Action 1:
I doubt I'll be around once this is over." Caleb said apologetically "I'm just hoping I make it through to the end. It'd suck to have come this far and missed out on the crescendo."
Noravia sat straight up at Caleb's words. "What?!? Why aren't you planning on being around?"
Action 2:
Will he suffice for what we need?”
The inquisitor shrugged. "I hope so. We were just told that someone from the family line needed to sign. As long as we have the correct bloodline, his signature should be all we need."
Action 3:
Noravia looked thoughtful, "The Pen assured us that his father would sign when the time came. He seemed fairly certain her could make that happen. I guess we should contact him again and see if things have changed."
"I'm not planning anything, love." Caleb apologised "I'm just... unravelling. As I weaken IT gets stronger. That's why I can knock someone over now, when a few weeks ago I struggled to move coins."
"I'm not planning anything, love." Caleb apologised "I'm just... unravelling. As I weaken IT gets stronger. That's why I can knock someone over now, when a few weeks ago I struggled to move coins."
Noravia still looked disturbed even with Caleb's clarification but managed to give him a small smile. "We'll need to find a way to stop you from unraveling then. I'm not letting you out of this engagement that easily."
Action 3
Noravia looked thoughtful, "The Pen assured us that his father would sign when the time came. He seemed fairly certain her could make that happen. I guess we should contact him again and see if things have changed."
”He did assure us that… am I alone in fearing just what he might be planning to make that happen?” Eirik asked. ”It might be wise to get in contact with him quickly, just in case he is planning something… rash.”
Caleb closed his eyes "I feel like we need to be upfront about what we're doing, though. It does make him an accomplice though, if that messes with it legal-like. Eirik?"
”You worry this after agreeing to lead an armed revolution against a lawfully appointed governor? Ignoring all the fine print that might have been walked over in the process,” Eirik chuckled. ”The laws here are largely based on the Asmodean Disciplines anyway, and heavy on following the letter rather that the spirit. The main thing to watch for would be that the person signing the document is without doubt the head of the family in question, during the signing, as the Keeper of the Contract himself pointed out that other devils would try very hard indeed to find something fishy in the arrangement.”
Action 1
Tillia was startled at the Hell Knight's offer and then giggled as she replied, "I don't think I would make a good hellknight Octavio." She smiled a little then as she continued, "But working with you at times I would not have a problem with. I imagine I can enter gatherings far less obtrusively than you can."
Action 2
Considering the question of Carliss and his usefulness Tillia shrugged and said, "I think he will help us out of a sense of obligation if nothing else, the fact he would get some revenge against the unlawful government that imprisoned him without trial would help motivate him as well I think. Regardless he is the only one we have for his family so we will have to make do. It wouldn't hurt if we spent some time bringing him up to speed though."
Action 3
This was a more difficult question. She didn't think it was safe for the Pen to go see his father and ask for his help but maybe... Looking up at her friends she said, "How hardline of a follower of Thrune is the Pen's father? Is he truly loyal to the crown and Brassy or is his loyalty to who he sees as the rightful ruler of Kintargo? If his loyalty is to the crown then we have little hope of turning hi but if his loyalty is to the city and we could explain what we have found out then maybe with his son's help we could turn him to our cause. Either way I think it would be best if we could meet with him somewhere he doesn't control."
Action 1
Jillian looked at Octavio, considering. On the one hand - legally sanctioned power to stab people? Nice! On the other hand - being told whom to stab? Less nice. Shrugging, the said, "I would definitely consider it. It would depend on the terms, but if we're both still around when this is over, then...yeah. Let's talk."
Action 2
Again, Jillian shrugged. "I don't know enough about the legal contract mumbo-voodoo. But if he's the guy we need, and he don't wanna sign, just let me talk to him for an hour or so," she cracked her knuckles, grinning ferally.
Action 3
Jillian grinned - she liked the poison pen - he was cute, and she'd gotten major cred with her brother for that autograph. "Let's just off the dad. He's a tool, and it's time to toss him. Then cutie will sign the thing, and it's over. Right?"
