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Myth: A New Age CYOA

Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Nevill said:
Fangshi, can our caster mice control and target the magical aphids?

It would be more difficult for them unless they are working with small numbers or in groups.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
It would be more difficult for them unless they are working with small numbers or in groups.
How small are we talking?

How do the aphids work, anyway? Suppose Lys has them. Could she target several mages and send the aphids to feed off them? How many mages are we talking? Does she have to maintain control over the aphids while they fly to their targets or feed? How does she order them to blow up? Is there a maximum range for that sort of thing, just like with our stone? If so, do the targeting range and the 'blowing up' pange coincide?

How different is it going to be if our mice are the ones controlling them?

Can only the caster mice use them (Myrra&Porry), or any of the apprentice ones can, too?
 

Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Nevill said:
How small are we talking?

2-5 aphids each.

Nevill said:
How do the aphids work, anyway? Suppose Lys has them. Could she target several mages and send the aphids to feed off them? How many mages are we talking? Does she have to maintain control over the aphids while they fly to their targets or feed? How does she order them to blow up? Is there a maximum range for that sort of thing, just like with our stone? If so, do the targeting range and the 'blowing up' pange coincide?

She would need to split them up, she could probably do it in sequence but not in parallel.

To use them? One proper mage.

Target wise? One target at a time since they need guidance.

She would need to direct them.

She would simply point them to a target, they would then do what comes naturally, devour the magical energy and explode when full.

As far as the aphids can fly and as far as the user can see.

No, the aphids will blow up when they overload on energy.

Nevill said:
How different is it going to be if our mice are the ones controlling them?

The mice are weaker so it will be harder for them to control the aphids.

Nevill said:
Can only the caster mice use them (Myrra&Porry), or any of the apprentice ones can, too?

Yes, it requires mages and Mirra and Poppy are the only to mice that qualify at the moment.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Target wise? One target at a time since they need guidance.
They do? I thought that since you need to give them instructions (about what to do after they get full) at the time of release, you do not have further contact with them.

So you need to direct them to the targets, but can not call them off if you reconsider?
 

Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Nevill said:
They do? I thought that since you need to give them instructions (about what to do after they get full) at the time of release, you do not have further contact with them.

They are insects, they will do as told in the simplest terms. If you need to alter their path or change their target you need to supervise them.

It is entirely possible to just let them loose though, they will tend to naturally seek out the biggest source of energy in the area and swarm it.

Nevill said:
So you need to direct them to the targets, but can not call them off if you reconsider?

You need to guide them toward something that will feed them. You can try to change targets once they are loose but you can not completely call them off, they are too hungry for that.
 

Karwelas

Dwarf Taffer
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Messages
1,064
Location
"Mostly Harmless" planet
Codex Year of the Donut I helped put crap in Monomyth
8. Do you want to make the following adjustments to the character's sheet?
A. Yes, you make changes (select as many as you want):

i. - arm your third spell ring with Heal instead of Greater Energy Bolt and loan it to Lyssa (so that each of you had means of quick healing)

ii. - arm your mice squad with sharp and pointy weapon and enchant them with Poison Oath to make them capable of taking down a person.


Adding to my votes.
 

Grimgravy

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
3,469
Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire
Temporary enchant would be better. By a little. I don't trust those anthropomorphized rodents to be ours forever. They have delusions of grandeur and I Don't want them to be able to take us down.
 

archaen

Cipher
Patron
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
633
1. The Hounds and their elephants: They wish to transfer over to Seinsheim's command, they are likely a little worried about the murderous looks Lyssa gives them and the elephants have been getting a little short tempered the more they are around her. How do you wish to respond?

E) You convince Reinhard to formally take control of them instead of giving them to Seinsheim. Then, after transfer is complete, ask the Prince to assign them back to our taskforce.


2. The Seekers: The Seekers have had more than enough of your leadership and it seems they wish to transfer to Seinsheim's service. How do you wish to handle the situation.

E) You convince Reinhard to take control of them instead of giving them to Seinsheim.


3. Seinsheim: Setting the tone. You meeting with Seinsheim in his tent set the tone for your working relationship with him. How did you approach it?

B)


4. Your choice: How do you wish to answer Berg's question?

A) You choose to excuse yourself from the meeting.

iv. You will excuse yourself from the meeting and will try to work with Reinhard instead on screening the dwarven army from cultist infiltrators with the help of Coin-Sith. You will try to gather as much information as you can before the meeting commences.



5. The dogs are trying to entertain themselves at your expense. Are you going to do anything about it?

A. Yes. Commence operation 'Trick or Treat'.



6. Now that you have destroyed a large gholish force and Mazzarin have joined forces with the dwarven army, the ghols don't stand much of a chance in the conflict. You could contact Nanshe next time you are due to the musical training and convince her to try and subjugate the now weakened clans, recalling their forces from the south - if there are any left.


B - No, you will not involve yourself in this.


7. You have not moved too far from Myrgard yet. Do you want to send a report to Albrecht and your team about the situation in the South and maybe get a report back?
A - Yes. Choose which topics you want to get the report on or what orders you want to convey to your forces.

i) You request the update on the situation in Myrgard (the cult, Thyra, Rand, the not-Rand autopsy results, your various forces and their progress with the assigned tasks, maybe even the Weazels or other personnel).

ii) You request the update on the situation in Blackrock (the Boys, Hesse, Welf and their champions).

iii) You instruct Mayer to keep an eye on people who turned to our 'Fata Morgana' firm to place an order for a large quantity of Energon Cubes. (Those are used in the cloning rituals. Perhaps it might lead us to the cloning facilities or the cultist HQ.)

iv) You instruct your Blackrock mice to spy on Hesse, Welf and their forces in the fort. They should report to Myora. You will attach one of the items Lyssa made to converse with the rodents to the letter. (We are certain there are enemy agents among them, and the fort is riddled with mice, so it is a natural course of action. Should have thought of that one earlier, but oh well.)

v) You request a copy of the contract with the Hounds. (No, I don't need it, but this whole "you can't see a contract so you can't argue back" does not sit well with me)



8. Do you want to make the following adjustments to the character's sheet?
A. Yes, you make changes (select as many as you want):

i. - arm your third spell ring with Heal instead of Greater Energy Bolt and loan it to Lyssa (so that each of you had means of quick healing)

ii. - arm your mice squad with sharp and pointy weapon and enchant them with Poison Oath to make them capable of taking down a person.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
They can't enchant the weapons without us, though, so they aren't capable of sustaining a revolt.

The ones that can potentially learn the enchantment, our apprentice mice, are already capable of taking us down on a lucky strike, but are also completely dependant on us.

But alright, I can change my vote to just 8Ai as long as we have enough weapons to arm them when we need them.

Edit: Hmmm. Maybe we could get Finn help us with the screening in difficult cases. It is going to be night soon. Depends on whether his people could do a job like this discreetly.
 
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Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Alright, I am going to close the voting now.

