The Four Quadrants

Sometimes there comes a topic that will just not leave your mind. It has a grip on you and it just keeps swimming through your mind. On November 9th I was recording an episode of my podcast with a local from the Pacific Northwest Malifaux player named Morgan. We were finally able to sit down and chat after having to reschedule a few times due to a few different things that have popped up in my life. If you are familiar with my podcast the premise is fairly simple and I try to keep it that way because I want the focus to be on the guest. I start by introducing them and usually ask a simple question like “How did you get into miniature gaming?”, “How did you get into Malifaux?”, or something along that line. This recording session went on just like all the others I have done so far but partway through the recording Morgan said something to me that got me really thinking (like thinking so much that smoke started coming out of my ears and my wife was worried that my brain short-circuited). Morgan mentioned “The Four Quadrants” to me and explained them briefly to me.

“Miniature hobbyist get enjoyment from four aspects of the hobby; playing, painting, collecting, and lore. Everyone has a different ratio to get to 100%. My ratio is 70% painting, 10% in playing, collecting, and lore. It’s the “why” do I do this. We all know the where, when, what and how but my approach to critical thinking is ask the most important question; “Why”".” He then goes into explaining why painting holds such a high percentage for him (I will not spoil the interview as I will be releasing this episode fairly shortly).

It has been nearly a week since that recording and I find myself keep going back to that conversation trying to dig deep and figure out my own ratios. If any of you have talked to me on discord, listened to my podcast, or etc you know that I am someone that struggles with just finding a crew or playstyle that suits me in Malifaux. I tend to go from one to another faster than most people (I do believe) and I have spent more time and money than I can count trying to figure it out. A little while ago I told myself in 2025 that I would stick with just one faction and three masters (trying to give myself a small comfortable box to be inside) but I keep looking around at the other crews. My thirst for wanting to experiment, play, discuss and just otherwise not stick to one keyword never being quenched in the slightest. I find myself self conscious about having to many models laying around unpainted, unplayed, and my attention going to the new “shiny” or just never finding them time to actually play those crews I have worked so hard on painting. So with all that being said my search for the ratio of my Four Quadrants begins but before I start let me go into more depth of each quadrant.

As mentioned before there are four quadrants or aspects of the hobby that hobbyist get enjoyment out of (I feel like all you would have to do is change around the names and this could work with any hobby). The first one that I have listed is “playing” which is pretty self explanatory if you think about it. It’s all about playing the game, reading the rules, understanding the mechanics, the combinations, the plays, and more. I think of it as someone that could breakdown the game in their head and figure out what each model can do by taking a quick look at their card. The person that has the most percentage in this aspect would be the people that love going to tournaments and find the most enjoyment out of the rules itself. This is not bad by any stretch of the imagination because it is that person’s enjoyment and what they get out of the game. I don’t think of them as always trying to break the game, min/max the models, or etc but having pure enjoyment with their opponent getting the most of out their crew by optimizing it to the give them the best advantage (which sounds like min/maxing but I think there is a fine line there). Now that I gave you a brief rundown of this aspect what do you think? Do you find yourself getting more enjoyment out of playing the game? Do you find yourself pouring over the rules, model’s cards, theory crafting list or more? Don’t feel self conscious about it because you should embrace it! These people are the ones that I think help Wyrd with the crunchy data of the game, the people that push the game to the limits and find the weaknesses or strengths of something that might be tweaked. I think without these people the game might be one hot mess.

The second aspect is the one my guest Morgan finds himself having the most percentage in and that is “painting”. Just like the first aspect this one is pretty self explanatory because this is where we get those amazing painters that we see on Facebook, Instagram, Discord, or other social media platforms. Painting just like the playing aspect draws it’s own certain people because these people are not necessarily solely into buying the models to play the game but to paint them. When they are looking at these models they are dreaming up paint schemes, stories, or more that they are going to tell. They will see something they don’t like on the model and convert it and make it unique to them. They will put their own spin on their crew to make it unique on the tabletop telling their own story of how it got there and more. The hobbyist that find themselves in this aspect are the ones that will spend most of their free time hunched over their hobby desk (keep your backs straight! No bad postures here says this blogger’s wife who is a massage therapist) at various times of the day toiling away at their plastic models. I tend to find myself in this aspect quiet often because I find the act of painting to be zen-like and it gives me the ability to just put the worries of the day to the side and concentrate on something different. There is a lot to be said about painting as a hobby but that is most likely going to be another blog post down the road sometime. At the end of the day the hobbyist that love painting are what helps the game grow as well because their work is seen on the table top being pushed around and battling it out for control. They are works of art to be admired, played with, and shown off!