Action 1:
Noravia thought about her interaction with the Poison Pen's father. Personally she had no problem with either of Caleb's or Jillian's plans because he hadn't been a pleasant man. But relationships were complicated and making a move against the father may alienate the son and she said as much. "Even though the Poison Pen is defying his father and doesn't agree with his politics, he may become defensive if we move against his father without his approval. Family relationships can be complicated. I think our best bet is still involving the Poison Pen in getting this last signature."
Action 1:
"I'll vote with Noravia, if we're voting." Caleb agreed.
Action 2:
Caleb drew breath to talk, then stopped and looked to Tillia. 'If there was ever a moment to have someone trained in talking, it's now...'
Action 1
"I agree Noravia, trying to force the issue with his father may well turn him against us." Tillia looked certain as she said, "We need to trust our ally, not do something duplicitous."
Action 2
Tillia enjoyed the food they were offered, it was a veritable feast, and was excited when the prospect came to discus the situation. She took a deep breath to gather her thoughts and then began, "We have found everyone we needed for the plan, the last heir of the missing signatories has been found and rescued." She smiled brightly as she finished, "And we rescued Jackdaw." Her smile faded then as she continued, "Actually she is in very poor health and I fear that she may be dying. We can only hope that she survives long enough to help us finish reconstructing the Song of Silver. If the tune she was humming when we found her was any indication she likely will."
Stepping forward, Jillian said, "It's time to get that document signed, now that we have all three of you. So, the question is, will your dad sign it?"
Stepping forward, Jillian said, "It's time to get that document signed, now that we have all three of you. So, the question is, will your dad sign it?"
Marquel, the Poison Pen, looked to Sargaeta, "My father probably will sign if I ask him personally."
The captain interrupted, "You are not doing that because he will not let you out again. You will be made a prisoner and I will probably die trying to free you."
The captain looked serious but Marquel shook his head, "Being held against my will is a risk I have to take... for Kintargo. And you will not come rescue me."
Sargaeta shook his head this time, "Kintargo my ass. No, I will not let you go. I will pull up anchor and sail away with you this very night if you even insinuate this course of action."
The captain turned to the Ravens, "What's your proposed solution?"
Jillian frowned at this not-unforseen turn of events. "If we invite your father here, will he come? If not voluntarily, we could escort him here."
Caleb looked at the others "We figured that Marquel needed to decide. That said, we did consider having Marquel inherit the role, with his father either dead or declared incompetent. There's a spell that might work for that... but it is permanent."
Caleb looked at the others "We figured that Marquel needed to decide. That said, we did consider having Marquel inherit the role, with his father either dead or declared incompetent. There's a spell that might work for that... but it is permanent."
"Perhaps not permanent enough... we have living proof of that right here," Eirik murmured. "House Aulorian should have the wealth and the Asmodean church the means to reverse the condition, once its cause is recognized."
Tillia considered the issue of getting Marquel back out and asked, "What if one of us went in with you, maybe as your supposed Mistress?" She raised one eyebrow inquiringly, "If I could be inside with you, and get to you after he signs, I can simply teleport us both out of there."
[ooc=GM rant]
I feel like teleport (along with the different clairvoyance spells and most 'detect spells', etc.) are just very bad for stories.
The only way to counteract them is having entire buildings/areas with anti-teleport (anti-scrying) wards or other such non-sense.
Where would the Lord of the Rings be with teleport spells?
On the other hand, I don't want to bring down the axe too hard because that messes with PCs abilities.
I am inclined to say NO to teleport.
Thoughts?[/GM rant]
Caleb sighed "What we need is for Brassy to turn on your father. Arrest him, perhaps? Do something to turn him completely away from THRUNE."
[ooc=GM rant]
I feel like teleport (along with the different clairvoyance spells and most 'detect spells', etc.) are just very bad for stories.
The only way to counteract them is having entire buildings/areas with anti-teleport (anti-scrying) wards or other such non-sense.
Where would the Lord of the Rings be with teleport spells?