The Results:

Nevill:
1.E, 2.E, 3.C, 4.Aiv, 5.A, 6.A, 7.A:i,ii,iii,iv, 8.A:i,ii

Grimgravy:
1.C, 2.E>A>Ciii, 3.B, 4.B, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, 8.A:i (No to ii)

Karwelas:
1.E, 2.E, 3.C, 4.Av, 5.A, 6.A, 7.A:i,ii,iii,iv, 8.A:i,ii

Kz3r0:
1.C, 2.D, 3.B, 4.Aiii, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, 8.x

Jester:
1.C, 2.A, 3.C, 4.B, 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, 8.x

Azira:
1.E, 2.E, 3.C, 4.Aiv, 5.A, 6.x, 7.x, 8.x

asxetos:
1.E, 2.E, 3.C, 4.Aiv, 5.A, 6.A, 7.A:i,ii,iii,iv, 8.x

archaen:
1.E, 2.E, 3.B, 4.Aiv, 5.A, 6.B, 7.A:i,ii,iii,iv,v, 8.i,ii

1.
5 votes E
3 votes C

2.
6 votes E
1 vote A
1 votes D

3.
5 votes C
3 votes B

4.
4 votes Aiv
2 votes B
1 vote Aiii
1 vote Av

5.
5 votes A
3 votes undeclared

6.
3 vote A
1 vote B
4 votes undeclared

7.
4 vote A:
4/4 vote Ai
4/4 vote Aii
4/4 vote Aiii
4/4 vote Aiv
1/4 votes Av
4 votes undeclared

8.
4 votes A
4/4 vote Ai
3/4 vote Aii
4 votes undeclared


1. The Hounds:

E) You convince Reinhard to formally take control of them instead of giving them to Seinsheim. Then, after transfer is complete, ask the Prince to assign them back to our taskforce.

2. The Seekers:

E) You convince Reinhard to take control of them instead of giving them to Seinsheim.

3. Seinsheim:

C) Heal his wound with one of the rings. Then tell him that you are a servant no one, not even the King. Everything you do, you do because you want to do it, not because you follow someone's orders.

4. Your choice of approaches:

Aiv. You will excuse yourself from the meeting and will try to work with Reinhard instead on screening the dwarven army from cultist infiltrators with the help of Coin-Sith. You will try to gather as much information as you can before the meeting commences.

5. The Coin-Sith:

A. Yes. Commence operation 'Trick or Treat':

Nevill said:
It is obvious that the dogs can understand us, but Enrico finds it amusing for some reason to pretend that they don't. Alrighty, then.

Check with Cropper what is their most tasty treat out of the supplies we have available. An innocuous question of what kind of food they like or dislike, buried somewhere in the conversation.

Then, discuss a plan between yourself, Thais, Lyssa, Berty and whomever you could trust not to give you away. Pass notes to each other to avoid speaking aloud, I suspect that Cropper is on it (it might amuse him greatly), and the guy has some really sharp hearing. Besides, the hounds might be listening.

You will express the concern - within the earshot of the hounds, of course, - that the supplies of tasty treats are dwindling . They can't understand us anyway, right? So talk as if they aren't there.

Perhaps the dwarven chef is cheating you and is stealing stuff for himself, the glutton. That might be a problem since if those run out, we might be out of negotiating chips and might actually be forced to start promising pistachio gelato to get things done. You will propose that the supplies should be controlled and guarded better, and you will discuss the measures you will take to protect it, as well as candidates for guards and guard shifts. In other words, all the information necessary for someone sneaky to break in and steal the stuff.

Fairies steal. There is no way around it, they do. If they want it badly, they will try to take it. Even better if their mischief could be attributed to another and they can feign complete innocence of the deed. Besides, how would the dogs know about it if they 'non capisco'? Who would ever suspect them? I expect them to take the bait if we make the performance convincing enough.

Then we spring the trap and confront them. Berty should do it, he is best when it comes to this kind of stuff, and he knows enough about fairies to make it possible. Would be funny if Enrico himself, a hound of ancient and noble lineage, gets caught red-handed trying to steal sausages from the royal kitchen. :lol:

Then we make a proposal. We can forget we saw them and they can keep their haul (provided it isn't outrageous), but the hounds will have to drop the whole charade and work with us normally from now on.

On one hand, there is not much use denying understanding when you are caught in the act specifically prepared to expose you as such. Who are you fooling? On the other hand, tasty treats. Yum. Either they continue the joke that has grown stale and try to cling to their 'tricks' (which is boring and no longer funny), or everyone gets what they want - they can have their 'treats' and we won't have to deal with their bullshit anymore.

Let's try and establish ourselves as alphas here.

6. Nanshe:

A - Yes, you will speak to her about it. She gets to expand her Empire at their expense, and we won't have to hunt their remnants across the Kingdom.

7. Myrgard Communications:

A - Yes. Choose which topics you want to get the report on or what orders you want to convey to your forces.

i) You request the update on the situation in Myrgard (the cult, Thyra, Rand, the not-Rand autopsy results, your various forces and their progress with the assigned tasks, maybe even the Weazels or other personnel).

ii) You request the update on the situation in Blackrock (the Boys, Hesse, Welf and their champions).

iii) You instruct Mayer to keep an eye on people who turned to our 'Fata Morgana' firm to place an order for a large quantity of Energon Cubes. (Those are used in the cloning rituals. Perhaps it might lead us to the cloning facilities or the cultist HQ.)

iv) You instruct your Blackrock mice to spy on Hesse, Welf and their forces in the fort. They should report to Myora. You will attach one of the items Lyssa made to converse with the rodents to the letter. (We are certain there are enemy agents among them, and the fort is riddled with mice, so it is a natural course of action. Should have thought of that one earlier, but oh well.)

8. Party Management:

i. - arm your third spell ring with Heal instead of Greater Energy Bolt and loan it to Lyssa (so that each of you had means of quick healing)

ii. - arm your mice squad with sharp and pointy weapon and enchant them with Poison Oath to make them capable of taking down a person.


I will see if I can get an update done for sometime Sunday, it might happen...


Update:

Yeah, turns out that combining holiday weekends and PoE is a great way to not get much writing done. I will chip away at the update whenever I can find the time. Hopefully it will be up no later than Tuesday, it should not take too long and I definitely don't want it to have to wait until next weekend.


Update to the update:

The update is about 25% done now, I should be able to clear time Monday evening to finish it off. With any luck it will be up within twenty four hours.


The update is now over half done. I will either post it tonight or tomorrow night.


Update to the update of the, ah, update:

The update is near completion. I am going to see if I can't get it out tonight, might be tomorrow though.
 
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Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Will Derryth manage to fend off the Watcher's horde? What plan does she have in mind? Will she finally decide to run away and make babies with- ah, wrong thread.
 

Karwelas

Dwarf Taffer
Patron
Joined
May 12, 2014
Messages
1,064
Location
"Mostly Harmless" planet
Codex Year of the Donut I helped put crap in Monomyth
Will Derryth manage to fend off the Watcher's horde? What plan does she have in mind? Will she finally decide to run away and make babies with- ah, wrong thread.
Shh. We have Witcher 3 around to make us busy. Well... you have Treave. :lol:
I should really look into his/her CYOAs but still bust with planing myself... damn it. I understand how Fanshi and Treave feel at the start.
 

Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
So it is the weekend again... did not quite make the Tuesday release I wanted... :oops:

I should will have time to work on finishing the update now though so expect the update to be posted within twenty four hours. A lot of dialogue and 'investigating' in this update so I have to double check all the info for errors. :salute:
 

Jester

Arbiter
Joined
Mar 24, 2013
Messages
1,493
Why i knew i will have to make a sarcastic comment here about not having to check if it's update?
:P

Will believe when I see it. Probably you will cheat on your bunch of imaginery friends/random strengers with people you know. Such unfaithfulness.
:decline:

Hope she or he (them ?) is at least pretty.
:lol:
 

Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Still here, still going to post the update, it is just suffering a bit from bloat.

I hesitate to give an estimation though beyond soon...

I will update this post before I post the update.



