Caleb sighed. "Alright Noravia. Stealth: what are you like. Rowan, the gods rest her soul, sounded like a drunk bull in a bell shop. You've got a certain sneaky look about you though."
He shrugged "Otherwise, if it's straight stealth, then frankly it sounds like a job for me. If it's an ambush though - then I'm in trouble. Also in trouble if they have a method for detecting magic. And if the guy wants to leave."
Waving the proclamation, he declaimed "I have to say I take it as a personal failing that I am not on this list."
Hortense flexed her hand in anticipation, “What can we do here?”
”The man must feel real pressure to lash at the writings of men long dead,” Eirik murmured. ”If this Poison Pen character is still free, we could offer him our protection – we could find a use for his talents. Or seek to rescue him if possible, assuming he is indeed held and not just lying low, waiting for the storm to pass. Perhaps you could look into it?”
Not sure if Vandomir will do this...
If he does, he will just be told in a very dry and terse manner that the Marquel is currently indisposed.
Questions?
Game on!
Good try. :)
Oh and similar to breaking out the armigers, this mission seems very suitable to give it to one of your teams and you could do that.
However, it has enough detail that it really is meant for the PCs.
But we can go either way. Like always, up to you all.
Questions?
Game on!
Caleb sighed. "Alright Noravia. Stealth: what are you like. Rowan, the gods rest her soul, sounded like a drunk bull in a bell shop. You've got a certain sneaky look about you though."
He shrugged "Otherwise, if it's straight stealth, then frankly it sounds like a job for me. If it's an ambush though - then I'm in trouble. Also in trouble if they have a method for detecting magic. And if the guy wants to leave."Waving the proclamation, he declaimed "I have to say I take it as a personal failing that I am not on this list."
Noravia shrugged at Caleb's question. "I'm not as stealthy as a shadow but I'm alright. Even with wearing armor, I can be quiet. However, it may be difficult to sneak into a noble family's home. Maybe we can find out more about the family. If there's something they need that we can supply them maybe we can 'negotiate' our way into their home. Once inside, someone can find Marquel."
Action 1
Action 2
Tillia listened to the conversation and debate over what to do, it all seemed to make sense, sneak in and sneak out. As the discussion moved to how to get in and how to get Marquel out if he so desired Tillia finally had something to contribute. She spoke in that still wooden voice, "Invisibility, I can do that now."
"Invisibility, I can do that now."
”That could prove useful,” Eirik said, considering. ”If Vandomir cannot secure an audience with the young master of the house, we need to proceed carefully... The more people attempting to infiltrate the premises, the harder, and I don’t think if we have much to gain by openly antagonizing the noble House. Though we could use their increasing support for the Thrunes to strike against them, if we do invade their home and need to resort to violence, most of the propel suffering might be servants and employees of the House. People of the street, as it were, not those responsible for the changes in the House’s policy. Such an assault could be bad for our reputation.”
”I don’t fancy trying to sneak around the manor blindly, opening doors as random, hoping to find the right noble scion… perhaps some servant of the house could be persuaded to part with some information, in exchange for free drinks and someone willing to listen to the hardships of their daily work?” the monk went on, nodding at Tillia who had shown her skills at coaxing information concerning the Hellknight prisoners, and to Noravia for her suggested approach to the problem.
"Don't suppose you have a painting or something? Be a bit embarrassing if there's someone else in his old chamber." Caleb asked hopefully.
Sighing at the lack of a painting Caleb continued "Alright. We're going to need a good description. Hair colour?..."
"Don't suppose you have a painting or something? Be a bit embarrassing if there's someone else in his old chamber." Caleb asked hopefully.
Sighing at the lack of a painting Caleb continued "Alright. We're going to need a good description. Hair colour?..."
The captain smiled remembering Marquel, "Yes, he has long dark hair unless he cut it recently, piercing dark eyes. Tall. Slim. I have not seen him in a couple of months. His right arm is... withered and slightly deformed."
He pointed to the partial map, "If he's confined to his home, I bet he's locked up in his room. Here. This is his room."
________________
OOC: so I need a plan...