On the other hand, I don't want to bring down the axe too hard because that messes with PCs abilities.
I am inclined to say NO to teleport.
Thoughts?[/GM rant]
I think if you are going to say no to teleport, it needs to happen at the start.
There are a number of variants that remove most of the dangerous spells (E6, Spheres of Power, etc). Even a simple "no 9 level casters" would go a long way. For the record I believe LotR is best represented as an E6 game.For what it's worth there are limits built in. All Scrying spells have a stupidly low DC to spot them. Teleport INTO somewhere would normally have a 25% chance of failure (potentially catastrophic). The spell is designed to allow easy transport back to base, or to allow LOS travel (which would normally just be time consuming), or to allow easy travel between two very well known points.
In this situation we could have teleported onto the bridge, or one of the walls. With a really good description it would still be too risky to chance a blind teleport.
High level paizo modules often have safeguards built in anyway.
If it's later found out that the death was staged then anything coming out of that (like Marquel gaining power and appointing a new lord-mayor) would be revoked.
The practicality is that it may too late to do anything about it but remember that the Kintargo Contract...
Assuming a properly ratified lord-mayor does not grant Cheliax permission for its military to enter the city, Cheliax could not take direct action without voiding the entire covenant. If that were to happen, House Thrune would lose Hell’s support, and Cheliax’s enemies would likely descend upon the nation like vultures upon a ripe corpse.
... basically allows Kintargo to be ruled by its lord-mayor without any intervention from Cheliax.
I think that's powerful enough to make sure it works.
Questions?
Game on!
2 cents about teleporting - I don't mind either way. Okay, maybe just a penny.
Honestly all these issues with spells are a rather might annoying. I agree that they should be stated at the outset so that it doesn't put people off guard. If this were teleport without error I would see the issue but it isn't. I'll grant that at most we're looking at a 6% failure chance but that is still a risk. Tillia knows this and would try to avoid teleporting if she could due to the simple fact that she hasn't done it before and she is more likely to try and enchant her way back out of the place.
I'm fine with leaving it off the table if that's your decision and it won't change much about Tillia's suggestion. The only difference is what magic she will use if needed. She's also the most diplomatic of the group so she might be able to simply talk their way back out.
Caleb sighed "What we need is for Brassy to turn on your father. Arrest him, perhaps? Do something to turn him completely away from THRUNE."
"I considered kidnapping or staging his death, but we'd have to keep hold of him indefinitely, and hold him somewhere beyond reach of scrying magics. It would be idea to get him to reverse his loyalties, but how to go about it? He seemed quite the firm supporter of the crown and House Thrune when we researched the local noble houeses for potential sources of support," Eirik murmured.
"Blackmailing him would be another possibility, assuming we could find something incriminating enough, or steal something he wants back desperately. But there's a chance he would change his mind and accept the loss once he realized what a single signature could do in this case, and we were warned to safeguard against such possibilities. And despite the source of that advice, in this case I'd be inclined to trust it."
"For the same reason, I would advice against you exchanging our freedom for his cooperation," he went on, nodding at Marquel. "Your father might be a man of his word, but he might just decided to accept the personal loss of honor for the greater good of the realm, once he had you and realized all the implications of what he was asked to do in return."
"It might be we need to seriously consider... removing him from office," Eirik said, frowning as he made the suggestion but knowing it would be for the greater good.
"What if..." Caleb trailed off, then started again. "Brassy's investigators are in chaos, right? We attacked their spy vault. We attacked the prison. What if we put documents in wherever they are putting the recovered documents that shows Marquel's dad was doing something wrong. Something it'd be hard to disprove, that could just be paranoia. Then, when he's desperate for allies we offer to help him if he commits to us. We wouldn't have done anything to him, just to Brassy."
"What if..." Caleb trailed off, then started again. "Brassy's investigators are in chaos, right? We attacked their spy vault. We attacked the prison. What if we put documents in wherever they are putting the recovered documents that shows Marquel's dad was doing something wrong. Something it'd be hard to disprove, that could just be paranoia. Then, when he's desperate for allies we offer to help him if he commits to us. We wouldn't have done anything to him, just to Brassy."
