limber and loose on her feet.  She's tough too; in combat it's best to move around the edges picking off enemies while she goes up the middle.
 
That's all for this edition; hopefully I can find that Genghiz guy and give you the lowdown on our other non Mongoose martial artist. 

Agent Profile - Vivek

The Duck here.  Since I did two from the American group, let's check in with the Mongeese.  Oh, I had that drink I was talking about by the way.  And a couple more. 
 
Anyway Vivek.  He's got issues.  Apparently his ancestry were connected with one of the Dakaiti.  For those of you with big vocabularies like me you know that that word means gang of thugs.  Unlike the other gangs of thugs known as the thuggees, the Dakaiti tended to be more interested in the money rather than with any sort of religious symbolism.  Course there are those who say that the Dakaiti were just rebels anyway. 
 
Hey I do have a life outside of booze.  A little reading never hurt anybody.
 
Anyway Vivek's grandpapa was a leader in a Dakaiti, but his dad didn't want anything to do with it.  After giving his son plenty of opportunities to join, finally one of his lieutenants, thinking to curry favor with the old man, paid a little visit to Vivek's home in New Delhi.  He killed his dad and his mom, being a particularly sloppy and stupid killer, and upon returning to the old man for his reward, he got it.  Something involving crocidiles, I think. 
 
Vivek was naturally a bit upset by this turn of events and he dissappeared for several years.  His grandpapa spared no expense to round him up, but it was all in vain.  Then a figure started appearing at the edges of organized crime.  A very tough little figure with a whole lot of gadgets and firearms.  He fought crime with two intricately carved gold plated firearms, dressed in the outfit of a temple guardian with an intricate golden mask.  He destroyed his Grandfather's Gang, and continued fighting crime in India and Southeast Asia.  And no I don't know if Vivek and his Grandfather ever met again; I think it's impressive how much I know anyway . 
 
His contacts in the Asian crime world are second to none, and he's a skilled gunman.  We contacted him very circumspectly, and introduced him to Old Man Crow and Lord Hoshi.  They got along well enough, although Vivek still spends a lot of time on his own agendas.  Still he has remained loyal and extremely useful to the Rogue Elephant society, and if you need to know anything about crime in the Far East, he's your man. 
 
On the other hand if you ask him for a nearby half decent bar, and he'll look at you like you grew an extra head.  And on that note, I'm off. 

Field Report - Mr. Oliphaunt Returns from NYC

Mr. Oliphaunt has just returned from Manhattan.  His exact words were "There exists an opportunity for us in the Far East."  According to his information there is some sort of fighting tournament in the area of Bangkok that we might interesting.  
  
Truthfully, Mr. Oliphaunt has been less than communicative since returning from his trip.  Most of what we know is sketchy.  Vivek has made use of his contacts to determine that this fight is being conducted by a Mr. Lao Mao.  He is involved in drugs and slaves as well as having a stake in several of the big far eastern Crime organizations, including, it is rumored the 97 Chrysanthiums. 
 
According to Vivek, Lao Mao has an island where the fights are held.  He has visited it once, where he rescued Lord Hoshi who was being held as a prisoner.  While there he took part in the tournament under an assumed name.  At any rate that eliminates Lord Hoshi as one of the contestants.  Vivek says that he had better not attend either, although Quon Jih-Eaux may attend. 
 
It is unclear right now what our best approach to this problem is, but I would advice all other Martial Artists, particularly Molly O'Shaunnessy and Genghiz to prepare themselves in case we need them to enter the tournament.  Johnny Grease and Barry Ho were already planning on traveling to that area for personal reasons, and may be available to help in a support capacity.  More details will be forthcoming as we gather more information. 
 
Edited to add: Barry Ho is  correct in his report of my error (the name is Lao Mao, not Lo Pan), but incorrect in his diagnosis of why I made it.  In fact it is Mr. Oliphaunt who has, perhaps, viewed too much cinema. 

Agent Profile - Johnny Grease

OK here's another one of these profiles.   Johnny Grease.  He's just this guy, you know? 
 
