I'm sure some of you may be wondering where this plot was headed, and since we're now retired, I feel fine sharing with you what I'd pieced together. What was happening in the background was that I had an overall picture of conflicts within the noble houses that you could discover or leverage as you worked towards your own goals (or would manifest as a twist, when your plans didn't account for one or another piece of ongoing subterfuge). I also had a larger plot developing revolving around the discovery of a new metal. All of this was in a semi-flux state, as we were collaboratively writing the story and I remained willing to adjust my background to fit with the introduction of connections or other details that weaved your characters in.
So, here are the undiscovered secrets I had established so far. Some of these were things you 'missed' (such as when Mateo examined the ledgers, and rolled well but not super well, he found them to be clean.. when in fact, they were short a big pile of boxings), and some are things that were coming up:
(Blue = Known)
(Minor) There is an improvised metallurgic research facility in the Letorneau basement. The equipment is sufficient to extract traces of metal from water, and some other equipment allows for the crude analysis of small samples of the metal.
(Major) The Letorneau family has kidnapped, and murdered, Issac Belen - a noble from a minor house that supplies Zinc
(Minor) The noble was taken because he displayed an odd, occasional allomantic pulse but was not known to be a Misting
(Minor) The noble was killed by a servant with an improvised weapon (a shard of metal with an aluminium edge), the Letorneau's disposed of the body as they had kidnapped him and could not explain how they ended up with his corpse
(Minor) The aluminum
earring worn by Zara
(Major) The earring is a Hemlurgic spike (created by accident when the noble was stabbed with an improvised shiv)
(Minor) Wearing the earring gives one the power to burn Nicrosil
(Major) Nicrosil is an undiscovered metal; traces of which are in the well that supplies water for the Belen family Iron mine
(Minor) Zara has been making excuses to take regular trips to the Belen foundry, where she acquires a large supply of water from the foundry well.
(Minor) The Letorneau ledgers 'lose track' of five thousand boxings
(Minor) The missing money has been used to hire Mistings from the Prelau family - a family known for their skilled Rioters and Seekers
(Minor) Close inspection reveals a few nobles are indicated with the same unknown pulse mark. They are all from the Belen family and all have at one time overseen the families Iron mines