The Baroness starts of by preparing to scream as you enter her room, but rapidly calms down when she is told of the new political reality.
The Baroness is a very political creature, while she would like to be the sole authority in Drelev she does prefer life in Brevoy and if offered enough gold to have a comfortable start will agree.
Her brother joins her as she negotiates: The skilled wizard brings a level of organization and structure to every task he undertakes. Very detailed and analytical, he speaks softly and listens carefully. Like his sister, Stroon also enjoys the finer things in life, frequently relying on his magic to conjure or provide them. But having traveled widely, he also knows how to bear temporary inconveniences while treading a path to greater gain.
He has been scrying Armag daily and can give you a map to his campsite if a price is agreed on. The man claiming to be Armag reborn is at the tomb of the original Armag, seeking his regalia and his legendary magic sword Ovinrbaane that will mark him as chosen by Gorum.
Today, this tomb serves as a testing ground intended to reveal the God of War's next champion.
The Baroness is asking for 20,000gp. What is your offer? Make a roll using Diplomacy or Intimidate please
Colwyn sits down, folds his hands, and prepares to negotiate hard.
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Waffles purchases on Colwyn's shoulder and telepathically feeds him lines (and criticisms about the baroness' style choices) that might help in his negotiations.
"...and that's my final offer! This magic rod, all on its own, can help you set yourself up for life. Hopefully far from us so we don't have to find ourselves at odds again. Take it, and acquit yourself of this place."
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The Baroness might be tempted to argue, however a few quiet words from her brother pointing out that you have dealt with the problem of Baron Drelev terminally and she would be wise not to become another problem are enough to convince her to agree.
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With Fort Drelev tamed now only the threat of the Tiger lord barbarians and the so called 'Armag reborn' remain to be dealt with.
With the direction Imeckus Stroon has given you it is north to the tomb.
Time to rest and recover a little. Fort Drelev is small so there isn't much shopping you can do here. What are you doing now?
Stroon can warn you that there are a lot of Barbarians hanging around outside, but you can handle them fairly easily.
The real danger is Armag's advisors, the Black sisters. Two Clerics of Gyronna who seem to have a real grudge against your kingdom. Maybe because you stopped an attempt by Gyronna cultists to set up there a year or two ago? :)
He also tells you that the hostages given to the barbarians by Drelev are kept in a cage in the camp outside the tomb. They will need to be rescued.
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Niadroub Kliip questions Terrion Numesti and Imeckus Stroon to see if he knows any tactical information about this tomb and its inhabitants that Armag reborn is holed up in.
"It sounds like this Armag traveled with a sizable force, and poses a serious threat. We should properly prepare for a vicious fight." Vibenia comments, listening to the reports on what lay ahead.
"A good opportunity to restructure our team dynamic," says Marten.
"What kind of magical resources do we have for learning more about the disposition of the Tiger Lords, their location, and their available forces?"
A bit more gravely he adds, "If my standards for service are too onerous, I can of course always be released from service and return to the life of a knight-errant. My lord can end my service at any time that it is convenient."
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Shortly after the fight Zelera and the agreement was made with the Baroness and her brother Zelera looked to where Maray had been skulking and raised one eyebrow as she asked, "And what will you be doing Maray? Leaving for greener pastures? Hanging around? I am rather curious."
Planning Session
With the now former Baroness and her brother paid off, and the information they obtained from the pair on the barbarians, Zelera considered the options they discussed. There was much to consider but with Niadroubs's ability to teleport them that did make things a bit easier. "I think that we should return to our capital to prepare for this, it is likely going to be a very nasty fight and we should be as prepared as we can be. I can ask the fae if any of them have any information that can be of help to us. If we take a couple of days I can prepare some miracles to scry on the baron's daughter and possibly the bandit's leaders to try and learn some information tomorrow."
Zelera was a bit shocked when Marten offered to be released from service if they wanted to bring the Baroness's brother onto their staff and she shook her head as she said, "No, you make a much better wall between me and the enemies than another squishy wizard would," she looked to Niadroub in amusement and then added, "I would apologize for the indirect insult but I wouldn't really mean it. Wizards are squishy after all," she looked to Waffles, "isn't that right Waffles?"
Waffles pipes up. "Niadroub Kliip is a worse wall than most! Look at those skinny arms! A bit more squish on his ribs would do a better job getting between you and the bad guys!"
Waffles then cackles in glee as he weaves in and out of the arcanist's swatting arms before he files out of range.
The arcanist in question then grumbles about being able to take himself plus three passengers per casting of teleport.
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Maray will be heading home to Daggermark to report on the change of leadership in Fort Drelev.
She hopes to be sent to your Kingdom as a Diplomat. The polite name for spy. :)
The party has actually impressed her. Found out about a problem. Dealt with the problem quickly and efficiently. Didn't go psycho and kill everyone.
