Summary
Project Sunrise's formal unveiling is sabotaged by a darkness artifact and an assassin attack. Lord Markus Tatarmoff dies in the ruined observatory, while Lady Estera and Medina disappear through the planar catastrophe.
Detailed Narrative
Trevor and Gaby Tatarmoff return to Rosenthorne, joined by longtime family-connected friend Baby Yeatfield and young neighboring noble Lord Giles Darrington. Their father, Markus Tatarmoff, the third Baron Brooverton, has summoned them because he is ready to demonstrate the culmination of Project Sunrise. The household is already politically tense: Markus has spent years pursuing planar research that the Blazing Hood considers dangerous, and the family knows that senior Blazing Hood figure Brogmil Runehand has been campaigning for stricter control.
The reunion establishes the family stakes. Trevor and Gaby are Louisa's sons; their mother Lady Louisa disappeared years earlier. Markus's current wife/partner Lady Estera is mother to five-year-old Medina, whom Trevor, Gaby, and Baby all adore. Trevor is already characterized as unusually serious and dutiful; Gaby is the looser brother; Baby immediately resumes her habit of exploring other people's possessions; Giles is a rougher, adventurous noble rather than a courtly ornament.
Markus takes the group to the rooftop observatory and explains Project Sunrise. The inscribed apparatus is intended to create a permanent bridge to another plane, not a momentary summoning gate. He is confident enough in the design to stage a formal demonstration before family, researchers, and guests. He also shows the family an emergency grounding/breaker method that can interrupt the apparatus if necessary.
At the formal meal before/during the experiment, a serving cloche conceals a magical object that produces supernatural darkness. Assassins attack inside the house as the bridge activates. The party fights through the darkness, but one attacker escapes. During the chaos Markus, Estera, and Medina disappear from the dining area.
The party rushes to the observatory. It has been devastated as though by repeated magical explosions. Researchers have been disintegrated or reduced to remains. Markus is found dead—burned and crumbling after the catastrophe. Estera and Medina are missing, with evidence suggesting they were taken or displaced through the planar event rather than killed on site.
The session ends with Rosenthorne transformed from a celebratory estate into a murder scene and planar disaster zone. The immediate campaign questions are established: who ordered Markus killed, who substituted the darkness artifact, what exactly Project Sunrise connected to, and whether Estera and Medina can be recovered.