The third aspect is something I have not really given a lot of thought to be honest. It is the collecting side of the hobby which in itself could be a hobby (I joke with my wife that she make a hobby of collecting hobbies). Maybe people that like collecting stuff for Malifaux find themselves looking for those rare one off models, special edition, limited edition, collecting whole factions, or etc. I have tried to never have to many things laying around because I get very anxious about having multiple projects in multiple stages. I tend to have my hobby desk fairly clean and organized because if it gets chaotic I just cannot find anything at all and it spirals out of control from there. Maybe if you dear reader have something more to say about this aspect you could enlighten me? Are you someone that likes to collect the models, books or etc? Let me know!

The fourth and final aspect is the lore. The fluff as many people say that give the game life and allows people to sink their teeth into a story. At the end of the day most people love stories (from all the various genres out there) so it just goes hand in hand that if there is a good story to the game people will be more likely to buy into it. I know myself really get hooked on the lore of Malifaux for example because there is so much to it! It spans at least a decade now and is still growing (which is very impressive). Wyrd has made a universe where anything can happen and where bad things usually do happen to good people. I know for myself I was really looking forward to seeing where the characters are at the end of the Burning Man Saga and what is in store for them next. Unfortunately, collecting Malifaux lore is a tall order because it is scattered through various editions and game systems but that doesn’t stop the die hard fans! Lore is one of those key aspects that can hook people into a game because without it we are just playing Chess with fancy plastic miniatures. Lore is what gives those models stories and what makes them come to life! Why is Colette and Zoraida facing off in this strategy and scheme pool? Why are these two Guild keywords getting into a fight? Who is dropping the pianos all over the place!? These are the questions that keep people coming back for more and allow us to remember those amazing games.

So at the end of the day have I unearthed my percentage in the four quadrants? Maybe? or Maybe not? I don’t know. All I know is that I enjoy this game from the all the various aspects that I have mentioned above. I do enjoy the rules but do I enjoy going to tournaments and being competitive? Nah, not really because I find when I start losing to often the fun gets sucked out of me. Do I love painting? Heck yeah! (check out some of my projects on the other pages) but I can burnout really fast on a project and just sell it off to start a new. Do I look at the models and go “Oh I like the look of that one!”? Yep, I do that as well! Hello, TTB Hannah that will probably never see the table top. Do I like the lore? Oh heck yeah! The lore is awesome and I cannot get enough of it. Maybe at the end of the day this is the ramblings and introspection of someone that doesn’t know their “why” yet for their hobby? or maybe I just figured out my why in a few simple sentences. All I can tell you is that sometimes taking a step back and digging deep and having a little bit of introspection is good for you. It makes you rethink certain things, it makes you realize stuff, and maybe just maybe you can figure out the answer to a fairly tough question.. WHY?

P.S

I just want to go on record and say that I do make some broad statements in this piece and make some general statements. Please take all these opinions with a grain of salt.

What got me into the game

I want to start this post off with a little story. Back in 2014 I moved to Portland, Oregon and soon after my friend got me hooked on X-Wing (I mean who doesn’t want to push iconic Star Wars ships around). Soon after though I found myself wanting to play more games like that.

One night after finishing up my Wednesday night game of X-Wing I found myself wandering around the local game store and saw this sitting on the shelf.

I was immediately smitten by the artwork on the box and needed to know more about this game. I went home that night and looked up Malifaux on the internet and what I found blew my mind. A miniature game with no dice!? How does that work? A more narrative based game with very little models to assemble and paint! As a new miniatures player I had no clue what I was getting myself into with this game. What did I need to buy? How expensive is it?

After seeing that box and a few others at the game store I became very interested in Malifaux. So, I spent the better part of a few weeks looking up videos on YouTube about the game. I devoured any Malifaux content that was out at that time (mind you this was 2014-2015 so there wasn’t a lot or I just didn’t know where to go).