In short you're a kingdom who Daggermark can work with in things like trade and politics.
Colwyn and Marten
In between dealing with affairs of state, Marten uncomfortably asks Colwyn for a few minutes of his valuable time.
"My liege... I find myself in a difficult situation. I am committed to your cause here and I have obligations to serve this nascent nation and its people. Yet I also find myself torn by my wish to solidify my relationship with Tessara, who hopes to have a whirlwind romance and even a family. I am not certain how to balance these competing demands. After all, much of our work involves considerable risk. It is hardly the situation in which to form a stable family, and I dare not put myself in a position in which I must make choices between my commitments to this nation and my obligations to my partner."
"If you would indulge me... how do you balance these opposing demands?"
~~~~~~~~~~
Niadroub and Yala
As the group is scattering to their various locations, Yala Balemoon tags along with Niadroub.
"So, wizard, you know anything about alchemy?" she asks, rather aggressively. "Potions? Elixirs? Really strong hooch?"
~~~~~~~~~
Zelera and Siofra
The sylph bard who sometimes lampoons Marten seeks out Zelera once the team returns home.
"Got any salacious news?" she asks hungrily. "I have to keep making new songs, after all, and if there's anything interesting or... heavens help us... embarrassing, I need to know." She grins mischievously at the faerie priestess.
Zelera was happy to Siofra when they got back to town as not only was the bard lovely to look at, but she was also a woman after Zelera's own mischievous heart. She began to tell all the juicy bits of the story, mostly little pranks she pulled. "Oh, and when we went to take out that Baron we snuck into the place and made our way to the top levels after finding out about our targets. We knew one was the Baron's Mistress, a foreign bard named Maray. She was quite surprised when I cast a silence blessing on Colwin and we charged into her bedroom silently forcing her to surrender to us," of course she worded it such that there were implications of impropriety when there were none.
"Maray told us what we wanted to know and helped us lure in and take out the Barron. She did try to flirt with Colwin, probably trying to become his mistress, but that was headed off, after he turned beet red," whether he did or not was immaterial to the story as embellishments were expected, "I warned her off of that one very quickly but you might have a rival for my affections now Siofra, she may be coming here as an ambassador for her country, which I guess means to spy on us. I'll introduce you if she shows up."
Sobering a little Zelera continued their chat and said, "We did run into a naga of some kind, the details are blurry since it ambushed us and killed me before the fight began," she knew that would draw a good reaction and she was about to capitalize on it when...
Unobserved to the two women enjoying time catching up another figure had been flitting around the area. Zelera had spotted the telltale sounds of sprite wings but it wasn't entirely unusual to hear them as more fey had begun to live among the residents, always hiding but there none-the-less. The figure, invisible to the eyes but not the ears had been stealthily sneaking closer and closer to Zelera, ready to sneak up and ambush her when it heard her say she had been killed.
Shocked and worried the diminutive figure zipped around through the air and suddenly screamed Zelera's face, "What do you mean you died Z!? Plink's a barghest's b&~&# I knew we shouldn't have let you leave alone!"
Zelera's eyes opened wide in shock at the sight before her as a glowing diminutive, little figure with butterfly wings appeared before her eyes. "Gunoke?! What are you doing here!?" Zelera seemed overjoyed as she held her hand out, palm up, for Gunoke to land on. The sprite flew up to her and landed as she leaned her face in close. She very much wanted to hug him but that was, sadly, impossible. Gunoke did land and came up closer to her face, arms opening and giving her the best equivalent of a hug he could.
Zelera looked at Siofra as Gunoke took off again and said, "Siofra! This is my older brother Gunoke. Gunoke, this is my friend Siofra."
Niadroub and Yala
As the group is scattering to their various locations, Yala Balemoon tags along with Niadroub.
"So, wizard, you know anything about alchemy?" she asks, rather aggressively. "Potions?"
"Net relly."
"Elixirs?"
"Whet's the deeference?"
"Really strong hooch?"
"...ectually, yees!" Niadroub Kliip snaps shut the captured spell book he was studying and leads Yala to his distillery/first-floor-of-his-future-mage-tower.
"Deed you knoow thet you can mek booze out of mooshrums? Some mek beer or wen, but eet's en oold swamp-femily secret to distill fungus...."
Many samples of mushroom whisky are had. Any alcohol-related garbling of Niadroub Kliip's speech is disguised by his already-indecipherable sober speech.
Siofra, Zelera, and Gunoke
Siofra absorbs the news, enraptured by Zelera's accounts of the recent expedition, especially any part where things go sideways.
"Hello Gunoke," she says pleasantly to the sprite. "In most families, one sibling gets the looks and the other gets the brains, but I see that the two of you managed to beat those odds!"
"Now, back up a minute, what's this about you dying... ?"
