Oy, gameplay thread here, fellas!
You find yourselves in a board room. There is a table, with chairs to sit at. The table is big enough for twenty people. The table is made of black ebony. Still, it's stained black. This is your first meeting with each other, so you have time to get acquainted before the arrival of a man you know only as GQ.
... to get a drink around here?"
Cen probably didn't need a drink, he probably didn't need several. He might not need a barfight, might not need to hospitalize anyone either. But there were nights that felt like all of those could be a REALLY good idea.
It was one of those nights.
"Just one drink ..." isn't that what the humans always seem to say?
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Cari is disguised as her normal human face, what she thinks of as herself. She hopes she won't have to reveal her changeling identity to whoever these people are. She's wearing armor that doesn't fit as well as it used to. She's put on a little weight since the end of the war. She looks around the room. "I'm not interested in a drink. I need to get back to Ardev. There are people there who need my help. Let's just get this over with."
Cari is disguised as her normal human face, what she thinks of as herself. She hopes she won't have to reveal her changeling identity to whoever these people are. She's wearing armor that doesn't fit as well as it used to. She's put on a little weight since the end of the war. She looks around the room. "I'm not interested in a drink. I need to get back to Ardev. There are people there who need my help. Let's just get this over with."
"Hi, my name is Ceneth ... Ceneth d'Thuranni. Pleasure to meet you miss. I look forward to working with you."
Ceneth sets his frame, and his eyes begin to glow as he summons Avariel into him
"Hello GQ," a small voice addressed the contact as what appeared to be a small child in a green dress skipped into the room, with a stuffed toy under her arm. Red hair bounced as she moved over to her chair, climbing up and plopping down into the padded seat. Her head still barely reached the lip or the table.
She looked over and smiled. "Hello Ceneth, hello Cari. I'm Opi. It's nice to meet you."
A warforged stomps its way into the room, eyes glowing green. Its chestplate seems slightly thinker than usual, but other than that it is indistinguishable from any of its thousands of comrades. It stops at the table and looks around, but makes no move to sit. A slight hesitation as it passes over each face is the only sign it gives that there are other beings in the room.
Behind the warforged an elderly Khoravar shuffles into the room, dressed for all the world as though attending a formal banquet. Except, that is, for what appears to be the head of a miniature dragon poking out of their satchel, sniffing the air.
Hearing the human's question to the warforged, Prosperity raises an eyebrow. "Oh, are we doing names? Interesting choice."
"Only 3 of us 'did' names actually ... you are welcome to be "Warfarged" & "Dragonfriend" if you like. I had kind of been thinking maybe we'll get really cool code names, like Cipher-9 or Zed-double7: hope springs eternal, right?"
Is that one making fun of warforged naming conventions? Lambda-42 wonders.
"I am called Lambda-42."
"Wow - so you already have a cool name, that's fantastic. I'm Ceneth ... Ceneth Tialaen d'Thuranni. My names are pretty basic, sadly. Pleased to meet you L42!"
You see a man in his late forties enter the room. "Hello everyone, I am GQ."
Prosperity smiles at Ceneth's comment, crossing to a chair beside Opi. "You can call me..." They hesitate as though deciding. "Prosperity." They gingerly lower themselves into the seat. "And the lady's name is Zoa," they add, scratching the small dragon behind her horns.
When GQ enters Prosperity looks up and studies him with curiosity, but doesn't speak right away.
Ceneth's smile is warm as he looks at the small dragon
"It's a pleasure to meet you Prosperity, and you Lady Zoa."
He turns to GQ and nods
"Good day to you GQ, glad to see you."
Kicking her feet, Opi waved. "Hi! I'm Opi."
Lambda-42 turns to the newcomer. "Acknowledged. What is our task?"
"One of our speaking stones has been stolen," says GQ. "I want you to retrieve it."
"Due respect sir ... how is that possible?"
Ceneth looks more than a little bemused
"A speaking stone was stolen from the Citadel?"
Prosperity leans forward. "More than how, why? As soon as others with stones are informed and stop contacting it, a single stone is essentially useless, no? Sounds like someone took a rather large risk just to cause some inconvenience."