He's ex-Mafia from New York or New Jersey.   I am not sure which but he's not too comfortable in either area.  He's ok looking but not someone who jumps out at you, particularly the way he dresses.  Usually in jeans, a black t-shirt and a duster of some sort.   He goes everywhere heavily armed.  He's equally good at up close in your face action and long range elimination.
 
He did a few jobs early on for Oliphaunt.  After recruiting a fair amount and realizing that he was going to need even more operatives, Oliphaunt figured he would use smaller missions to test candidates.  Johnny Grease had a rep, but he was supposadly retired.  Oliphaunt called him and arranged a few eliminations, which he carried out handily. 
 
Johnny doesn't answer a lot of questions; so I don't have too much more to write.  He's been partnered with Barry Ho, and the two get on well enough.  He doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, and doesn't stay at Oliphaunts hotels; he keeps his own places.  I don't know what he does on his own time. 
 
If you work with him, let him take care of any hired muscle, while you focus on the target.  He's extremely good at that.  OK that's enough, I'm going to go get a drink.

Field Report - Kentucky

OK here's the rundown. We suffered no casualties past minor scrapes and bruises. The Emmental Council suffered the following setbacks.

* Destruction of their base of operations, thanks to Blast Packs set by The Karpucian and Joe.

* Death of the Angry Duke, presumed death of the Darkest Soul (a body recovery mission returned inconclusive results).

* Capture of the Ashen Duchess. We are questioning her currently.

* Various other creatures destroyed.

* Recovery of various computer systems and records.

This should leave the Emmental Councle crippled for the forseeable future.

There are few loose ends however.

* We were unable to recover the Gentle Doubt's children (of the Seat of Air).

* The Seat of Ice was not on the premises during our attack or possibly she exited the premises before the attack began (a clarification; initial reports suggested that the Mangey Unicorn Society had eliminated the Seat of Ice. It turns out that they eliminated her chief disciple).

* The Seat of Electricity has abandoned the Emmental Council, but Madrigella recommends letting him go.

All in all a very successful outing.

Agent Profile - Aremasu

The Duck here. Tayrn is picking on me for not keeping up on these so out of the goodness of my heart I am getting back at them (that, and she hid the key to the liquor cabinet). Today I am focusing on our Zen Archer Aremasu.

Aremasu was one of the greatest archers of the 1850 juncture. Truthfully his skill is said to rival that of Sun Chen, master archer of the Guiding Hand. But he is distinguished from his fellow bow stringer by two important characteristics. He's not an anal retentive Confucianist with a big old stick up his tuckus, and he is still living (meaning no disrespect to Sun Chen).

Aremasu's devotion to Buddhism caused him to come into conflict with the Guiding Hand and the Ascended. Also his desire to avoid entangling himself with the material world led him to leave himself exposed to his enemies. Fortunately for him, Tayrn sent me and Tarkus to the 1850s. I don't know how he managed it, but let me say you haven't seen 1850s Japan until you've seen it from a 1978 El Camino. We rescued Aremasu, filled him in on what few details he hadn't figured out for himself, and brought him back to the present.

He's quiet but polite. His demeanor might lead some to assume he lacks verve or skill. Allow me to dispel any such illusions. He's definitely got skills. He is, however, an intellectual pacifist. That doesn't mean he won't fight and even kill in combat, but he won't kill out of combat. Nor will he allow his companions to kill outside of combat. It's a trait that some may find annoying or impractical, which is why Tayrn and Oliphant have kept him in the back ground up until now. With things heating up, however, I don't think he'll be staying in the background.

Also, the obvious question, he does speak reasonably good English (learned it from some Cowboy who traveled to China seeking his fortune, apparently), but he does not have too much experience with modern machinery or devices; so expect him to ask a lot of questions. He is part of the Rogue Elephant society rather than the Mongoose, because apparently, it depresses him to see how materialist Japan has become.

Maybe I ought to try telling Tayrn it depresses me to see an empty glass.

OK, we'll be back later with some more insights into our little family of miscreants.

Field Report - Omami Shoto

This is Vivek reporting for the Silent Mongoose Society. We have undergone some challanges since our last report. We recieved intelligence that suggested that a missing nuclear device was being sold in an auction on this island.