"That might work... for all we have managed lately, it would be reasonable that there was a source of information for us, inside the government's trusted circle. If we could convince the people no doubt investigating the possibility that lord Aulorian was that someone... Other than that, is there something you could tell us about your father, his business transactions, his allies, his own power plays that we could use to compromise him or to convince him the Thrunes are turning against him, and he needs allies Caleb just mentioned for him and his House to survive..." Eirik mused, directing his question at Marquel.
Noravia had been quiet as the other discussed what to be done. She did agree with the Captain that they didn't want to put Marquel's safety at risk.
The inquisitor asked Marquel, "What do you plan to say to your father to convince him to sign the contract? Before we even consider putting your freedom in question, what makes you think your father will even sign? If the odds favor him not signing then I think we should go with Caleb's suggestion as it wouldn't directly risk the signing of the contract. Whatever we choose to do, we can't risk the legality of the contract."
Noravia added, "But if we do decide to take Marquel to see his father then I probably won't be of much help. I'm sure his father will remember me from the last time we freed Marquel from his father's home. Tillia would definitely be the best bet and as she said, she could always teleport them out."
Aulorians made their name in Kintargo through the salt and silver trades... the Aulorians have long supported Kintargo, but with Barzillai Thrune’s arrival, the family patriarch Auxis has grown increasingly supportive of Thrune, abandoning his family’s more traditional Kintargan values.
"Noravia: you've got the background. What would it take to get THRUNE suspicious?" Caleb suggested. "Potentially Tillia can mess with his mind enough to get him to do something we need him to."
"Noravia: you've got the background. What would it take to get THRUNE suspicious?" Caleb suggested. "Potentially Tillia can mess with his mind enough to get him to do something we need him to."
Noravia didn't have to think long to answer Caleb. "If Thrune had reason to question House Aulorian's loyalty it would definitely make him suspicious. If there were records showing that Count Aulorian was financially supporting one of the illegal religions then he would lose his standing with both the Asmodean church and Thrune. Or..."
The inquisitor glanced at Marquel. "He had also tried to keep Marquel's identity as the Poison Pen a secret. Maybe we make the Poison Pen's identity as an Aulorian known and that his father has been secretly supporting him financially so that he can continue his work. If we make it look like Auxis is part of the rebellion on paper, then we can get him to help the rebellion for real by willingly signing for his own safety."
"Hmmm - we could plant something at the house. I reckon I could get in, and out. We'd need a place to plant it he wouldn't expect." Caleb sighed. "I hate to say it, but the most dangerous thing to plant would be one of the Raven statues. Still, if we put a few of those books from the Opera house in a bookshelf he might not notice them. We'd need a way to direct people to it."
Caleb was full of ideas "We could use disguise magic to look like him, and have him somewhere he's not supposed to be. Maybe he could help rescue someone? Is his house anywhere near a place we've struck, where would have used it as a a base?"
Action 1:
Unsurprisingly, Noravia agreed with Caleb. "Planting something at the house would work but we'd have to make sure that Thrune officials found the evidence before Auxis does and disposes of it."
Turning to Eirik she asked, "You know how things work at the Bank of Abadar, do they keep records of how different noble families spend their money? Can we plant records with them showing that the Count has been financially supporting the rebellion? Maybe monthly withdrawals in regular amounts?"
Caleb's suggestion of a base caused Noravia to ask Marquel, "Does your family own any property in Kintargo that they aren't using right now? We could make it look like the Ravens have been using it as a base by planting some items and then anonymously inform Thrune officials of its existence - or better yet, mention it in your poem that thanks your father for his support."
Action 2:
With them back at the Wasp's Nest and conversation turned to who the Lord-Mayor would be, it was time to consider their options. "The previous Lord-Mayor would make the most sense. Jillia always governed Kintargo with the city's best interests at heart. How is her recovery going? And is she even willing to step back into that role? Another option would be to go with a popular choice and ask Shensen. She aligns with wanting Kintargo's autonomy and with the right group of advisors, she could do well. Or we could go with someone from one of the noble houses that supports Kintargo rather than Thrune. I know we suggested Vandomir at some point. Maybe he'd be willing?"