Update:

Alright, I have managed to organize the update and it is done.

I just need to do a few passes and then I will post it. It should be up within the hour.
 
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Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Chapter 70: Divided Loyalties

November 19, 2542, Outside the Sea of Glass

Victory!

Child, my hands are shaking as I write this, but we have won! Not some tiny victory either, not some hollow, weak and mewling thing- A complete rout! Absolute victory!

I can hardly think, barely express my elation, it- It is difficult to know what to tell you first. Perhaps I should begin with the smaller shock?

I say small but in truth it is no small thing that I am about to commit to paper. The ghôlish host that has been troubling the south is no more! It was broken by Lord Seinsheim with the assistance of Albrecht's mercenary mages.

Seinsheim's people have been quick to spread the word throughout the camp and though few care for his Lordship none can deny the service he has rendered to the Kingdom today. In fact a great many dwarves have been speaking rather well of Seinsheim. If you as me, I suspect it has a little to do with the free meat his guards are giving out throughout the camp. It is said that so many of the beasts fell today that the army can eat nothing but ghôl meat all the way to Stoneheim if the General will let us. Already the camp fills with the scent of the stuff and the reveling that accompanies these feasts has done wonders for morale.

This alone would be a victory worthy of eternal remembrance, the greatest dwarven victory over those beasts in half a century, but it has been almost entirely overshadowed by a second surprise. The tongues of our countrymen, marshaled and led out by their stomachs, may be bent to Seinsheim's service, but their eyes reveal the truth that haunts their minds. Even in this tent I know it is out there, the monument to the single greatest spell I have ever witnessed. The single greatest spell I am ever likely to witness.

It is a forest of glass shards, hungrily reaching for the sky.

It is a maze of twisted mirror, tinted with the blood and bile of our enemies, and when the light hits it, it seems to whirl as I imagine the ocean would.

I stand, my dear child, in a tent just north of the Sea of Glass. Yesterday it was the enemy army, today it is the latest creation of the greatest archmage to ever live, the first of the Avatara, M-

“So who the fuck is this Mazzarin fella?” a thick, low voice demands to know from outside her tent.

“Some sort of human archmage, I think?” his thinner companion answers as he raises the flap of the tent and the two of them enter, “Ase will know at any rate,” he reassures his companion as the pair wave to her, “Ain't that right Ase?”

She nods without looking up. She will have to finish writing latter.

She slaps her journal closed and loops the binding strap round it to secure it.

She glances up at the pair, staring at her innocently with their hands behind their backs, she speaks, “And what have you two got now?”

The larger dwarf grins merrily, as he presents his gift, “Dinner, whole rack of ribs torn fresh from one of the beasts Seinsheim's folk brought in.”

Damn, they must have had to wait around in the queue for hours to get that.

She would like to get a bit more work done, but it would be rude not to partake, and there are only two of them, and, well, she could use a bit of dinner too.

“See, I knew there was a reason why I put up with you two,” she smiles, waving them over to a large table, scored, worn and chipped all around its circular edge.

The three drop down, big Arkell to her left and his younger brother, Hall, to her right.

“Arkell! Hall!” a voice calls from beyond the tent.

“In here, Captain,” they answer together.

Then Arkell adds, before Ase can stop him, “Come right on in Captain! We're have'n dinner in Ase's tent tonight.”

She does her best to suppress a moan. It is not that the Captain is a bad dwarf, he looks after his subordinates, he gets her what she needs but as soon as he enters the tent she knows with a growing, dreadful certainty that she will get nothing else done tonight.

“That right Ase?” the Captain enquires.

Bless him for his courtesy but there is no getting out of this now.

“Yes, Captain Manning. We are just sitting down to eat,” she glances at Arkell, he beams at her as she continues, “Would you care to join us?”

“I was actually planning on attending dinner with a couple of Seinsheim's guards-” he begins.

With a jolly confidence that brooks no disagreement Arkell cuts in, “Well then invite them over Captain! The more the merrier!”

Ase mutters.

Hall, watching her reaction, stifles a snicker.

Captain Manning pretends to give the tent the once over, “I am afraid it would be a bit crowded in here, Arkell.”

“Why don't we go with you then, Captain?” Hall suggests with as much feigned deference as he can muster.

The Captain grins, “And what would you two do in a room full of officers?”

“Out drink'em!” Arkell declares.

“Out play them too,” Hall is quick to add.

The brothers never did have much respect for rank. The Captain's eyes fix on Ase, “Well, would you care to accompany me, and these two buffoons, to a dinner that will no doubt prove interesting?”

When he puts it that way, how can she resist?

-----------------------------------------------

“Where the fuck is my fucking purse!” a howl of rage, heard half way across your section of camp shatters the quiet of your meeting, “I will flay, alive, the son-of-a-bitch that stole my purse! I will slaughter their descendants! I will-” the curses are carried away on the breeze.

“Was that-” your better half begins.

“The Old Man.” you answer, part question, part answer.

Lyssa shrugs, “He must have misplaced something important. Not our problem anymore anyway.”

That much is certainly true, your earlier meeting with Reinhard was able to achieve that much at the least. The Seekers have been placed under his direct authority and the Hounds, despite their best efforts remain under yours, or rather, they were officially transferred to the Prince's command and he, in turn, returned them to you.

You doubt the handlers were terribly happy about that turn of events but maybe that will teach them not to go behind your back with their problems. A slim hope, but one all the same.

You did not discuss much else with the Prince at your first formal meeting, it was not a suitable occasion to discuss weighty issues. At least not with Lord Berg hanging on every word exchanged. Instead you excused yourselves and set to work formulating a plan.

You had Berty deliver a sealed message directly to the Prince. Its contents, a request for a private meeting to discuss military matters, but the meeting's true purpose will be to establish a means of screening the army for spies.

He agreed to meet you this evening, after he finishes discuss the situation with his command staff. You hope that Reinhard will be open to your suggestions but only time will tell.

For now you have settled on getting everything in place, you have set up screening teams and even come up with a few cover stories to explain their appearance at important 'meetings', in reality screenings, you just need permission now to begin.

There is one plan that you are ready to proceed with though, one that you need no permission to enact and it is this plan that is the reason for your meeting.

“So what are we going to do about our new employees?” Thaïs initiates the operation with an innocent enough question.

“We will just have to pay them in steak for the time being,” you answer immediately, casually, but loud enough to ensure that the Coin-Sith stalking outside your tent can hear you. You left a bit of mild concern creep into your voice, “Of course we may run out soon enough, the dwarves love their feasts, it seems, and what they do not devour the heat and insects eventually will.”

Out of the corner of your eyes you notice the silhouette of a small hound, its ears perked up, likely hanging on your every word. You think it is one of the puppies which should make this all the easier.

“Well, we do still have that venison from Madrigal, ice packed, it will probably keep for at least a few more days,” Lyssa helpfully reminds you. It does not matter that no such venison has ever existed.

“Is it still in wagon number three?” you inquire, whispering, quietly enough to ensure the hound is fully focused on your words.

“Yes,” Thaïs answers, she sighs, “But between the screening teams and our own general security we can hardly spare guards to look after something like that.”

You nod several times, after all, you are not sure just how much of your silhouette the fairy hound can see, “Well, we will just have to do our best, I would hate to lose such well aged meat.”

Watching carefully, the hound's shadow disappears from your vision , darting off into the twilight.

Hopefully the hound will relay your conversation to its elders and hopefully they will take the bait. The rest will be up to Berty; your tactician has promised to catch the hounds and to humble them. Hopefully you will be able to assert, once and for all, your position of superiority.