I ended up saving up some money to buy the M2E starter box, The Bushwhacker crew box and The Torch and the Blade. I knew deep down what crew I really wanted to play and it was the latter. Why was that?

Well, it is pretty simple to be honest. The idea of this mysterious figure wearing an iron mask and being a witch hunter/relic hunter. She sounded badass and her lore followed my suspicions about the character. The crew as well was very interesting! Her minions were the shells of the mages that she deemed as “too dangerous” and the technique of how it is done only she knows. But, one question still alluded me. Why the mask?

I needed to know more! Remember, I didn’t have much in the way of Malifaux lore. It was just the bits here and there that I learned from other players so what was I to do about finding my answer? Well, simply I walked up to the game store owner and had him special order me all the M2E books that were out at the time (before Ripples of Fate) because the answer had to be in there and to my surprise it was! She was possessed by a tyrant! How cool is that!?

She wore the mask as a way of protecting herself from Cherufe from taking over completely. She always had to wear that mask because he could take over her entirely. Also, Sonnia’s department “The Witch Hunters” are feared amongst the populace of Malifaux including The Guild itself. They are seen as the boogeyman of The Guild because they would take unsanctioned spellcasters of any level away into “The Yellow Crypt”.

I instantly loved the character because of her story. I thought it was truly something unique that Malifaux brought to the game. Plus, Malifaux incorporated her story into her abilities in the game. Take the M2E card for example

Wyrd brought the fire elements of her lore into her abilities with abilities like Pyrokinesis. Visions of Flame, and attacks like Flameburst. Sonnia was a turret of flaming destruction and was rather feared because of it.

So with my models built, painted and based I was off to my local LGS to show off Sonnia (the only person interested in her as well). I got my butt kicked so much that I just thought Sonnia wasn’t right for me so I bought Lady Justice. As I was playing Lady J and later Jakob Lynch I kept thinking of my Witch Hunter keyword “what if?”, “could this work?” so it was back to the Witch Hunters for a little bit.

Once I started getting a hang of how the crew operated I started enjoying more and more slowly putting away the other crews and only playing Witch Hunter.

Unfortunately, all that ended when GW released Warhammer 8th edition. The crew I played weekly games of Malifaux with went back to Warhammer and soon pulled me into it. After my little foray into Warhammer and other miniature games I put the hobby down for a few years.

Fast forward to 2022 when a good friend of mine started to show interest in Malifaux (by this time I have sold everything off). For a while, I didn’t want any part of it because I just didn’t have the time and motivation for the hobby. My friend finally won out after a few months of talking about M3e and how it was a better improvement of the game. I finally caved and started to look into getting my first crew for M3e. I was in awe at how many more crews existed since I played Malifaux and some of the big shake ups that Wyrd did to the lore (bye bye Nicodem, Ramus, Lilith, and Collodi). They even introduced a brand new faction!

I was drawn to Explorer’s Society because they seemed like a really cool concept and I already had a few crews in mind. I had my finger on the purchase button when my friend told me “Hey I bought Ivan and Maxine! What are you going to get?”, my response “Those two keywords…. Well shit! What do I do know?” so back to the drawing board and this time I had Titania and the fae keyword in my Amazon basket. That is when she surfaced in the “what other people have bought section”. Sonnia with new box art but same style so I knew immediately how I would be starting M3e. I clicked “purchase” on both the Fae keyword and Witch Hunter keyword along with The Other Side Starter box.

When the boxes arrived I immediately went to work getting my old hobby supplies out. My paint brushes, old paints and clippers still in the tackle box that collected dust for so many years. After a few weeks of building, painting and basing I had two full keywords ready for the tabletop. Now, I was back in business trying to navigate my way through this new edition. I started with Titania and quickly moved back into Sonnia because it seemed like she didn’t change a lot.

GG3 was in full swing when I came back into the game and Sonnia was deemed “a terrible choice” by most of the content creators. “XYZ was 100% better!”, “why even play Witch Hunter!?”

It seemed as though Sonnia one of the iconic masters of Malifaux was left behind for other pretty and fancier masters. One of the original crews in Malifaux, the first iconic model, a vintage model, and an avatar as well! She had a lot of amazing sculpts to really push a painters imagination (yes before you ask I own every Sonnia sculpt) yet her she was sidelined yet again.