Unfortunately that intel was a ruse to lure us here. Once we were here our ship was destroyed and we found ourselves taking part in a test of a very different type of weapon. Our captors described themselves as Xeno-biologists, and they tested a new creation on us. It was about 4 meters long, had six legs, and resembled a komodo dragon. It had, however, a horn on it's nose and wickedly sharp claws. One wounded Crow, but he recovered relatively quickly. We were able to dispatch the rest of them, and seize control of the compound. As near as we can tell the creature was created here.

There was one unusual device that seems to have been used to incubate the creatures. We were able to find an invoice for it, and it came from a factory in West Texas. I gather there has been an investigation into another factory in that area, and it seems likely that this is the same one. I cannot imagine Sollay Texas having two such factories.

At any rate, we are stuck here for the moment, but should be able to return to Macao within a few days.

Field Report - Paris

The Mangey Unicorn Society has decamped to Paris, as it appears that the European branch of our enemies have no presense here, and security is a priority for the moment.

Through my contacts, some legwork by Silver Slippers and Molly, and some expert computer work by Lady Saturday (although we all miss Gretal's proficiencies), we've put together a part of a report.

The name that crops up most in our research is La Societe Emmental. Emmental being a type of cheese, I suspect this is a subtle joke. They are very quiet; but among those who have at least a connection to the group are a Swiss confectionery company, a Marseilles street gang, a London philanthropic organization, a group of Dutch Hacker / Anarchists, and a Polish Grainery consortium. Obviously they have a wide range of interests.

Silver Slippers has reported a strange phenomenon; magic is easier in some locations connected to them. She and Molly investigated the Swiss confectionery Company, when she realized how much easier it was for her to call upon her fae abilities. She finds this very troubling, and has left us to journey to the Black Forest and commune with the Fae Court.

Putting one and one together, I would suggest that we are facing mages of some sort with a particular focus on elemental magic. This is suggested by our encounters. We have heard reports of Lightning Monsters, Writhing Water Tentacles, Flame-covered Samuris, Ice Wielding Mages, and so on. Another clue is the word Emmental, which, in english, sounds somewhat close to the word Elemental.

All of this is mere conjecture, of course. And fortunately we do have one piece of hard evidence. We were able to recover a laptop that they had used to order parts. While the device itself contained no useful information, in dismantling it (apparently to relax), Lady Saturday noted that it contained an unusual homing style device. She carefully removed it from the device, and examined it. It is technology that is not common at this time, as the inventor of this particular device won't be born for another three years. She was, however, to track it to a manufacturing plant in Sollay, West Texas. The town has a population of about 15, but it does contain this manufacturing plant and I for one would very much like to know what is inside it.

The only other clue is that I am trying to arrange a meeting with another mystic, an old "friend" of mine. He's a scheming and conniving bastard, but he might give us some useful information. I should know more in couple of days.

Madrigella

News Report - weird Happenings!

Tayrn here. Here's a section from a recent Alistaire Traficant column. For those who don't know Traficant is a friend of Mr. Oliphaunt and a drinking buddy of the Duck. He's claims to be part Svart Aelfan, whatever that means. He's alternatively charming and selfish, and I've had to lay him out on more than one occasion.

And finally, there is no need to tell me any further about the mysterious events occurring at the Adam's Mark Hotel. Some unmitigated nonsense about an electricity monster? I'm not denying the dark visitors that sometimes plague our world. I've visited cyclopean tombs and eldricht temples on five continents, and I can attest that such creatures clearly exist. But not in Jacksonville Florida.

I'm informed that there was even a science fiction convention being held at that hotel; what people took as a electricity monster was probably some sort of elaborate costume. As for tales of a man leaping and running along side the third story windows, well, let me just say that in the real world there's a distinct shortage of wires for people to hang from.

As always I encourage my readers to watch for the real wonders and dangers of the unseen world, while keeping an eye out for transparent frauds such as this.

The official records of that night have been scrubbed as normal, and the video cameras from the hotel lobby were, fortunately, completely destroyed during the fight. Quite a feat that, but we were pretty alert that night.