Session Date: 11/17/2025
Inside the Prison
We all return to our new cells as we have put ourselves in.
Faylen’s cell mate has a sort of greyish skin that isn’t natural, they are not breathing, and he seems to have a permanent muzzle on his face. Faylen can also see that he looks familiar in a way that this might be another Zilardo (Xargh Zilardo) in service of Kincaid. He wakes up and recognizes that Faylen is not his cell mate and motions asking what is going on and why he’s here. Faylen shrugs and explains that he was just told to go here, and that they don’t tell him anything. The ghoul looks at him, then seems to accept it and goes back to sleep.
Bosch takes the place of the person who knew and seemed to hate him. He notices a drawing of himself on fire, and then another above the bed of Bosch being squashed by a giant rock. Tabby, sharing the cell with Bosch, asks who the guy is, and Bosch - after drawing a messed up version of the guy roasting a marshmallow over his burning figure - explains that it doesn’t matter now, since he’s out. Tabby comments that he just wants to know in case it becomes a problem later, which Bosch agrees that’s fair. Bosch comments that he’s uninteresting and it’s clear that Bosch doesn’t seem to consider him dangerous.
Beitris is with Mary. Mary lets the others know that Talitha can be sneaky and go through to scout for us. Beitris explains that there is a dungeon below in the cloud that is where the special prisoners are - Axamonar and other special prisoners would be down there.
Talitha goes off and scouts out. She makes contact with the rats and knows enough rat language to actually talk to them. She eventually returns to Mary and describes what she saw, and Mary ultimately sends her to talk to Faylen. Faylen listens to what Talitha has to say and he recognizes that there are a few ways to do this:
- Get the key - the warden isn’t the only one with it, we can perhaps find a copy
- I can disarm it, but this will take time
There is nothing we can do right now, so we all lie down to rest. Mary can feel what is almost like a magical hum going through the jail - it starts at the top and goes through the bottom. It envelopes Mary. Bosch sees in the cell in front of him, the manacles on the prisoners shine for a moment and the sleeping prisoners squirm when it goes over them. Bosch imitates the motion and acts like he is uncomfortable as it happens. There’s screaming from some of the other cells, and Beitris sits up when this happens.
Beitris said something happened and Mary said that yes, something’s happened - it seemed to be magic. Beitris asks if everyone’s being affected by magic, and Mary says perhaps. Beitris explains that everyone here is on edge and afraid. Beitris comments this isn’t a good place. She hasn’t been to prison before, but she doesn’t think they’re like this. Mary’s also never been to prison either so she isn’t sure. Beitris comments that there will be some interesting people to deal with tomorrow. They start to wonder if they should try to go and free Axamonar now.
Mary relays what she and Beitris were talking about to Faylen, who relays it to Tabby. Bosch relays the information about the manacles and the magic to Faylen who recognizes that there is magic in the castle to put people into a state of fear - so another feature of the manacles is to bring this fear to them and keep them on edge. The Warden knows about it and likely is the person triggering it, but Faylen doesn’t know what the plan is or what the exact nature of it is.
We discuss the door and agree that it is better not to do anything tonight. Bosch suggests we all look for keys on guards belts and Mary comments that Faylen could try to match the proper magic signature. Faylen comments that he’d need to see the door for that in order to make sure he knows the signature, then asks Beitris if the prisoners ever take food down to the dungeon. She says that sometimes the guards get lazy and pick a prisoner to take the meals to downstairs for them when the Warden is not looking. Sometimes the Warden just walks the halls and nobody can touch him.
Bosch suggests we all rest tonight and then pair off into teams to explore tomorrow and mix with the general population and try to see what’s going on. Bosch will try to get Faylen to the door to see it.
The Next Morning
We all get up and are escorted to get our morning gruel. We notice that there is a guy sitting with quite a few flunkies around him, and some people seem to think he’s Very important. Faylen recognizes that this is Sonny Breakwater - some of the crimes that The Breakwater Company did were too much so they had to have a fall man. He’s the black sheep of the family and became the scapegoat. He’s not a nice guy.
Beitris comments that we can perhaps use him to rally the general population and stir up a prison riot. There’s a lot of back and forth where we decide that we shouldn’t do it right now, but that is something we will definitely need. Bosch gives Beitris the key to unlock the manacles so that she can be ready to free up prisoners for this venture.
Bosch & Zilardo
Xargh Zilardo finally enters and sees Bosch and his eyes go wide in surprise. Bosch sees Xargh and ultimately excuses himself to go over and speak. Bosch hails him and says “they got you too, buddy?” Bosch says, “That Kincaid…” and Xargh motions for Bosch to not say that name. Bosch asks if there’s still any Xargh left in there, and Xargh nods yes. He motions to his stomach to show he’s hungry. Bosch tests Xargh, telling part of a story and has Xargh fill in the rest of the details. Xargh has a hard time focusing, though, and Bosch takes this as ghouls are more focused on hunger. Bosch asks if he only eats meat and that they don’t have meatball Mondays, and then comments that of course not.
Xargh makes a motion of biting a finger and Bosch understands that they’ve forgotten about Xargh when it comes to food. Bosch comments that he doesn’t want to start a riot or anything, but that he heard them talking that someone died, and so there is that — maybe there is a way to feed Xargh after all. Bosch will keep an eye out, but Xargh owes him. Xargh agrees. He motions to the muzzle and Bosch says not yet, because if he removes the muzzle there will be a fight, and it’s not time for that. Bosch finishes up giving Xargh information on how to find him if he forgets, as he forgets stuff a lot.
Mary & Tabby
Tabby keeps his eyes and ears open to see what’s around. There’s a lot of talking, but not a lot of anything being said - people filling the air to not feel so alone. Guards are standing straight as if they are waiting for something, but nothing is happening quite yet.
Tabby slips away and basically disappears. He slips into places where others are not expecting him and he sees what looks like a man not wearing any manacles with a very elaborate cane in his hands, and glasses. Tabby can tell that this is the Warden, and he has not yet noticed Tabby. The Warden seems to be on a stroll, just taking a leisurely walk down the corridor of this horrible prison that he is managing. He does not look imposing at all - just looks like a man.
Tabby looks at him and can see shimmering at the edges of the Warden. There’s something connecting the Warden that goes into the darkness above - almost like a line or string of some kind. It occurs to Tabby that what he’s seeing might not be the whole Warden.
Tabby returns right as Bosch and Faylen are about to leave and explains to Faylen what he saw. Faylen thinks about it and realizes that there aren’t many things that can do something like what Tabby explains - have a humanoid form that is part of it, or somehow puppeted by something, and the fear effect on this place… Whatever he is, he’s something that we haven’t faced yet. It’s definitely some sort of magical being.
The Warden walks into the cafeteria and there’s a sharp intake of breath as he enters. He approaches some of the prisoners to talk to them and it’s clear that everyone he talks to grows more afraid. Faylen slips away and the Warden makes note that there’s another one afraid that leaves.
It’d the better part of an hour, but Faylen would be able to disable the magic to get the door open. He returns to the cafeteria and sits down to tell the rest of them what he found.
Bosch slips away from Faylen on the way back to the cafeteria and finds the morgue and gets a hand for Xargh to eat. He makes Xargh promise not to hurt “the pretty boy because he’s the forever nerd and they need a nerd in the party”. Xargh pretends he understands and then Bosch takes the lock off of his muzzle and Xargh devours the hand ravenously. Xargh promises not to bite any of his friends and then comments that he knew his cell mate was too nice and put together to be here. Xargh decides he’s getting out alongside the group.