Lyssa grins, Thaïs winks and you shift the conversation, “We should probably check with Finn tonight, before the meeting, see if he has any insights into how best to use the hounds for screening purposes,” you do not say it, but you also hope the King will grant you additional packs of hounds for the task. Ideally you would like to screen the entire army for spies and saboteurs but that could take some time. To do so you will need to find the King and he does have a habit of making himself scare when there is work to be done.

Thaïs takes the initiative, rising and moving toward the front flap of the tent, “Cropper should be able to find Finn for us,” she passes her summons to one of the guards outside who sets off to find the hunter.

“Care for a drink while we wait?” she asks, gliding away from the front of the tent toward your things and the locked cabinet that protects Tyrvard's old still.

You nod, Lyssa does as well, Tyrvard's brew is superior to any other and Thaïs has been working slowly to improve the recipe in your spare moments. The result is something that is quickly approaching the divine.

She draws up to the travel cabinet you keep the still in and gently unlocks it, gingerly opening it to find... An empty still.

You curse under your breath, catching yourself a moment too late.

Lyssa moans, your better half taps her foot and mutters.

You have been robbed.

“Who could have?” your witch begins.

Well, you are traveling with a company of fairies, if you had to guess it was one of them.

Your messenger returns with a disappointing report. Cropper is nowhere to be found.

Your guard tells you that, supposedly, he left your part of the camp some time ago with a sack in one hand and a number of full leather bags tied to his waist. Enrico was with him and the two were deep in conversation when they passed beyond your lines.

When questioned by your sentries Cropper merely smiled and said that he was on a mission directly from you.

You hope he does not get into too much trouble, even as you know that such hopes are all too likely to be dashed.

For a moment you entertain the notion of going after him but you quickly realize the futility of such an act. Instead you focus on the coming meeting and what you will say to the Prince.

------------------------------------------------------

Dinner.

A feast.

Plates and cups of lead and tin.

They clang. They clatter.

Smoked ghôl, grilled ghôl, boiled ghôl, all piled high upon them as Seinsheim's cooks set to work preparing enough food for an army.

Ase and her three companions skirt the edge of the throng, Captain Manning in the lead. He instructs them as they move, “House Seinsheim's club is toward the back, it is supposed to be officers only, but-”

Hall hawks, drawing himself up to his full height, turning to the left and aiming square at the back of one of Seinsheim's guards. The sound of the phlem clearing his throat makes Ase cringe, the swears that explode for Hall's unfortunate target fill the soldier's eyes with the most meager glimmer of satisfaction, “You are gonna make an exception for us though, right Captain?”

Manning shakes his head, “Not if you are going to behave like animals in there, not if you are going to start something with Seinsheim's people.”

Arkell grins, “Don't worry Captain, we won't start nothing,” for a second Ase can sense Manning's surprise and appreciation, naturally Arkell won't leave it at that, “'Course we might have to end a few things.”

Manning scowls, “Throw a single fucking punch, start a single fucking arguement, get caught cheating, even one fucking time, and you will both be on latrine duty for as long as you limbs and your lungs can keep you fucking above ground, understood!”

Arkell and Hall make sure to mutter the proper assurances, there is little fear in them though, even Ase knows that. The Captain goes way back with these two, to the Great War in fact, and no barroom brawl or cheap con is going to come between them.

Still, the proper decorum must be maintained, even if only for the sake of the recruits and the second-raters.

The Captain leads them on through the crush, pausing only once more as they enter the, rather nondescript, canvas tent that serves as a club for Seinsheim's guard captains. He repeats his order then, muttering under his breath as they enter, “Arkell, Hall, I am asking you two, as a personal favour, don't fucking start anything in there.”

“Yes, Captain,” the pair of veterans respond, their eyes already scanning the room for an easy mark.

Crowded around one of the bigger tables in Seinheim's part of camp, Ase and her fellows set down to dinner with a trio of Seinsheim captains. Nice enough fellows, at least for House guards, but not a one would make it into the army proper.

Second-raters, the lot of them.

One's too fat. The other, too stupid, and the third, well, there is something off about him, not merely cruel, nor vindictive, nor bitter, there are plenty in the army that are one or all of those things. No, Ase is not quite sure what it is about him but she does not like him at all.

He grins at them as they are seated, the Captain in particular, “Didn't think you were coming Manning, thought maybe you backed out.”

“Not me,” the Captain answers easily, “Would not miss dinner, or a chance to take your money.”

“Good,” the fat one answers as he brings forth a bulbous copper pot and a pair of dice, “Favourite pot,” he explains, picking his teeth “Favourite dice too, carved from the knuckles of a big ol'ghôl priestess. Should get lots of use out of them tonight. Want to begin? Play while we eat? Starting stake is five gold pieces.”

Hell, an expensive game, especially when all she wanted was dinner, she starts to back out, “That is a bit rich for my liking.”

The cruel one grins, “Ain't nothing says you got to play,” and with that he dismisses her, turning his attention to the her three companions, “What about you bunch? You in, or is everybody in the army a coward?”

The barb is unnecessary, Arkell and Hall are here to play as is their captain and they answer as much.

“Great!” the fat one answers, he throws the dice in the pot, they skitter along the pot as he slaps the lid down tight and begins to shake it.

The cruel one speaks as his confederate rolls, “Now you all know the rules-”

“I don't suppose you would be needing a seventh?” the soothing notes of a distinctly undwarven voice waft over to the table across the crowded tent.

Every dwarf in the place stops dead, “Who the fuck are you!” the fat one calls out, “This is a private club, members and invites only!”

----------------------------------------------------

As evening gave way to night and the roars and laughter of the dwarven army built, the pair of you set out toward your meeting with Albrecht's son and heir.

You drifted: past your wagons, loaded down with goods, past your hounds, circling those same wagons, past Berty and the girls, lying in ambush for your greedy Coin-Sith, past your human and dwarven mercenaries, drinking and gambling, telling tales as magnificent as they were false and finally you moved past your sentries and into the main dwarven camp. You pressed on past the glares of the Seekers. They no doubt requested a place far removed from your own camp but Reinhard could not grant it to them. Between Berg and Seinsheim's armies there simply was no more space left within the scorched and battered walls of the camp. You pushed past the Seekers' cluster of tents, giving them as wide a berth as you could and moved on to the Hounds' camp. You did not receive any warmer a welcome there.

You hope that will not become a problem down the road, but there is little you can do about it now.

Entering the main camp you receive a slightly warmer welcome. The odd veteran nods at you or bows, every now and then someone shouts out, "There go the Heroes of the Kingdom!" to a few cheers, or, "All hail the 'Daughters of Mazzarin!" That last one in particular is going to get annoying quickly.

Not much you can do about that either. You brought Mazzarin into this and he is doing his best to take advantage, claiming all the glory and your own deeds as his own.

No sooner does the archmage cross your mind then the back of his new tent comes into view, looming large at the heart of the camp. The tent, while retaining the basic dimensions it had earlier today, has changed remarkably. All along its surface small flecks of magic crawl, coating the tent and the surrounding structures in violet and orange light. They deepen the shadows and grant them a certain, sinister, light. A low rumble comes from within the tent, like the slow, relaxed breathing of some ancient god of thunder and fire. You hair rises slightly, a subtle magical charge in the air, and as you begin to round the structure your magical senses are momentarily scattered and scrambled by a wave of energy that breaks gently around you.