Action 1
”I don’t really know him. Could possibly identify him in a lineup, but we never crossed paths much growing up.” Vandomir listened to the conversations going on and interjected, ”I too can be fairly stealthy, and I am a good climber, although probably best in this case to not use my climbing kit. There is an additional advantage to my undertaking the mission to sneak in. If I am caught, I am just a noble in the noble’s quarter, and can make up a story about being drunk and at the wrong house or something. Courting a woman sort of thing. Tillia, how long does your invisibility spell last? That could certainly make it easier for me to go in unobserved. Getting out is easy. Once out, again, I’m just a noble in the noble’s quarter.”
Action 2
"Hortense,"Vandomir asked, "is your team ready for this mission? I want no bravado in your response now, give it to us straight."
"Hortense,"Vandomir asked, "is your team ready for this mission? I want no bravado in your response now, give it to us straight."
Hortense responded, "Yes, sir. We can 'rescue' this Poison Pen but we don't know where he/she is, do we?"
She looked at the others, "Forvian, Sasha? Do you have any more info?"
At her teamates shaking their heads, Hortense continued, "We're ready sir but we need to know where the target is."
_______________
What's it going to be for the Marquel. Two days of discussions with no plan makes for a slow game. :)
Do I need to make Barzillia break down your front door to get you all moving? :)
Seriously, if you don't want to work with Sargaeta, I'll dangle another hook in front of you to see if you'll bite.
Just let me know. Soon.
Game on!
Marquel's confession of what?
I'm Ok NOT recapping today as long as there is some sort of activity going on.
What I don't like is the waiting period with nothing going on.
So..., waiting until someone makes a decision...
Questions?
Game on!
Marquel's confession of what?
Ironically, the nearness of these two occurrences leads me to conclude in a meta fashion that the Poison Pen of Kintargo and Marquel are one and the same. Anyone laying odds?
Considering the situation Tilla looked at the plans an asked, "Does the room he's likely in have a window? Maybe it would be easiest to distract his minders and have Salina fly to his window and deliver the message. She's done well in that capacity before and I can make her invisible if need be to pass undetected."
There's no time limit on the IC mission; I think it would be OK if you needed to take a couple of days to put a plan in motion. Put a plan in motion is the key phrase here. :)
I just need something OOC to move the game again, which is why I offered to dangle another hook...
The room that Marquel is suspected to be in is the one on the second floor with the window towards the garden near the 'side gate'. See map attached to turn recap.
Sargaeta wanted the message hand-delivered to which you all agreed.
Just give me something... :)
Questions?
Game on!
"We need to figure out how to deliver this message, but let us not forget this poet. We have several teams that could try and gather information regarding his identity and whereabouts before Hortense's team was to go and extract him, if needed."
"Maybe we should start by doing a little inspection of the property ourselves. We could do a walk-by and see about whether there are trees in the courtyard, what the building looks like near the window where Marquel supposedly is...those kind of things. It will help us plan better than just looking at a map."
Noravia paused, "After that, we can hopefully formulate a plan. I could always provide a distraction by presenting myself as part of the Asmodean church, sent by Thrune. If Marquel's father supports Thrune and doesn't want to upset him, it should be enough to get me in the door while someone else accesses Marquel's room."
tag ?
"Scouting out the manor from the street side certainly sounds viable, and perhaps we could make use of our trusty messenger if luck is with us," Eirik said, glancing at Tillia as a thought occurred to him. "Your winged little friend has already proved invaluable. How good is she at telling people apart? If you explain to her what the man we are looking for looks, she could fly from window to window, seeing if she can spot him. And if she does, perhaps she could make enough of a racket to make the rebellious little scion of the House come to the window and receive his letter from her."
So I'll end the current turn with you guys asking your teams for further information. I'll provide whatever information is available in the turn recap so you can then debate some more as to what to do.
That last part is a joke. :)
I'll also provide another 'potential mission' so you can roleplay some more.
Questions?
Game on!
Turn 142 is up.
Read the OOC.
Questions, comments, and/or suggestions?
Game on!