I have spent many games playing Sonnia with me either squeaking in a win, almost tying a game, or getting tabled pretty early one. Every game left me thinking “this crew needs something, but what is it?”.

So off to the various discords to ask about their thoughts on Witch Hunter. I got the responses I knew I was going to get “why play them?”, “you will have more fun with this.” For a while I believed them and bounced around the various crews of Malifaux like a hyper active child in a bumper car.

I would never settle on a single master or faction in Malifaux but I always had my girl Sonnia to fall back and that I did. I found myself putting Sonnia back on the table wanting to figure out how to make the keyword work. Yet again and again the same question kept surfacing “something is missing but what.”

I would go on scratching my head for months and going on a year and a half until I came across Beardminis on YouTube. I watched a few of his battle reports and enjoyed his content eventually we ran into either in the Rage Quit Wire discord. One day we decided to get a game in over Vassal (still one of my favorite games I have played) and afterwards and since then we have chatted about this keyword.

That is when I noticed a problem and a glaring problem at that.

What is the problem? Well, take a look at a few of her cards.

Do you notice the trend?

The Witch Hunter keyword was just a mess there isn’t a lot there and a good amount of the models are punching WAY below their SS cost. The model choices were pretty subpar at best and to make good use at of her you went with the dreaded “Super Friends” list.

She needed some major help from outside of her own keyword for sure. Sure, Cadmus’s keyword gave her Spelleaters. She did see some new models with The Other Side starter (Guild Mage and Gatling Gunner) but they didn’t really seem to fit the Witch Hunter keyword. They didn’t really have any synergies while the other keyword Urami got some pretty cool new toys! Then came “Madness of Malifaux” and when I saw the Hexbows I thought “that is it! That is the missing part.” Well, I was wrong because even though they do a good job in Witch Hunter they are much better in Cavalier.

Unfortunately, this is where I have to admit that my Malifaux love is in a rough spot. The keyword that got me into the game eight years ago and got me back into the game a few years ago is not doing so well. Sure they have arcane shield, counter and the ability to put out burning but that is where the similarities end.

The keyword as a whole is slow, many models don’t have staying power, barely any cohesion in keyword abilities, difficulty to spread out the burning, and many models do not have good quick actions or pushes and pulls that are effective. The crew has some card draw although various surge triggers are scattered around it isn’t good to rely on that alone.

Sonnia herself is the main damage dealer along with the Witchling Thrall but those two cannot carry the keyword all by themselves. She is slow at 4 mv, has a stat 5 sword, and stat 6 flame burst (but with a 14 inch range). As for her defensives it is just arcane shielded and soulstones. Her front of card ability to reduce the range of opponents actions based off how much burning they have is great! Her ability to hit nearly anything that is on fire is awesome (if she can hit though). Most Sonnia players tend to stack burning on her and transmute it into focus but that makes you waste a models AP and takes some set up.

Purifying Flame the most amazing totem in the game! One of the best scheme runners but lacking a lot in the other utility department. It can barely get the burning engine started.

Sanctioned Spellcasters are… well just kind of useless at 4 HP and horrible stats

Witching Stalkers are “meh”

Witchling Thralls only really have Hard to Wound as a defense and that is it.

Witchling Handler is a great utility piece for the two Witchlings it can affect in the keyword.

Spelleaters are better in pairs and need Lead Lined Coats to really take advantage of their abilities.

Thalarian Quellers are utility pieces at best and at worse a 6 SS sink.

Hexbows are FANTASTIC for 7ss but with no melee weapon can get pinned in rather fast in combat.

Samael Hopkins is the Witch Hunters sole henchman (not anymore) doesn’t cut it as a 9ss henchman and is an expensive scheme runner if used that way.

Ashbringer and Director Rodriguez look like great additions to the crew! (Haven’t tried them out)

Well, with that being said and my story out in the world people can now understand my love for the keyword. It is just not the abilities but the connection I have to it, the intriguing lore, and design of the models

At this point in the story Wyrd if you are reading this or someone tells you about this blog please give Sonnia some love. As a loyal Sonnia player it would make me very happy to see that. The keyword holds a special spot in my heart and out of all the crews I have built, painted and sold it’s the only one I have kept. The keyword is one that I have always found myself coming back to over and over again. It’s one that I just don’t give up trying to understand and figure out what could help them. They just need some good ol’ Wyrd love. I would love to see the rest Witch Hunter keyword that is more cohesive and brought up to speed with the rest of the keywords that are in Malifaux. I feel like there is some great ideas in the keywords but none are fleshed out enough to really make an impact.