~~~~~~~~~~
Yala and Niadroub
Yala eagerly tries Niadroub's mushroom hooch. She swallows a swig, twists her head to one side, scowls, and says, "Earthen! I've not tried that before. Where did you get the idea?"
She pulls out a sample of her own wares. "In this flask I have some Numerian agave. In this other flask... I dunno what it is, it's some kind of runoff from one of the tech-dungeons, the first time I tried it, it made me temporarily blind, but it has the whallop to go with it!" She gladly offers both flasks to Niadroub.
Vibenia spends the time, exploring the nascent city state, getting to know her new home and its people better.
Gunoke flew to towards Siofra and looked her over, "You've got a good eye, pretty too," his gaze narrowed, "I don't have to have any talks about treating my sister right with you I hope?"
Zelera gave an outraged gasp at Gunoke's question of Siofra and said, "Gunoke! I'm old enough to make my own decisions!" He just rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah, sure you are and I'm still allowed to grill your suitors since dad isn't here to do it."
Gunoke let himself get distracted again when Siofra brought up Zelera's dying again. Gunoke zipped back over to hover in front of Zelera's face and planted his fists on his hips with his legs slightly parted in a belligerent looking pose as he demanded, "Yeah, that's more important now, what do you mean you died? You don't look dead?"
Zelera sighed and said, "I got better. Look Gunoke, you know I am sworn to the Lantern King right?" The sprite nodded with a worried expression on his face, "I am, for all intents and purposes, a fey now and when I died, I resurrected next to him. I am held together by his will and so long as I continue to please him and he has not finished with me, yet I will keep coming back if I die." Gunoke started to say to something, but Zelera cut him off as she added, "I don't intend to die again and press my luck either."
Yala eagerly tries Niadroub's mushroom hooch. She swallows a swig, twists her head to one side, scowls,
"Et ain't good wheesky oonless it punishes yeh," Niadroub Kliip, well-adjusted arcanist and high-ranking official of the Republic of the Kamelands, reminds Yala.
"Earthen! I've not tried that before. Where did you get the idea?"
Niadroub Kliip sighs wistfully, longing for home, which may be just a few hexes away, but that's never been established so nobody really knows.
"My Mawmaw. A streng, smeert woman.
"Theere's a wooman who levs across the Tooskweter who remends me oof her. We've noover learned her nem, but felks call her "Oold Beldame."
Niadroub Kliip's eyes turn into little hearts when he talks about her.
She pulls out a sample of her own wares. "In this flask I have some Numerian agave. In this other flask... I dunno what it is, it's some kind of runoff from one of the tech-dungeons, the first time I tried it, it made me temporarily blind, but it has the whallop to go with it!" She gladly offers both flasks to Niadroub.
Niadroub Kliip tries first one, then the other, and then pours some of both into a nearby tin beaker. He takes a swig, causing an unholy coughing fit and his eyes to roll back. "Better," he rasps as he passes the flask to Yala.
Siofra, Gunoke, and Zelena
Siofra fixes Gunoke with a stare and says, "We're all grown-ups, so she can do what she likes. Mostly I've been absorbing stories from your sister, but who knows? Now that she died and came back maybe her priorities are different."
The bard tosses her hair in a somewhat miffed fashion. "Anyway if she has the Lantern King's favor, then a little sliver like me can't exactly harm her."
~~~~~~~~~~
Yala and Niadroub
Yala tries the mixed concoction, licks her lips several times, then says, "I never really went in for mixed drinks, but for this, I'll make an exception."
"So, how does your distilling process work for the mushroom hooch?" she asks, showing some real interest. "You show me yours and I'll show you mine." She chuckles at her own joke (fully expecting the backwoods arcanist to miss the gag... but maybe not his familiar).
Gunoke did not seem pleased about Zelera letting the fact she was only alive thanks to the Lantern King's good graces but there was little he could do to gainsay a god like being. He swore to himself there would be bloody vengeance heading the Laughing Lie's way should he turn from his sister and let her cease to be. He knew there was little he could do for now though and he drew two fingers from his eyes to Siofra's as she stood up for Zelera's right to do as she liked.
Zelera, seeing her brother wasn't going to just let this go, decided it was time to mess with him. Since she was sitting next to Siofra and knowing the woman's sense of humor well enough to know she would be alright with what was about to happen, Zelera gave Siofra a naughty little smirk when Gunoke wasn't looking in her direction and said to Gunoke, "Why, if I wanted, I could do this."
Zelera reached over and quickly pulled Siofra towards her, turning her so she was dipping the sylph woman over her lap face up, and leaned in to kiss her extremely passionately. She lingered until Siofra signaled, she was done and then helped the woman sit back up as Gunoke, looking panicked, yelled out, "By the Eldest get a bush you two!"