Action 2:
Noravia took one of the blackberry tarts and took a bite as Luculla told them about herself. The sweet tart was delicious and she made an approving noise as she chewed. When Luculla asked what she could do, the inquisitor answered, "You are always talking to people throughout your day as you work. The most helpful thing you can do is to keep your ears open and pass on any interesting information that you come across."
tag Luculla and others
Action 3:
Noravia listened to their officers present their findings. "I don't like the fact that there are dogs and it doesn't help that there isn't a lot of cover in the courtyard. Those seem to be our biggest challenges. It's sounding like the best way in will be to get through the front door even though there are guards. Otherwise we'll need to find a way to quiet the dogs since they won't be fooled by invisibility because they can still smell intruders. Maybe we can procure a sleeping draft that we can lace meat with to deal with the dogs."
tag everyone
Action 2:
Noravia took one of the blackberry tarts and took a bite as Luculla told them about herself. The sweet tart was delicious and she made an approving noise as she chewed. When Luculla asked what she could do, the inquisitor answered, "You are always talking to people throughout your day as you work. The most helpful thing you can do is to keep your ears open and pass on any interesting information that you come across."
The young woman seemed deflated, as if the wind had been taken out of her sails. It seemed that she was wanting to do more than just gossip. She murmured, "OK but, you know, if there's something else you can just ask. OK?"
Seeing the young woman's reaction Noravia felt the need to say something further. "Was there something you had in mind? You know your strengths and the challenges you face on a daily basis. If you have a suggestion, or if the others have a better idea, then we should chat further."
tag Luculla
Action 3
"Hmm - at full speed I can cross that sort of distance pretty quickly. If we got a female dog in heat, that might distract the dogs there - at lest if they're boys. Otherwise I can kill a dog pretty quickly and quietly. If Tillia could hold up the other two we could probably get through that. Possibly if Vandomir acted as a distraction then..." Caleb paused, struck with a thought.
A second later he continued "Hang on, we've still got those Dottari disguises, right? What would give Dottari a reason to search a noble manse?"
A second later he continued "Hang on, we've still got those Dottari disguises, right? What would give Dottari a reason to search a noble manse?"
"Now that is an idea," Eirik said, looking up from his thoughts. "The master of the House had recently taken a pro-Thrune stance, so he should not turn away the Dottari. We could even ask to have a word with his son to clear up some nasty rumors about him on the streets, and might well get access to him, unless he's actually manacled to a wall in a dungeon in the manor's cellars."
Action 1
Tillia spent the rest of the day mostly keeping to herself. She seemed to be doing better than before, talking a bit more, and spent some time talking with Sasha to aid her in her studies. Tillia's emotions still seemed cut off but at least she was talking to people if only just a little.
Action 2
The sudden appearance of yet another unknown came as a bit of a surprise to Tillia and, when she spoke, there was something like emotion there as she said in a wry tone, "So much for this being a 'secret lair' for us." She looked this new arrival over carefully, her curiosity stirred through the morass of her despair as she saw the strange pendant, and asked, "What is that talisman you wear for?" there was, much to everyone's surprise, genuine curiosity in her voice this time, a definite improvement.
Action 3
Tillia considered the ideas being passed around, particularly the one about impersonating the Dottari once again and said, "I believe that may be the best suggestion yet. Though it could backfire if they believe we're there to interrogate him about something. Rather than clearing up rumors about him I would suggest that we say we're looking for a potential traitor to the crown, a friend of his, and that it is believed he might be able to point us in the right direction to catch this enemy of the state."
MARQUEL
Another plan? You guys have to be kidding me! :)
Ok, whatever but I need something. I can no longer stall this unless we move on to something else.
I need to know a definite plan (how you will approach, pitch?, who's going, what's everyone else doing, intended results, contingencies, etc.?)
Can we do this weekend?
LUCULLA
BTW: I'll answer for Luculla during the turn recap.
SECRET BASE?
I'm still struggling with this concept but the AP assumes that different supporters know where to find the Ravens. If that's so, why can't Barzillai find you guys also?
My best answer to that is that he knows but doesn't want to legitimize the Ravens. He still believes that the Ravens are not worth his notice and I also know that this changes as the AP progresses. So whatever new base you end up using, I think it makes sense for it to remain more secretive.
Thoughts?
Game on!