The entire scene is vaguely disconcerting and slightly intimidating. No doubt the exact impression the Great Mage wishes to give.

As you move round to the front of the tent your eye catches the slightest movement from the entrance of the pavilion, something emerging from the shadows within. You both stop short and stare as this phantom takes on shape and substance, stepping clear of the shadows of the tent. The light, the noise, the magical interference, all put your mind on edge and for just a second you think that this drifting shadow is some sort of guardian beast, a shadow, a malevolent thing bent to Mazzarin's service.

The 'creature' grunts once and the spell you have woven in your mind unravels. He is pulling something heavy and this little sign of strain and discomfort is more than enough to inform you that he is nothing but flesh and blood, same as you. He turns and instantly you relax, it is only Emrys. He waves at you and the burden he is dragging falls over.

Lying flat on the ground, bathed in witchlight, you can see Emrys' burden. It is an 'M', a seven foot tall, foldable, golden 'M', and from the sound it makes striking the sand you are fairly sure that it is simply painted wood. You have to suppress a slight smile upon the realization of that fact.

“Hello, Mistress Thaïs, Mistress Derryth,” the Boy greets you with impeccable politeness, “How are you both this evening?”

“Good, Emrys,” you answer together and he tilts his head a little at that.

Thaïs takes first turn at speaking for you, “You do not have to call us Mistress, you do know that right?”

You nod, “Yeah, just call us by our names, the rest is a waste of time.”

Emrys nods slowly, hefting his load up off the ground, “I am afraid I can't,” he gestures back into the tent, “Master insists that I show 'due reverence' for my elders. He says,” and here the boy assumes a tone and posture much like Mazzarin's own, “That 'you can not expect respect from your subordinates if you do not give it-'”

You and your better half share a grin as you interrupt, “We don't see him giving much respect to anyone.”

Emrys frowns slightly, remembering the rest of his Master's instructions, “-'if you do not give it to your superiors.'”

You both laugh in harmony, you wink, “Well that explains it,” you doubt he considers anyone short of dead, old Wyrd to be his superior.

“What do you have there Emrys?” your partner inquires.

“Ah,” he glances down at the 'M', “Master wants this hung so that it will frame the entryway to the tent. He says we must make the 'right sort of impression'.”

“That he is a raging narcissist?” you mutter.

Thaïs laughs, the Boy stares at you both innocently as your better half continues her questioning, “And what are you doing after that?”

“Working,” he sighs, “Master wants me to organize his scroll cases, sweep the sand from his tent, and then I have to sort his mail,” he grins and his eyes flash for a moment, “And then I have to practice the thirty seven forms of the southern style of the Physical Adepts of the Red Cliffs, Master expects me to have the basics memorized by the time we leave the Kingdom.”

Sounds like he is tough on the boy, well, you have heard it builds character, “Is he punishing you for something?”

Emrys shakes his head emphatically, “No, not at all! My latest tasks are rewards for the progress I have made in my studies. Master says that by organizing his scroll cases I will be able to observe the various binding methods used to prevent prying hands and quick minds from stealing his secrets. He says that by sweeping the sand out of his tent I will learn patience and humility, both of which are needed in a good apprentice, and-”

You interrupt together, “And sorting his mail will improve you how?”

The Boy is undeterred by your interruption, “I don't know but he gets so very little mail that it will hardly take more than a moment to deal with. Then I have all night to practice my forms.”

Sounds like an illuminating evening even if it is a bit solitary.

Emrys struggles to attach the 'M' to the tent, clipping it in place with iron clamps on the back.

When he is done he mutters a few words in a dialect you do not understand and the spells woven into the wood spring to life. The 'M' begins to glow with an inner fire, casting off just a little warmth and adding its golden light to the palette of colours already at play around you.

Emrys steps back from his work, satisfied, “One task down, two more to go!”

He spins back around to face you and bows low to each of you, “Good night, Mistress Derryth. Good night, Mistress Thaïs.”

As he bows for the second time his pack shifts and a bundle of fresh letters fall out. Emrys dives at them, snatching them up before the wind can carry them away, he sighs in relief at the realization that he has them all securely in hand. You do manage to get a glimpse of the top letter though and you recognize the name of its author, Lyssa.

You wonder what exactly your witch has to say to Mazzarin that would require such an indirect means of communication. Perhaps you can find out if you can convince Emrys to let you peek. You know the boy is quite loyal to his Master but from what you have heard he also has an unquenchable desire for knowledge, particularly magical knowledge, and that might provide you with an opening. You will have to be quick though, Emrys seems intent on entering Mazzarin's tent and Reinhard is waiting for you.

With only a moment to decide you make your choice.

---------------------------------------------------------------

The stranger pushes into the tent all the same.

He is human, likely a mercenary come in with the reinforcements from out of the north. That means he is one of Mazzarin's people and that fact has already dawned on a couple of the officers in the bar, they move to the back of the tent, checking, then double-checking the exits, just in case. Most though are too drunk, too elated, to care who the human serves and with the typical hospitality of her people they holler and bellow at the new arrival. He seems completely unconcerned, walking with an easy gait, chestnut hair poking out in tufts from under a broad-rimmed straw hat. He is dressed in simple leathers with a cloak of red, trimmed with green. He swings a tiny club in his left hand and at his right heel walks a small dog, some sort of tiny pug that has the bearing and confidence of an animal three times its size.

Two of Seinsheim's officers move to intercept the human as the cruel officer repeats his colleague's injunction, “Get the fuck out! You got wool in your ears or something?”

The stranger stops, perplexed, he seems to give the question an honest appraisal, “Have I got wool in my ears? Hmmm, wool in my ears. Wool. In my. Ears. No, I don't suppose I do, but let me check a bit before answering fully.”

He gives his head a shake and frowns, “Well, there is certainly something in there, that much I will gladly grant you,” he shakes his head harder and raises a single, gloved, hand to his right ear, “Ah, I think it is coming loose!” he shouts, then with a look of triumph he produces a single gold coin, “Ha! Well what do you know! I suppose I did have something in my ear and,” he reveals a rather hefty bag tied to his left wrist, “I suppose I have a fair few more besides.”

The jingle of coins relaxes a few of the dwarves but the stranger is not done yet, “Ah, but that is not even the half of it,” he reaches around his back, pulling forth a sizable drinking skin, “If the sound of gold does little to prove our brotherhood, and my fair intentions, then how about a little spirits to raise the same in all of you!”

He uncorks the container and shoves it into the hands of the nearest dwarf, the dwarf takes a single whiff and must love what he smells as he greedily suckles on the bag. The stranger produces a second sack and a third, drinking skins packed with a beverage fine as it is clear.

Resistance melts as the barman attempts to convince his customers to finish their drinks and order more. It seems it will be an uphill battle for the poor bartender.

The stranger saddles up to the table, seizing an empty chair as he goes and pours himself into it with masterful grace.

The fat dwarf grunts, “You want to play, it is f-”

The stranger's purse clanks against the table, whoever he is, he must be rich.

The cruel dwarf cautiously considers the stranger, “How much you got in there anyway?”

The stranger blinks, “Well, not terribly sure to be honest. Let me take just the smallest of looks.”

The stranger shoves his purse forward, an eye, wreathed in flame emblazoned on its exterior. He cracks it open and begins counting.

When he is finished he looks up with an innocent grin, “Oh, must be eighty, maybe ninety gold.”

“You, ah,” the stupid dwarf finally chimes in, “You ever play before?”

The stranger slowly shakes his head, “Nope, first time for everything though, right?”