Thank you for reading! I will catch you on the next post

Also, all the photos in this post belong to Wyrd and is their property. I am using this photos just to have visual elements to my blogpost to help readers understand who or what I am talking about.

P.S

This is making me want to strip my Witch Hunter crew and give them the paint job they deserve

Chapter 2: Interrogation

Sonnia stood there watching the flames lick at the charred remains of the arcanist prisoners that were captured after the fight. The flames reflected off her iron mask, and the heat felt familiar and comforting to her. Even though he had been gone for a while, she could still feel his anger boiling up inside her, and with that, the reins of control felt more slack in her mind. She was sure that he would return one day because tyrants where never gone completely

    "Sonnia, you have been at this for awhile. Maybe it is time for a break?" Samael questions.

    Sonnia snaps back into reality and lets out a deep sigh.

    "Sorry Sam. They are loyal to him, I will give them that but it is such a waste of magical talent. It is all squandered for what!?" Sonnia takes off her mask and clicks it into place on her belt and looks back at the dying flames on the charred remains.

    "That is the biggest question. Now that the immediate threat is gone we have some breathing space to reinforce the Witch Hunter department. We lost a lot of good people in that fight." Sam says as he follows Sonnia's gaze. 

    He glances back at the women who hired him as a Witch Hunter so many years ago and thinks "She has gone through hell and back for what!? She hides so much behind her mask and more behind her scars. Those scars will leave a toll on her psyche for sure. She paid a huge price carrying a tyrant inside her mind and I still don't know how she holds it all together."

    "Does Justice know?" Sonnia questions

    Sam shakes his head "No, it sounds like she has had her own problems to deal with at the Condor Rail Yard. It sounds like there is a resurrectionist who has a beef against Anya and her Condor Rail, the showdown left Justice a little shaken."    

    "Alright let's keep it that way for right now. The less she knows about what happened the better. After all she is the only person I would consider a friend amongst the Guild leadership." Sonnia replies to Sam as they start walking out of the room.    

    "Oh, Sam could we please get someone to clean up this mess?" Sonnia throws her thumb back over her shoulder in the direction of the charred corpse. 

    "In the meantime I will meet you back in the office once I finish with the next one." Sonnia says as she limps down the hallway.

    She reaches down to remove her iron mask off her belt.

    "The less the enemy knows the better." she thinks to herself as she walks through the door.

    "Where is he!?" a masculine voice shouts from the mask.

    "I.....I.....d.....don't...know! The last we seen of him was right after the fight we had with your Witch Hunters." a scared voice replies.

    "Again..." the voice mutters follow by an incantation

    The smell of scorching flesh permeates the room followed by screams of torment. Sonnia snaps out of her intense anger and her voices returns. She mutters to herself "That was way to close. He still has a claw or two left in my mind. He still knows how to manipulate me".

    "We are getting no where with this tactic. We know you arcanist are loyal to each other but everyone has their breaking point. I know your friend in the other room gave up some information before he finally died." Sonnia says as she turns her back to the prisoner and gazes into the flames coming from a nearby brazier. 

    A few seconds go by before Sonnia speaks again "I am willing to give you more chances. Much more than my patience should or will allow. If you don't give me the information I want you know what will happen next. I know the rumors floating through Malifaux about what this department does with it's arcanist prisoners. Well, every single one of them are true!"

    Sonnia points to a few small figures hiding amongst the room "Those are the witching stalkers that are created in this here Yellow Crypt. Everyone single one of them had the magic burned out of their body and replaced with loyalty to their Handler and their one job.. Their one singular job right now is to sniff out unsanctioned spellcasters such as yourself. We turn your greatest strength into your greatest weakness!"

    The prisoner's eyes follow Sonnia around the room and glances over every one of the Witchling Stalkers. He let's out a chuckle and grins    

    "Oh you don't scare me! You realize that we arcanist all know that Damien was able to turn himself back into a human again after breaking your spell. He taught us all! He used YOUR greatest strength into YOUR greatest weakness."

