GIG: Morning Shift

GIG: Morning Shift
Date	9/3/2025
Storyteller	Doug
Tier	Trainee
Player Characters	Lady Aruwyn Briar, Sabelle Regalia, Mimi, Tris
Rewards	300exp, 120g, Maiden's Chime of Secrecy, Aeon Stone (Pearly White Spindle), Mirror of Brutal Truth, Bracelet of Dashing, Disguise Kit
Result	Success
Author	Lady Aruwyn Briar (Aru)
Downtime	1

A collection of short tales from the streets of Onadbyr.

(The following pages are written with an elegant, stylish flourish)

Dearest reader, I present to you today a collection of short stories chronicling the work of the associates of Onadbyr; I challenge you to search for a common theme or moral within.

I, magnanimous soul that I am, found myself approached with a plea for aid by the esteemed consortium of mages charged with handling the chaotic magics all too regularly running rampant in our lovely city. While normally I would have to decline such meager work, I thought it may be an opportunity to encourage the growth of some of the junior associates with the benefit of my wisdom to guide them. I, the distinguished Lady Aruwyn Briar, of course have no need for introductions, but allow me to detail my assistants for today:

• Sabelle Regalia –a mysterious human cleric adorned in less-than-modest amounts of modest-quality clothing and with a gauche mask of questionable craftsmanship covering his face. One could almost forgive his poor upbringing for how eagerly he plies himself as a versatile handyman for jobs such as these.

• Mimi – an animated stuffed doll – perhaps cursed – and with a strange habit of hoarding mundanities. I would encourage you, dear reader, to never allow such a creature to touch you, as they seem capable of inflicting great harm with some manner of foul magics channeled from some profane font.

• Tris – another animated doll of some sort, this one obsessed with beds for some reason. The citizenry find her frankly terrifying, and seeing the cursed magics she brings forth amongst friends and fiends both, I could hardly blame them.

A humble cast, to be sure, but with my esteemed guidance, even these can be heroes.

After I personally retrieved the list of locations to be surveyed from one dwarven “Joe”, Sabelle graciously volunteered to do the paperwork for this job, ever eager for my praise. Unfortunately, he had stiff competition, as Mimi quickly stole the documents from his hand as he worked and erased his entries that she may do it herself. She proved quite a deal slower than Sabelle, and it took her most of the day to finish the few pages she had damaged. I must confess, I cannot offer compliments for such shoddy work, even to someone who so enthusiastically seeks it.

But I’ve wasted enough ink on setting the stage; allow me to share with you our first story.

Gertha’s Gambit – the Bewitched Bovine

In a sunny field, our assistants find themselves wrestling with a peculiar creature: one “Farmer Jacob’s” cow Gertha that had gained the power to breathe fire out of both ends.

It was Sabelle who first approached the beast, deciding the best course of action would be to try to coax all of the fire out; Mimi offered to help with his efforts. They managed to tip the creature over, and the gouts of flame that followed were indeed very impressive. Unfortunately, it seemed as though this was a temporary solution, as the flames continued to build back up.

Tris volunteered herself to examine the cow and try to find the source of the flames. Unfortunately, the main way of checking a cow’s health is a rather hands-on endeavor. This is how our assistant found herself waist-deep reaching inside of a cow from behind; a rather unbecoming and gruesome sight, if I’m being honest, not aided by the audible noises of her gulping down gouts of gas as they escaped the creature. When she emerged, she managed to explain that some foul parasite was present in the beast, before promptly walking away and vomiting chunks of stuffing all over the well-trimmed grass of the pasture.

Sabelle offered to abort the creature, and after conjuring a severed hand and offering it the blessing of his god, commanded it inside of the cow to do the deed. The hand never emerged, but the flames did indeed fade.

While their efforts were perhaps less than heroic, I was certain to praise them all for managing to complete a job without my intervention being necessary.

Martha May’s Malicious Mirror

I find myself in the abode of one “Martha May”, a woman of some class who has been having a disagreement with her mirror as of late. It seems as though the mirror had some manner of enchantment on it that caused it to whisper the flaws of anyone who looked into it.

I sent my assistants to deal with the mirror in the basement while I chatted with our hostess. Unfortunately, it seems as though all three of them were unable to handle the cursed object; by the time I went to check on them, Mimi had become violent with Sabelle and Tris was pantomiming weeping in the corner. Seeing no other choice, I elected to solve this case for them before morale faltered too much; there would be more chances for them to challenge themselves in a more friendly environment.

As I approached the mirror, I of course heard no such critiques from it, legendary beauty that I am. Since I was unaffected, I offered to pay Martha May for the mirror, but she insisted I take it for free, as a gift.

To Tame Treacherous Tools

A local blacksmith named Vin discovered anything made by his tools seems to be animated and hostile.