The cruel dwarf snorts, “You want into this game, it will cost you eight gold a round.”

The Captain mutters a little, Arkell and Hall shift but none of the three contest the raising of the stakes.

The stranger counts out his pieces and throws them in the pile, newly formed by the six dwarves.

Arkell introduces himself, his brother, and Captain Manning. Each of his compatriots responding with a slight nod.

When he gets to her, Ase hazards a question of the man, “Do you happen to have a name? Something we can call you?”

The stranger turns to her and winks, “Rob, First Jack of the Spring, as me dad used to call me when I was but a boy,” he extends a hand to her, which she readily takes, as he continues to introduce himself to all present,“And it is a true pleasure to meet you, an absolute delight if I do say so myself,” he grins, “Which I do, of course, say, ah, meaning myself, meaning it is a pleasure,” he nods a few times and taps his tiny club against the side of his leg, “An this,” he points down at the little pug, “This is Rico, my fine and fair friend for many a season,” he nods again, “So you see, it is plenty easy to remember our names, Rob and Rico, finest of friends, and fine friends to our friends I hope you will find!”

Arkell sniffs, playing with his coins, “So you, ah, come in with Mazzarin's folk?”

“For a certainty I did, Friend Arkell,” Rob grins, “Came down from the north a short spell ago and had a little wander around your fine country. Met a few fine folks," he lets his gaze linger on the cruel dwarf as he speaks, "And some not so fine," he quickly turns back to Ase and beams, "Then I fell in with the Ladies Derry and Taide, I serve them, they serve the Mazzarin, so I keep hearing,” he laughs merrily, an action that mystifies Ase.

At least the stranger seems to be enjoying himself.

“Right,” the fat dwarf interrupts the stranger's enlightening introduction, “We ready to begin now? I would like to get a few rounds in before I got to go back on duty.”

“Whenever you care to begin,” Rob answers with a slight bow as the dice begin to rattle.

The cruel dwarf stares at the stranger, the stranger stares back.

Something is going on here and maybe, just maybe, Ase will be able to find out.

----------------------------------------------

The guards around Reinhard's tent are different than the rest of the soldiers you have seen. While their fellows celebrate they remain focused, concerned only with the protection of their Prince. They do not wear the reds and silvers of the army, not the purple and gold of the new Royal Guard either, they dress in black and it lends a certain sinister air to them, one you are not certain they deserve.

They wave you into Reinhard's tent without a word. You need no permission or pass to go where you please in the camp, your positions as the 'Heroes of the Kingdom' and the 'Daughters of Mazzarin' ensures that much.

The Prince sits with his back to the entrance, relaxed but not completely defenseless as the crossbow resting near his thigh can attest. He is perched on a long wooden bench a large tome cracked open before him. You are immediately curious as to its contents; simply a matter of your nature really.

“Derryth? Thaïs?” he calls out without turning.

“It is us your Royal Highness,” Thaïs answers for you both. Best to let her do the talking till you know more about the heir to the throne.

He half-turns on the bench, to reveal a pair of wide spectacles resting easily on the edge of his nose, “The honorifics are not necessary. I am not your Prince, nor am I your General, you serve my father directly if I understand correctly?”

“We do,” you answer plainly. If he wants a more relaxed form of discussion then you will oblige him.

Thaïs hazards a morsel of elaboration, “We are empowered to pursue his interests across the Kingdom though it may be more accurate to say that we work for him on a case by case basis.”

“In all things?” he asks turning now back to his book.

You glance at one another, and shrug. How to answer that?

“In most things,” you begin.

“Those things we deem important,” your better half clarifies, “We are given a rather free reign.”

He stiffens a little at that, “So my brother tells me. He was going to offer you employment in his service. Did he? Did you accept?”

“He did,” you answer the easy question.

Thaïs answers the harder one with a question of her own, “Would you believe us if we told you we did not accept his offer?”

Once more he turns from his text, just enough to catch a firm vision of you, “Yes, it would agree with what I have heard of you from other sources. Of course,” he begins to list the hypotheticals, a shadow of suspicion plays in the corner of his weary eyes, “You could also, easily, be lying. I could think of a few reasons why my brother would ask you to lie to me.”

“Ambition?” you wager.

He shakes his head, “No, well, yes, but not in the way you think. My brother loves me, I have never doubted that, at court he is one of a very few that I can trust with absolute certainty not to betray me, and yet...” the dwarf closes the book and swings a leg over the bench.

He rises, with the text in hand he carefully carries it over to a large, triple locked trunked. Upon opening it he deposits it carefully and seals the heavy trunk once more, placing the key in his front pocket.

You can not help but ask, “What where you reading?”

A military text?

An economic treaty?

Something on magic perhaps? No, that would make little sense as the heir to the Kingdom Reinhard would not be able to practice magic even were he so inclined.

“A book of principles,” he glances at the chest, “Written by a dwarf that could see them so clearly.”

You decide to push the Prince a little, “Care to elaborate?”

“Maybe,” he answers, returning to his bench and dropping down on it with all the grace of a stone thrown into a well. He leans back against his sizable desk.

He taps his head, “Mentalists, right? You could simply take the information if you wished.”

“We could,” you answer as one, “But we would not.”

He smiles slightly, “Well, that is a little encouraging, more than I expected at least.”

You wonder what he meant by that.

He closes his eyes, “My brother would though. Maybe not to me but to others, those he did not know or like, he certainly would. He would strip their minds bare and use any information found to defend the family, the House, and the Kingdom. So I say he loves me, but,” he raises a hand, “And with Timo there is always a 'but', he would lie to me, he has lied to me, he will lie to me in the future and I am certain that if you chose to serve him he would ask you to lie to me as well. One of many things he does, 'for my own good and the good of the Kingdom', of course.”

The Prince shrugs, “He is so much like my father, as much as I love little Timo, he is in every way my father's son,” the Prince laughs, a quiet thing, haunting his breath, “I wonder if he even realizes it. Hell, I wonder if father realizes it.”

As interesting as it may be to let the Prince simply talk you should try to move the conversation in the desired direction. You only have so much time with him after all. To that end you intend to use notes, passed in secret, but for that you need to get closer, “Reinhard, may we sit?”

Your request snaps the Prince back to attention, “Ah, I have been rude, haven't I? Yes, please, grab a chair from over in the corner, we can sit at the table in the-” he glances around the overstuffed tent, at a loss to find a table not crowded by tomes and armour, weapons and scraps of parchment.

Eventually you settle around one of the smaller tables as the Prince clears a large model artillery piece from its surface. The metal contraption, which Reinhard tells you is a model reconstruction of a Trow carroballista, seems to have a good deal of weight to it but Reinhardt manages well enough.

Once seated you slip him your note. It details your plan, your intentions to use hounds to root out any Spider Cultists and minions of the Watcher within the officer corps of the army. He nods slowly as he reads and you make small talk to cover the silence.

As the Prince writes his reply you return to the topic of the text he was reading, surely it will prove innocuous enough.

As you ask him about it, he passes you his reply.

It reads,

I already know that the army is compromised.

So is House Berg.

Seinsheim, I am not sure about.

You have my permission to proceed with the screenings. I will setup the meetings if you can provide the hounds.

Getting Lords Berg and Seinsheim to cooperate though may take more time than we have.

What does your Master think of this plan? How much time will he give us to get everything in place?

Right, Mazzarin...

As soon as the Great Mage wakes up he is going to want to leave. That will not leave you with enough time to do much in the way of screening, unless you can convince him to wait that is.

