Lyon

Overview

The road south from London led through Paris — a ball at the Hôtel de Brissac, a chance encounter with Comte de Puyrault — and into Lyon, where the Société Harmonique de l’Aube under Mathilde Savarin operated a network of surgically altered children, tunnel rituals, and political terror. Four PCs died in Lyon. The chapter ended with Marina Garrick detonating herself and the Chakota in the tunnels beneath the Silkweavers Guild.

Key NPCs

• Mathilde Savarin — cult leader
• Abbe Etienne Duplessis — Order contact in Lyon
• Colonel Henri Moreau — military ally, joined the party
• Commissaire Jules Delaroche — Lyon police chief, compromised by Savarin
• Emeric de Puyrault — nobleman, offered lodgings at Le Coteau des Ombres
• Lucien Goupil — hosted the masquerade at Maison du Corbeau
• Marquise Eloise de Camberonne — hosted the ball at the Château
• Abbe Ferrant — Savarin’s fanatic priest
• Doctor Emile Carreau — surgeon operating on children
• Luc Fouchard — tunnel guard

Key Locations

• Hotel de Brissac — Paris ball
• Le Coteau des Ombres — Puyrault estate, party lodgings
• Maison du Corbeau — Goupil’s masquerade, secret ritual witnessed
• Hotel de Camberonne — Marquise’s ball, key alliances formed
• Hopital de la Charite — Orphans’ Hospital, raid to free Delaroche’s children
• Fourviere — Roman temple excavation beneath the hill
• Silkweavers Guild — final assault, Marina’s death

Sessions

Chapter 2 was played at the table but individual session transcripts were not preserved. The full narrative is recorded in the chapter wrap-up.

Threads & Hooks

• The masquerade at Maison du Corbeau — the investigators witnessed a Formless Spawn summoning and a child sacrifice, and did not intervene
• Augustus Bolt killed the Choir Below in the Orphean sub-basement — a mercy that haunted the party
• Marina’s death and the intelligence recovered from Savarin’s headquarters pointed to Albin Herzfeld in Vienna
• Colonel Henri Moreau survived and joined the party for Vienna