    In front of Sonnia's eyes the prisoner's demeanor changes. He isn't afraid anymore, he isn't cowering or stumbling over his words instead he is gleeful about his situation.

    "You don't get it! Damien will always be a few steps ahead of you. Whatever you do to me doesn't matter one bit. As you said I am just a loyal grunt after all. You know what scares me! Damien! Damien scares me more than your pathetic little Witch Hunter group. He made a deal with Witness!" the prisoner declares with a maniacal laugh

    Sonnia inhales sharply as she takes off her mask. She turns it around in her hand and assess the damage it has taken over the years of fights. The pure misery that this relic put her through as well. "Shit, that was not what I was wanting to hear but it explains a lot." She mutters under her breath.

Chapter 1: The Aftermath

There is something I tend to keep to myself and that is my love of writing stories. I tried my hand at it with my podcast that I did late last year and early this year. I have writing stories since I was in high school and sometimes I was brave enough to read them in front of my class. Unfortunately, most of the time the end up getting typed up or scribbled down never to see the light of day again. I love sitting down and coming up with a story or a scene because my imagination just runs wild with ideas about it. For example, what is going to happen after Ashes of Malifaux? How will the story progress? Are there going to be any big shake ups? Will we see new main characters or returning characters? What happens when the overall plot isn't being the center of attention? Well, this is a story I wrote about Sonnia after her fight with Damien (spoilers!!). As I have mentioned in a previous blog post I really do love Sonnia! She is my Malifaux gal. I know a lot of people call her "evil", "villain", and so on and so forth but what if... what if that was slightly different? Well, here is that story and a more human side to Sonnia Criid herself. Let me know what you think!? If you enjoy it I have the start of the next chapter waiting in the wings. 

“You can never escape me! You are mine! You pathetic human! You will never defeat me. A tyrant is never destroyed!” a fiery face speeds out of the darkness startling Sonnia awake. 

She jolts upright out of her chair and in the process knocks over several books that she had laying on her lap.

“I am imagining things! I must be because he is gone” Sonnia takes a deep breath in and out trying to regulate her heart rate. 

This isn’t the first time this has happened but with each time the presence gets more real. As if it is just right in front of her. Even though he has been gone for a while she could still feel his irritability, rage, and overall hatred inside her mind. It affected her in ways that she still couldn’t comprehend, she still yearned to figure out how to sever the tie completely. His presence left its scars both physically and mentally. 

She runs her fingers across the recent scars on her face. She remembers other Guild officials telling her that McMourning did his best to fix her back up but it would never be perfect. The tips of her fingertips feel warm to the touch as though they were close to an open flame. These physical scars were easy to hide especially when she wore the metal mask. The relic that kept her safe from his control for so long. She did her best to hide those mental scars behind her research and whiskey which was easier said than done.

She stands up collecting the books that have fallen to the ground. The first one she picks up is an old leather bound volume that reads in fine gold letters on its spine “The History of Malifaux; what came before, during and after” by Christopher Livowitz.

“I wonder if I will ever get to finish this book without falling asleep.” Sonnia finishes collecting the books that she knocked over. S

She neatly sets them on a stack of other books near her chair then she grabs a glass that is sitting on her desk, drains the contents and grabs the nearest bottle to fill up the glass again. Many people including her own coworkers thought of her as a recluse. Especially since she kept to herself most of the time or was out searching for relics of Malifaux’s past. What those people didn’t know is that she was searching for something. Maybe somewhere out there could help her sever the final ties of the tyrant Cherfue.

“Sonnia, are you there? I can see light coming from under the door so that means someone is there.” There is a light knocking on the door and a deep, gruff voice behind it.

“It’s alright Sam, still pouring over these old books hoping something is here.” Sonnia replies as she takes another sip of her whiskey.

“Come in and have a seat we have things we need to discuss” Sonnia says with playful tone in her voice

Sam makes his way through the door and does his best to step over the stacks of scrolls, books, oddities, and relics that are scattered across the floor.

“Sonnia, this place is a mess! Do you know where anything is?” Sam says as he finally makes his way over to an empty high back chair.

“Yes, in fact I do! Smartass” Sonnia retorts

Sam grabs a glass, peers into it and gives it a quick wipe. He grabs the bottle of whiskey off Sonnia’s desk, pouring himself some while topping Sonnia’s glass.