You scribble a few assurances, unsure of how exactly you will manage to convince the Great Mage to remain at the oasis for a few more days.

As you pass your note back shouting begins to build from outside.

“What the hell,” the Prince begins.

One of his guards enters, “Apologies for the intrusion, General, but there is some sort of disturbance on the south side of camp. Seinsheim's people are up in arms, they are saying they caught a demon, and they are going to hang him.”

“One of the survivors from the Cultist army?” Reinhard asks, annoyed at the intrusion.

“No, sir,” the guard replies, “Ah, at least not like anything we have seen before. They say it has great fangs and large ears, wheels a club about like a real monster though and it has this great bloody dog with it too. Supposedly the things can change shape and size, they were causing all kinds of trouble in Seinsheim's officer club before Treva and Galena dropped them.”

“Cropper,” you groan together.

“What's a 'cropper'?” the Prince naturally enquires.

“Trouble,” you respond with a slow shake of your head, “But not dangerous, or at least not an enemy of the Kingdom.”

“A friend then?” the Prince presses.

“After a fashion,” you answer together, “We can't let him, or his hound, hang.”

“Right,” the Prince nods, “I will order his release then. Hopefully Seinsheim feels like complying tonight.”

You are about to agree before you stop and think for a moment. That might not actually be the best course of action. If Reinhard orders the release of Cropper and, what must be, Enrico it may make any investigation of the army more difficult. You would hate to have the Prince openly associated with shapeshifting allies. Maybe there is another way to go about this, if you have the Prince ask to attend the execution, delaying it by a few hours, you might be able to sneak in, free your allies and sneak out again. That way the demons would simply disappear and no one could be blamed.

Alternatively, you could go to Seinsheim and personally ask for the release of Cropper and Enrico. If you do that, there are a few ways you could play it. You did heal the dwarf lord, maybe he is the grateful type and will release your allies if you remind him of his debt, or you could claim that the pair serve Mazzarin, which would be true, and that he would be furious if they died, which would almost certainly be a lie. Seinsheim has had a small taste of what Mazzarin can do, the threat of the Great Mage's involvement might be enough to pressure the dwarf lord into relenting. Of course, if you do appeal to Seinsheim you risk exposing your own connection to the Tuatha Dé which may also make your investigation more difficult.

Finally, you could always choose to leave Cropper and Enrico to their own devices. The two of them might be able to escape without your help and it might teach them a lesson or two.

You decide to:


1. Captured Cropper (and Enrico): How do you wish to handle the situation?

A) You will let Reinhard order their release though it might make your subsequent investigations more difficult.

B) You will try to break them out while Reinhard delays the hanging. (All B options are counted together, the most popular option will be chosen)

i. You will let Lyssa and the mice handle this.

ii. You will call on Finn to help. His people should be able to spirit the prisoners away though it might not be as subtle as you would like.

iii. You will go by yourselves. The two of you should have free run of the camp, even Seinsheim's portion of it and using your magic you should be able to secure the release of the prisoners.

iv. Poison and Rodents Plan

v. freeform

C) You go to Seinsheim and remind him of the favour you did him (healing his leg). Hopefully he will hear you out and release the prisoners.

D) You will go to Seinsheim and demand the release of the prisoners in the name of Mazzarin. Hopefully he will be suitably terrified and will agree to your request.

E) You will leave Cropper and Enrico to make their own escape.

F) freeform


2. Mazzarin, the Impatient: When Mazzarin wakes up he is going to want to continue south. You want to screen the army however and that is liable to take a few days. You will need to convince him somehow to do what you want.

A) Be honest with him. You will tell him what you are trying to do and why he needs to help you delay things. Hopefully he will go along with your plan instead of simply 'solving' it himself.

B) Lie to him. You will do your best to convince him that he needs to wait a few days for the army while it organizes itself and the officers prepare for the battle ahead. Hopefully he will be patient instead of demanding an immediate departure.

C) Let Reinhard convince him to wait. You will trust to the Prince to reason with him.

D) The feast: Ask Reinhard to hold a feast in honour of Mazzarin's great victory. The archmage's pride should keep him from refusing and might buy you a day or two.

E) The Gate & Scan Plan

F) freeform


3. Emrys and the mail: Did you try to get Emrys to let you look at Lyssa's letter to Mazzarin or did you deny your curiousity?

A) You did not bother Emrys about Lyssa's letter, it is none of your business.

B) You tried to convince Emrys that he should show you the letter.

i. You promised knowledge and tales of all the places you have been. The boy seems to have a weakness for such things.

ii. You promised him a spell or similar magical knowledge. (feel free to specify what exactly, the most popular option will win)

iii. Offer to let him identify/handle some of your unidentified magical items in exchange for a look at Lyssa's letter. (This option is dependent on 4.C winning, if 4.C does not win the next most popular option will be chosen.)

iv. freeform

C) Ask Lyssa about the contents of the letter when you are alone.

D) freeform


4. You currently have a number of unidentified items on you. You could potentially try and get the Seekers to identify them, provided they don't know those belong to you. Do you go through with it?

A. Yes, you ask Reinhard to help you with that. If he just says those items were recovered from the Watcher's mages and he wants to know what they do, it would not technically be a lie, and the Seekers did offer their services to the army.

B. No, you want nothing to do with the Seekers, and it would be a bad idea to let them know what kind of items you might have.

C. No, you do not want the Seekers poking around in your magical items. Instead you will offer Emrys the opportunity of identifying them.


5. Provided that Cropper finds Finn for you and provided you succeed in your plan to stay at the oasis for a day or two, you can ask Finn to send a runner to Muirthemne to take care of some matters, like delivering a message to your team and recovering Gullveig's correspondence which might help you with the investigation. Will you go for it?

A - yes, send a runner.

B - no, don't bother.
 
Last edited:

Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Party/Organizational Changes:


Party Changes:

Not too much here. I will add the orb I missed earlier but other than that you have not really gained anything.

One of Lyssa's eagles has been sent off to the Palace with your letters so that changed.

You lent out a ring and filled it with Heal, so that changed as well.

Also your mice changed equipment.

As far as abilities go, you have managed to gain the first of your military ones and you have learnt your very first musical magic abilites (nothing too spectacular yet but it is something):

Derry gained Basic Combat Knowledge.

DT&L gained Coirpre's First Utterance

Biliku and Uttu gained Combat Knowledge (to reflect all the progress they have made with Berty so far)


Organizational Changes:

Just a few rep changes at the moment, little else.

House Seinsheim: -10
The Hounds: -15
The Seekers: -10

When/if you get your update from Myrgard/Muirthemne I will update the corresponding information.


Rolls:

A lot of rolls, since a lot happened. Most of the though you can probably tease out of the content of the update.

Cropper had several stealth/thieving rolls to make as he emptied out your still and revealed the Old Man of the weight of temporal sin...

He then had several rolls to slip across camp, and he and Enrico had a few adventures along the way.

He made a fair bit of money too.

The 80-90 'gold' he has are actually comprised of a wide variety of gold, silver and copper coins from the Empire, the Province and the Kingdom. Different coins, naturally, have different values but well traveled mercs and veteran soldiers know them almost as well as mechants and traders do.

To put Cropper pouch in perspective the whole thing is probably worth 10-20 WPs. So for most people in the setting that is a sizable sum. I think I will post some of the financial information (price lists, that sort of thing) so that I have an online record if I ever lose my documents. It will also help you figure out whether or not a merchant is trying to take adavantage of you (Hint: the answer is usually yes). I will post it when/if I get a moment but I still have to finish the character index so it will have to be after that.

