The Shining Hosts - Way of the Wicked Gameplay (Inactive)

Game Master Dennis Harry

We have another way of contacting Tiadora?

Not exactly...

Farholde - Newchurch the Wandering Friar

Tiadora keeps her eyes locked on Errisaigh, "Very well. You are all picking up a lot of strays, watch out those not tied to you by duty".

She continues, "Remember the small clay tablet given to you by the Master, break it when you need to speak with the Master in dire circumstances. Be sure not to waste his time. He can be most unforgiving about that. The Seventh Knot is already close at hand.

They arrive tomorrow on a river barge named The Lucky Lady. You should probably meet them and come up with a plan for seeing our Master’s will done. It matters not to me of course. Not my problem. Goodbye, dearest, and good luck.”

That said, she teleports away once more.

Probably not dire enough to use. The Baron was under the impression you could contact her.

I forgot about that tablet! I'll add it to me character sheet

The Baron's Manse

"Excellent, I am Bergill Mott, Headmaster at The Vandermir Orphanage.

It's best if you appear as someone besides Sir Balin though as I'd prefer not to have such a famous personage affiliated with the Orphanage, at least not openly".

The Baron states, "Can I interest you in a late dinner before you take your leave my large friend? I shall contact Tiadora before I retire for the night".

"Glad to meet you, Mott. I'll come to your place at noon. That should give you plenty of time to organize your crew. A meal would be great, Baron. I'll never turn down a free meal.

Writing Sir Balin is fun. He's basically Grumble's impression of Lord Havelyn, but he's still Grumble so everything comes out blunt and only barely polite enough.

The Baron's Manse

The Baron exits to fetch his servants out of bed to cook.

Mott engages with you while he is gone, you can tell he is quite proud of the Orphanage as it gives he and the Baron fresh, young impressionable men to them to mold into a force that controls a great deal of the underworld in Drowington. Those who prefer a more honest life are treated as well as possible to form bonds with the criminal element to cut down on citizens who would turn against their "childhood friends".

The Baron and his chef return with a fresh stew, something whipped up quickly but quite delicious versus the fare you've been subjected to for, well for most of your life really!

As you depart the Baron states, "I will have a runner contact you at the Friar once I have a response from Tiadora".

Do you head to the Wandering Friar directly or make any pit stops?

Bumping this as we're almost at the finish line, where I shift you to 6 weeks of downtime!

Somehow I missed your first reply. Glad you bumped it.

I can't think of anything to do in the middle of the night that doesn't involve causing general mayhem that might jeopardize the mission, so I'll head straight to the Friar.

The Wandering Friar

No worries. Tis the purpose of the bump!

You enter the Friar in the middle of the night, there are a handful of folk in the common room drinking. None of whom pay you much mind. You are familiar with the route to your rooms and head in that direction.

Using your key you enter. It's empty. You know that your Knot has the room son either side of this room rented as well. Morana or Soren are in either one or both.

Do you want to speak with them tonight or wait until the morning?

Now. I'll knock.

The Wandering Friar

You knock on the door to the right, silence, for a while. Then a voice, "It's quite late, if you'd like to keep your spleen intact, you'll walk away, whoever you are". Soren's voice.

"What the f#$* is a spleen?" Jack asked.

The Wandering Friar

The door opens with Morana holding the handle with one hand and spell components with the other. Off to the side, just out of alignment with the door stands Soren with one of her firearms. Morana appears shocked while Soren responds, "You're not supposed to be here..."

"Yeah, well, following directions isn't my strong suit," Sir Jack said with a smirk and a wink.

It's easy to forget that the terrifying demon ogre has an 18 charisma. Expanding on my attempts to differentiate his vigilante guises, I think Sir Jack has a roguish charm that Grumble doesn't.

He pushed into the room, and shut the door being him.

"The others are dead. Spike trap in the caverns. Me, Aurex, and Havelin are left. The Baron's gonna contact Tiadora for reinforcements. You two need to round 'em up when they get here."

"Any questions?"

The Wandering Friar

Morana appears aghast at the nonchalant mention of the death of the rest of your companions.

Soren frowns, "Damn.

I hope Tiadora doesn't make a big deal out of this. The Cardinal would be disappointed in this setback".

Morana does not respond at all when you walk in and close the door.

Soren continues, "No doubt the Seventh will realize that you are back and potentially report on that development, there is nothing that can be done about it as we only know what one of them look like. Unless of course you can agree to hold up here for some time and allow the two of us to deal with the Seventh in addition to our rounding duties".

Morana nods, "I can have my Phantom stay with you Grumble while I am out to allow for instant communications".

Soren shrugs, "I have no such method but I can certainly report back what I find. The three places that you visited were here, Lord Drownington's Manor, and the Crisp Morning. Morana and I can cover these two locations, can Raaven keep an eye out in the common room here?"

Morana picks up Soren's thread, "And anyone who visits the Baron, we can just rely on him to relay that visit to us".

"I was planning to stick around anyway," Jack agreed. "I'll get Raaven here."

"I told the guy who runs the orphanage that I'd train his guards, but I'm gonna be disguised." He tapped his head where the invisible circlet sat.

"I'll be in the room across the hall."

AND END THREAD!