Turning to Eirik she asked, "You know how things work at the Bank of Abadar, do they keep records of how different noble families spend their money? Can we plant records with them showing that the Count has been financially supporting the rebellion? Maybe monthly withdrawals in regular amounts?"
"They sure do, assuming money was stored in the Temple vaults or accounts and not kept around the house as actual coin," Eirik said. "But forging those records is no small thing... the ledgers are sacred and my brothers and sisters will die to keep them secure. But I doubt the Lord would have paid from his accounts to such nefarious sources, knowing the records do exist and would be disclosed to lawful authorities."
"Perhaps we could convince the authorities Lord Aulorian has been paying to have his son's poems printed? A few rumors spread, and a few details "accidentally" let slip in the printing press when placing the order might get the ball rolling."
"Could we send our Hellknights to arrest him? See if we can get him to run?" Caleb suggested.
Going to get a post up as soon as I get home from work. Should be up by 9:30pm est.
Action 1
Tillia listened as the plan was worked out and nodded in approval at the suggestion of revealing the true identity of the Poisoned Pen. Even better she had an idea that would make things more manageable and not require manufacturing of evidence. She looked at Marquel and asked, "When we rescued you from your Father was he going to turn you over to the inquisitors or was he trying to hide your identity as the Poisoned Pen? I believe he knew it was you at the time right? If that's the case, and he was protecting you from 'Justice' then he is already a traitor to the crown for, at best, harboring a dissident. At worst he could be seen as aiding and abetting a traitor to the crown which makes him a traitor by extension." She looked at Eirk and asked, "Am I correct in my line of thought?"
Action 2
As they discussed the idea of who should become the new Mayor Tillia nodded in agreement with the suggestion of Jillia, "i like that idea but the only problem is will she take the job? Can she take the job?" She seemed a little sad at the suggestion of Shensen and offered, "While I like this idea as well I don't think Shensen would be a good choice. She is in poor health and who knows if she will recover, for that matter Jillia has the same issue, she doesn't have as long to live as some one younger. I tend to think that Vandomir might be the best choice, if he will take the position, as he has the cities best interests at heart, has helped free the people from Thrune Tyranny, and is a noble which will garner respect from the other nobles." Her grin turned honery as Tillia offered, "we could also consider Marquel or Rexus as well."
Jillian listened to the planning with a slightly befuddled expression on her face. Her mind didn't work in these convoluted arcs and circles. For her, life was simple: if somebody wasn't cooperating, then give them a good stabbing. She still thought that it would be easier to just remove the old man from the game all together. She knew by now, however, that her current squad didn't feel the same way.
Action 2
Jillian frowned. "I don't like that we're talking about appointing the mayor. There should be a free and full election. I know, that would give the game away. Whomever we choose - can we make it a fixed term of a year or something. Then, after the ratified mayor gets rid of the devils, then we can have a proper election?"
Jillian frowned. "I don't like that we're talking about appointing the mayor. There should be a free and full election. I know, that would give the game away. Whomever we choose - can we make it a fixed term of a year or something. Then, after the ratified mayor gets rid of the devils, then we can have a proper election?"
Caleb sighed "I'm not keen on it either, but our hands are tied. We need to reappoint the old mayor. There's a lot of people on the fence who'll support that THRUNE never truly held the mayoralship due to a technicality, but who wouldn't support another candidate. Plus, she's well known, and has her own support." Caleb grinned nastily "Plus we can have her order THRUNE to remove their military as 'legitimately appointed mayor'. If they don't know about the contract, odds are they'll just think we mean her election. They'll send military in anyway. At that point they lose their support from Hell at the same time as the Crusade has them at war. All their bound devils will nick off, their defences will crumble, and we might just see an Iomedaean Cheliax by the end of the year."
Caleb rubbed his hands together "THAT's a revenge for the Mayor that will make Callistria sit up."