Once Cropper reached the officer's club he had a few persuasion/performance checks to make to avoid a fight. He passed those without too much trouble. Then the game began and everyone was making checks (bluff, gambling, etc).

You do not know the outcome of the game yet, merely that it might have ended in a fight of some sort.

At some point Cropper blew is cover and a fight broke out.

This was a standard combat encounter, Cropper and Enrico did fairly well but in the end they were no match for a pair of actual mages. Treva and Galena dropped them fairly easily.

While all of this was going on the rest of the cast were rolling as well.

DT&L had their rolls against the puppy, and you saw the results of that.

Berty and the girls also had a number of rolls related to your fairy hounds, you won't know the result of that till next update.

Emrys had a few rolls relating to his activities.

You had a few rolls crossing the camp to see just who you would run into. There could have been a scene with the charioteers for example.

When you got to Reinhard there were a number of rolls but I don't want to go into the results of those yet either.

Finally there were a few rolls around the Kingdom and several beyond its borders. You may or may not find out how those went at some point.

I also cut a lot out of the update as the original version made far too many assumptions about how D&T would act in the situation. In the end I decided to cut everything that relied too much on choices I think you should be making. Depending on what you chose at least some of it is likely reappear in the next few updates, but we will have to see how things go.

If you have questions for any of the characters in the update feel free to post them and I will give their answers.

If you have questions for Reinhard, be sure to stipulate if you are writing them down and passing them to him or if you are speaking out loud.
 
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Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Well, it certainly is not how I thought the night would turn out.

Why is the Prince being associated with shapeshifters bad? Is our alliance with Finn and his people a secret? Or Finn's service to Mazzarin, for that matter? In fact, didn't our or Finn's dogs raise a few eyebrows already?

I thought the army would be able to overlook these matters just as they overlooked Trakk's mortar if those ended up saving their lives.

When he gets to her, Ase hazards a question of the man, “Do you happen to have a name? Something we can call you?”

The stranger turns to her and winks, “Rob, First Jack of the Spring, as me dad used to call me when I was but a boy,”
Finn must be so jelly that his hunter gets more girls than he does. :lol:

“Where the fuck is my fucking purse!” a howl of rage, heard half way across your section of camp shatters the quiet of your meeting, “I will flay, alive, the son-of-a-bitch that stole my purse! I will slaughter their descendants! I will-” the curses are carried away on the breeze.
[...]
The cruel dwarf cautiously considers the stranger, “How much you got in there anyway?”

The stranger blinks, “Well, not terribly sure to be honest. Let me take just the smallest of looks.”

The stranger shoves his purse forward, an eye, wreathed in flame emblazoned on its exterior. He cracks it open and begins counting.

When he is finished he looks up with an innocent grin, “Oh, must be eighty, maybe ninety gold.”
[...]
You have been robbed.
Hmmm, I wonder why they call him 'Rob'. :lol:

Tentative votes - we will sneak Rob and Rico out together with Lys, mice and maybe Raegen. A few well-placed 'Retrieve Item' spells (which can go into our rings that can be operated by mice) to get the keys from a guard, a few illusions, and Cropper, being a shapeshifter, can just walk out of there with Rico under his arm.

We just need to distract the only mages that matter, Galena and Treva, who could detect us. We could do it ourselves - the ladies certainly regard us with interest - or we could rope Emrys into it. I bet those two would jump at an opportunity to ask an apprentice of the greatest mage to ever live a few questions. It is just a matter of how to motivate Emrys.

I don't think we have much time to proceed with the investigation for now. I will have to write down a long-term plan for the campaign (yes, I have one). For the moment let's just place a few Coin-Sith where the meeting is supposed to go and try to figure out if there are traitors in the command staff.

When Maz wakes up, I think we might just ask him to open a Gate to Stoneheim and run the army through it. No one can defy the willpower of Maz (so the greatest concern of somebody subverting the control of the spell is out), and we will save a lot of time by dropping on top of the Watcher's army. It is a question of whether it is safe or not to jump in in our current state, however.

Fangshi, how much time it would take to screen the army or at least the most of it and its commanding officers for the Watcher's influence? Cropper and his doge team were able to sniff the scouts without much difficulties once those separated from the army, why it this taking much more time than that?

I don't think we should involve ourselves with Maz' correspondence. That's not our business and if it is ever discovered we might get in trouble. However, Lys' letter is our business, but we can take it up with her directly. I would think she will admit to what this is about if directly confronted.
 
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Fangshi

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Why is the Prince being associated with shapeshifters bad? Is our alliance with Finn and his people a secret? Or Finn's service to Mazzarin, for that matter? In fact, didn't our or Finn's dogs raise a few eyebrows already?

Him being associated with shapeshifting hounds might undermine your plan to discretely screen the army, no?

The fact that you ae allied with Finn is not a secret. The fact that Finn and his people are not just human mercenaries is a secret, they all took on human/mundane form when they accompanied you.

No eyebrows raised as they all appear normal. Your mercs have not really said anything either as they know better than to cross their employers (and mages to boot).

I thought the army would be able to overlook these matters just as they overlooked Trakk's mortar if those ended up saving their lives.

They probably would if Reinhard told them to but it might complicate your investigation slightly.

Fangshi, how much time it would take to screen the army or at least the most of it and its commanding officers for the Watcher's influence?

The army, maybe three-four days if you are trying to be discrete.

The officers, maybe a day or two, again if you are trying to be discrete.

Just the command staff, could be done in a day, once more if you are trying not to be obvious about it.

Cropper and his doge team were able to sniff the scouts without much difficulties once those separated from the army, why it this taking much more time than that?

A lot more people, packed into a tighter area. An area that already stinks to high hell with the scent of Spider Demons.

It is a harder search to conduct.

You also want it done discretely, that takes substantially more time than being overt about it. The advantage though is that you are less likely to provoke an organized response from infiltrators.
 

asxetos

Augur
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
820
Location
Greece
1E Tentatively. Cropper should be able to get out of this mess on his own, but if someone comes up with a legit plan that involves stealth i will flop.
2D The Feast. Ask Reinhard to arrange a feast in honor of Mazzarin's great victory. This will surely let us have a couple of days free to screen all the officers and as much of the rest of the army as we can manage. Throw in the raising of a memorial for the Sea of Glass and Mazzarin's ego will do the rest.
3A I dont think we should pry into this directly, but we can later tell Lyssa that we saw the letter and ask her if she wants to talk about it.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Fangshi said:
The army, maybe three-four days if you are trying to be discrete.

The officers, maybe a day or two, again if you are trying to be discrete.

Just the command staff, could be done in a day, once more if you are trying not to be obvious about
I think we should scan the command staff, the officers, and the key parts of the army that could potentially do us harm (mortarmen, grenadiers and the others who could make things difficult for us were they to revolt) and removing them or otherwise ensuring their non-interference (drinking them under the table, paralyzing them, putting them to sleep, sending them away, impersonating them with shapeshifters, whatever works). Once we are certain that the subversive elements can't offer a meaningful resistance, we could drop the pretence of subtlety and screen everyone. The enemy agents would be surrounded by loyalist forces, much like the scouts Finn was after.

I take it two days would be enough for that kind of job?

The feast in Maz' honor sounds like an idea that could work.

Fangshi, please add 3C - ask Lyssa about it when we are alone.
 
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Kz3r0

Arcane
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
27,013
1) E
2) A
3) A
 

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