Sadly that's the problem with pbp, when you have to plan how to manage something and what plan to use it takes a long time sometimes.
As for the secret base thing, I imagine it's more likely that he doesn't know or care just now and, if he does, it's for the same reason. Biggest reason I doubt he knows is because if he did we'd all be dead by now as he'd have quietly taken us out. It might also be he's unsure of who the exact leadership is, we have been fairly careful about that part, and doesn't want to miss any of us.
As for the secret base thing, I imagine it's more likely that he doesn't know or care just now and, if he does, it's for the same reason. Biggest reason I doubt he knows is because if he did we'd all be dead by now as he'd have quietly taken us out. It might also be he's unsure of who the exact leadership is, we have been fairly careful about that part, and doesn't want to miss any of us.
The only thing that makes sense to me is that he underestimates you and/or cares too much about public perception at this time. The Ravens do have popular support (took out the Red Jills, stopped a couple of excruciations, support the Hellknights of the Torrent (who themselves were well liked). Anything else that the Ravens have done that is known and liked by the general public?
It doesn't make sense for him not to know when all these others NPCs find you easily enough.
Could be a friend of a friend of a friend network that's always one small step from becoming common knowledge, but aye, it does seem a bit contradictory. But perhaps the Paracount hasn't read the Evil Overlord's Handbook very well and just chooses to ignore us for whatever reason ;^)
I could just about accept he's cultivating us, letting us grow stronger so he can our opposition to legitimatize the use of ever increasing force on the citizens, to maintain order. But the fellow seems too straightforward for such tactics.
Don't complain to me! Talk to your fellow Ravens. :)
Maybe Noravia needs to be more assertive.
You know what? I know that Noravia is new to the group but if she were more assertive then it would do wonders for the Ravens and would really distance her from Rowan, who had more of a team player personality.
So how about it, Shari? Can Noravia slowly (or not) become the leader of the Ravens?
God knows, I could use someone making executive decisions around here. And even if they are 'wrong' (nothing really is wrong), the roleplaying coming out of this could be substantial.
Thoughts?
A second later he continued "Hang on, we've still got those Dottari disguises, right? What would give Dottari a reason to search a noble manse?"
"Now that is an idea," Eirik said, looking up from his thoughts. "The master of the House had recently taken a pro-Thrune stance, so he should not turn away the Dottari. We could even ask to have a word with his son to clear up some nasty rumors about him on the streets, and might well get access to him, unless he's actually manacled to a wall in a dungeon in the manor's cellars."
Noravia raised an eyebrow at the last couple comments. "How is dressing up as Dottari any different than my suggestion as going in as an Asmodean inquisitor? The Asmodean church and Thrune are obviously in bed together and if Marquel's father wants to impress Thrune then he'll let someone from the church into his home to question his son. In fact, he may be more flattered to have someone from the church sent rather than a city guard. The ambitious always are drawn to the Asmodeans because they desire power above all else. There's no way that he would risk annoying Thrune or the church by refusing the request. If you're concerned about my ability to act the part I can assure you that there is nothing to worry about because I know how they operate."
tag everyone
Action 3 con't.
Tillia considered and then said, "I suppose Noravia's correct, I guess neither plan is that much different than the other. Do we have the things necessary to make her appear to be an Asmodean inquisitor?"
Action 3 con't.
Tillia considered and then said, "I suppose Noravia's correct, I guess neither plan is that much different than the other. Do we have the things necessary to make her appear to be an Asmodean inquisitor?"
Noravia nodded, "I have everything I need and given a day's notice, I can make sure to prepare myself properly for the role."
Forget Shari. Fabian wants to play with Shari but not the Ravens. The Ravens need an assertive Noravia to lead them.
IMHO, it's either Noravia or someone else that grows into that leadership role.
Shari, it's yours for the taking...
Game on!
Well, I intend to recap tomorrow morning so you all have approx. 16 hours to come up with a plan.
If nothing new comes along then we'll go with...
Failing that, B) combined with the information gathering parts of C) and D) could work.
Questions?
Game on!
That's kind of incompatible since B) is supposed to occur at night and I don;t think an Asmodean Inquisitor would visit a Noble's House at night.
So it's either one or the other...