Ever the skeptic, Sabelle insists he tests the man’s claims and attempts to make a mask with the tools. If I’m being honest, there isn’t much artistry in his work, but it’s passable enough to prove a point. He gives this object to Mimi, who immediately put it on, at which point it warped and enveloped her entire head, attempting to suffocate her, though she manages to quickly rip it off of her head.

I give Tris some kind words of encouragement, nervous creature that she is, and she manages to deduce correctly that the tools are alive and actively infusing creations with malicious energy. None of my assistants have an immediate solution to this, though Sabelle claims to know someone in town who can handle the tools, and so he takes them with him as we leave.

Patience: The Porch Plan

An elderly couple in Little Monarch seem to be having trouble with their porch creaking. I do firmly insist to them that even my assistants simply do not have time to help with mundane carpentry, but they offer cookies and tea, so this seems like a suitable break after our hard work so far.

While the elderly man and woman retrieve the refreshments, my assistants take a closer look at the porch, revealing it’s simply old, worn, and has too much furniture on it. We refer the couple to a carpenter while we enjoy a brief reprieve from our work.

Evil’s Eminent Emblem

A building in the abandoned district has had a strange flag planted on it with a horned creature and the word “Evil” emblazoned on it.

After sending in my assistants to climb the house and retrieve the banner, I take the time to enjoy some of the midday sun, believing that such a mundane task would be simple for all three of them working together. Unfortunately, after deathly silence for several minutes, the sounds of shouting and crashing inside begin ringing out, and I decide to remove the banner myself before any of them could get hurt. With a simple bolt of magic, the banner is destroyed.

Shortly afterwards, it seems as though whatever happened inside damaged the house, and the building collapsed on my assistants, who did manage to emerge from the rubble, though bloodied for their clumsy efforts. I chide them for such sloppy work – it’s important to let them know when they can improve – though as I speak to them, a strange voice rings out to say, “evil”, though nothing seems to happen.

The Running Man

We find ourselves at a local guard post, where a man named Tony has been placed in some manner of wooden contraption to hold him off of his feet. His legs are rather enthusiastically running in place as though they have some place to be that he’s not privy to.

I see no need to intervene in such a simple task. The man is wearing what is clearly a cursed pair of shoes, and so it falls to my assistants to remove them. Sabelle manages to get one off while Mimi and Tris tend to the other one; unfortunately, they do not manage the same level of success, and so Sabelle attempts to help them, getting kicked firmly in the face for his efforts and knocked promptly unconscious. I bestow a small amount of magic to rouse him back to his feet, and he very admirably gets back to work, managing to get the last shoe off.

Unfortunately, not a very graceful showing, but the guard thanks us for aiding him all the same.

The Comedy of Sabelle

At a residence in the Lower Sacks owned by a middle-aged human woman named Sara, we’ve been tasked with dealing with a group of large rats that have been living in the basement. Oddly, they seem to be getting larger every time Sara enters the basement. I see no need to personally attend to rodents, though as I was about to suggest my assistants deal with them, Sabelle offered to handle it himself.

As I spoke to Sara, Sabelle began running up and down the stairs in the basement, revealing that he seemed to be getting smaller on each trip back up. Eventually, he stopped returning altogether, though the poppets keeping an eye on him claimed he was still safely down there, spinning on the staircase in a circle for some reason. He claims that the rats are getting larger as he gets smaller, and it appears as though his plan is to enlarge the rats so much that they simply perish under their own weight; an interesting strategy, to be sure. After quite some time, Tris begins to get nervous about this plan, and she attempts to retrieve Sabelle from the basement. Though at this point he’s even shorter than she is, she doesn’t manage to.

The building begins creaking strangely, as though it’s struggling to stay in tact as the rats continue to grow. It was at this time I elected to evacuate the building, managing to save Mimi and Sara’s lives before the building collapsed. Unfortunately, Tris didn’t manage to make it out in time and was injured, though her poppet body seemed fine in spite of the rubble crushing her.

Shortly after this, there’s a horrible crashing noise as a gargantuan rat bursts forth from the ruins of the building, a tiny Sabelle scarcely several inches tall being sent careening into the air as the rat swallows him whole. His last moments are spent laughing joyously; it’s a beautiful sound, really.

Unfortunately, the poppets are simply too scared to act in the face of such a menacing creature, so I swiftly dispatch it with a burst of magic projectiles.

After the creature dies, it begins gradually returning to a more normal size, and eventually Sabelle’s full-sized body bursts forth from the creature, very certainly dead. To celebrate his life, I take his worldly possessions, splitting them between Mimi and myself. Tris is simply too overcome with despair, announcing she plans to retire and trying to drag Sabelle’s dead body off to be buried with dignity.

It's so hard to find good help these days.

The End

- Lady Aruwyn Briar