Never one to shy away from attention-grabbing controversy, Siofra accepts Zelera's surprise smooch and, after establishing quite clearly that she has the legendary sylph ability to hold her breath for an extended time, she finally comes up for air and says, "Yeah! If I wanted a bush I'd just turn my head over in your sister's lap!"
"Besides, what do you care who she smooches? Do you like spying on your sister while she's smooching her lovers? Are you a creepy perv?" the bard taunts. Seems that this is her default defense mechanism.
"Maybe your sister just wants to have a little fun of her own, is that so wrong?"
Gunoke started choking at Siofra talking about turning her head over in Zelera's lap to get to a bush and began to glow so bright a read he was drowned out by a rose-colored glow so it was hard to see his outline. Deciding to put the final nail in Gunoke's coffin, Zelera giggled and said, "Oh, you will find no bush there Siofra, Tall Mama made sure of that before I left to enter the Lantern King's service. She said it was easier to care for oneself without excess body hair."
Gunoke gave a last gasp and started to fall from the air causing Zelera to reach out and catch him. When he was safely in her palm, she poked him, but he was unresponsive. Fortunately, he still glowed a little and was breathing, just unconscious. She sniggered and said, "Guess he couldn't handle the mental damage Siofra."
Colwyn finally snaps out of his trance-like fugue and responds to Marten.
"Sorry, sorry, I was lost in thought," he says, still dragging his mind back from elsewhere. "Actually, could you repeat that again?"
Colwyn nods along, this time making a concentrated effort to follow along with what his friend was saying.
"Okay, now that I follow, I can't say I'm the best person to offer advice on this matter. Just because I have a wife doesn't mean I know anything about healthy relationships. Besides...you've met my wife...she's hardly comparable to Tessara.
"I mean that with respect to both of them, of course!"
The baron tries to think hard on the subject again, hoping to offer something useful.
"I don't suppose you and Tessara would be satisfied with just my word to keep you safe?"
Colwyn finally snaps out of his trance-like fugue and responds to Marten.
"Sorry, sorry, I was lost in thought," he says, still dragging his mind back from elsewhere. "Actually, could you repeat that again?"
Colwyn nods along, this time making a concentrated effort to follow along with what his friend was saying.
"Okay, now that I follow, I can't say I'm the best person to offer advice on this matter. Just because I have a wife doesn't mean I know anything about healthy relationships. Besides...you've met my wife...she's hardly comparable to Tessara.
"I mean that with respect to both of them, of course!"
The baron tries to think hard on the subject again, hoping to offer something useful.
"I don't suppose you and Tessara would be satisfied with just my word to keep you safe?"
Marten lets out a sigh—of relief?—and says, "I appreciate that, my liege. I have full confidence in your leadership. My concern is more..."
He trails off a moment, organizes his thoughts, and starts again.
"Tessara is keen to have a family at some point, but we are continually putting ourselves into dangerous circumstances. It seems imprudent to make commitments when I do not have the ability to guarantee their outcome," he says.
"And yet you have given me inspiration, regardless. Life itself is full of risk and uncertainty The only certainties are the ones that we seize for ourselves. If Tessara and I are to have a future together, we must make it, not fear it."
"Thank you. Your advice has put my mind at ease."
"I suppose that making an enemy of your brother is probably a bad idea, but I can't really help it," says Siofra. "I also suppose that if he can't take some teasing, then he's in for a bad time."
"I'll try to keep the vicious mockery a little in check so that he doesn't die of apoplexy. No guarantee that the Lantern King will save your brother like he did you."
"Speaking of, tell me about meeting the Lantern King? How much do you remember?"
"I suppose that making an enemy of your brother is probably a bad idea, but I can't really help it," says Siofra. "I also suppose that if he can't take some teasing, then he's in for a bad time."
["I'll try to keep the vicious mockery a little in check so that he doesn't die of apoplexy. No guarantee that the Lantern King will save your brother like he did you."
"Speaking of, tell me about meeting the Lantern King? How much do you remember?"
Zelera nodded and said, "Yeah, that would be smart. For as small as he is he's sneaky and like the rest of my family has no issue slitting your throat in your sleep if he thinks you are a threat to those he loves." Her expression shifting to a smile as she leaned into Siofra, Zelera said, "He can take the teasing, he is just taking protecting his family a bit too far right now. I'll talk to him about it later."
Holding her brother up in the palm of her hand Zelera grinned and said, "Fortunately he is more resilient than he might have come across so far, we just managed a superb ambush of whit that took him out.. "
Being asked about The Lantern King and what he was like Zelera responded, "He is...hard to describe. I don't remember much about when I first met him. I know I was escorted into a brilliantly lit bedchamber, and that there was a glowing man there, one who was absolutely gorgeous, the warmth of his amusement washed over me..." she grinned and then said, "then tendrils of light did all sourts of interesting things until I blacked out from the experience."