“So, why did you decide to call for me at this ungodly hour? You know most people are sleeping.” Sam takes a sip of his whiskey “At least you brought out the good stuff!”

Sonnia grabs her glass and falls back into her chair, careful not to knock over the pile of books she just made.

Shocked Sonnia says “Wait, why are you here!?” she thought for a moment trying to remember why she asked for Samael to come to her office.

Sam shrugs and says “Sonnia are you ok? I mean. Do you even remember sending someone to get me?”

Sonnia grabs her glass and drinks the rest of her whiskey then grabs the bottle for another one. Right as she is about to pour another helping Sam stops her by reaching out his hand and stopping her from pouring more whiskey into her glass.

“Sonnia, we have known each other for years. Since Cherufe broke away from you, you have seemed odd. Not the normal kind of odd that I have known you for but distant. Almost like you are not fully there” Sam says with a reluctant tone in his voice.

“Sam, you know me as a secretive person. Although I have known you for years there are still some things I cannot tell you. If I told you, you would throw me into an asylum.” Sonnia pours more whiskey in her glass with a somber tone in her voice.

She takes a big gulp of the freshly filled glass and says “I’m alright Sam. Not 100% but better than I was there are remnants of Cherufe left. Those remnants tend to keep me up at night sometimes. Before you walked in I was startled awake by one of those nightmares.”

She pauses for a moment and continues “It seems like with each passing day his grip on me weakens but there is a piece of him that is still there. It nags at my soul and it feels like I am slowly being suffocated.” 

Sam doesn’t say anything and instead takes a few sips of his whiskey. He starts to look around the room and says “Well, your money is still good even if you are nuttier than a bag full of nuts.”

Sonnia smirks “Sam, have I ever told you how much of an asshole you are.”

Sam chuckles and says “all the time but that ain’t gonna stop me from calling it like I see it.”

Sonnia waves her hand as if she was telling some to leave. “Alright, enough of this banter. Let’s finally talk about the reason I asked you here.”

Sonnia takes a deep breath knowing how difficult this next sentence will be for her to say. “What have you found out about our friend Damien Ravencroft and his associates?”

Sam falls into one of the high back chairs and shakes his head “Well, after your tussle he went underground. The members of his group that we have captured are not talking. Well the ones that have the ability to do so which is not many to be honest”

“Has anyone gotten even a sliver of evidence? A clue? Scrap a piece of paper!? Or something!” Sonnia yells angrily as she slams her hands down on the table.

She closes her eyes realizing that her anger is getting the best of her. He was gone so why was she still so easily angered. She had to find out!

She continues on with her sentence “Our friend Damien is the only case that I know of that someone has managed to revert back to themselves after being turned into a Witchling Stalker. It is extremely dangerous for someone like that to be out in Malifaux! Who knows what he has up his sleeve!?” 

Sam stays quiet for a moment letting the tension release in the room. After a long awkward silence he says  “What do you suggest we do, Sonnia? Kick down every door till we find him!? You damn well know that his people are loyal to his cause. We know he is out there but after that tussle he has probably gone underground for a little bit. We don’t know his group's strength, only that they are unsanctioned magic users.”

Sonnia starts to pace back and forth watching out for the various stacks of books on the floor. 

“He has a friend Sam. It’s Bellaventine Thorpe. She is on his side helping him out.” Sonnia sighs.

“Well, damn! Not like I didn’t see that one coming. I mean she did help him escape our facility. Unfortunately, that means his group might know a lot more than they are letting on. It’s best we keep our heads down for a little while ourselves. We did lose a lot of good people in that fight. Also, with the state of our reputation I don’t think we have a long list of candidates waiting to join the ranks.” Sam shrugs as he finishes off his whiskey and sets the glass on Sonnia’s desk.

“Sometimes Sam I wonder if you are smarter than you look” Sonnia scoffs

He just laughs and says “I guess you will never know.”

“Goodnight Sam, sorry again for waking up at this ungodly hour” Sonnia says apologetically

Sam smirks and replies “stop reading those books and get some sleep! When was the last time you had a full night's rest?” 

Sonnia rolls her eyes in response and says “Jeez, here you go again.”

And with a wave of his hand Sam leaves the room heading back down the hallway from where he came.

Sonnia falls into her chair and gazes into the fireplace then slowly drifts off to sleep.