"I suppose that would depend on how many other stones are connected to the stolen stone," Opi said in a considering tone not at all suited to her appearance, "And if another stone can send to it. It was linked by it's design and no one else knows the location it's not going to be possible to warn them." She paused. "Are we allowed to know what the stone was used to communicate? It'll help narrow down who would want that stone, specifically." Need to know was a thing, after all, but it sounded like they absolutely did need to know this.
[b]"Whoever knows the code of this stone can communicate to it, and depending on the protocols in place, an extraordinary amount of information could pour thru ... GQ, tell us where to start? Who had access to take this stone, we should 'speak' with them. Immediately."
"Well, only a member of House Sivis can use it," said GQ. "You each will have code names. The stone itself is part of the House Sivis network, but was used to communicate with other agents. Your mission is to find the stone, and kill who ever has it."
"Then let's get it done ... I personally would also like to find the thief and eliminate them too."
"Interesting"Cari wonders why the citadel would trust communications that Sivis could monitor. Something seems wrong here. "How long ago was it taken?"
"Three days ago," GQ said, handing out dossiers to you all. They all show a gnome. "Here's your target. We call him Mister Big."
Prosperity flips through their copy of the dossier, their movements casual but their eyes scanning the pages with a lightning intensity.
Zoa pokes her head above the table and appears to be studying the dossier along with Prosperity. When the two are done they make eye contact, tilting their heads to the side as though working to recall something.
Lambda-42 scans the documents before it. "Did the Sivis request the Citadel's aid, or should we be alert for Sivis agents also pursuing this thief?" it asks without looking up.
Cari picks up a dossier. "Does he have a Sivis dragonmark?"
"We know he has a dragonmark, a lesser dragonmark," GQ explains.
Prosperity flips through their copy of the dossier, their movements casual but their eyes scanning the pages with a lightning intensity. Are the dossiers just pictures or do they have more information? I've got plenty of questions but if there's info in the pages it might be easier to give us that all at once.
They have more information. Like Mr. Big is part of a criminal organization. He's wanted for theft, aggravated assault, murder, and kidnapping. He's been a pain in the side for King Boranel for years, and now the Citadel has permission to make a move on him.
Zoa pokes her head above the table and appears to be studying the dossier along with Prosperity. When the two are done they make eye contact, tilting their heads to the side as though working to recall something.
Zoa Knowledge (local) Aid Another: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17 Prosperity Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 22 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 22 + 2 = 43 Anything I know about this gnome?
Lambda-42 scans the documents before it. "Did the Sivis request the Citadel's aid, or should we be alert for Sivis agents also pursuing this thief?" it asks without looking up.
"House Sivis has been asking us to take care of this little monster for one week now," GQ explains.
"Oh yes, I recognize that face." They share their recollection. "So how do we know he did it — was there a witness to the theft? Someone we should pay a visit?" They pause. "Or to start I could simply scry on this Mister Big and see what I find."
"I assume the usual wardings meant it wasn't simply teleported out, so how much is known about the theft took place?"
"Here's a little secret I can share with you, as a flier: 'UP' is almost never considered when security is put in place. It's almost always the best escape route."
"Anyone like Pinot Noir ... ?"
Ceneth takes off the glasses he has been wearing; the glowing runes in the irises of his eyes were as beautiful as they were unnerving
"We could certainly make him do the work for us."
Cen smiles: and the smile is a little unnerving too
GQ then says, "It was the king's personal message stone that was stolen. Along with some important documents. The documents contained some special proclamations the King was figuring on making. That's the threat. The king promised each of you 10,000 gold if you can retrieve the stone and the documents."
"and should we ask whose poor judgement it was to let this person so close to anything having to do with the King? This wasn't just 'any' stone in the network ... shouldn't House Sivis have provided their best & brightest? I'm more than a little surprised."
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"Documents as well?" Prosperity rolls their eyes. "I'm starting to get a bit tired of this game where you feed us information crumb by crumb. Where was this stone? Where were these documents? Who knew of their existence and locations? What sort of protections were in place to safeguard them? Is anything known about how this gnome circumvented those protections? Did he have any prior involvement with either the stone or the documents? Who witnessed the thefts, or otherwise provided the information that he was responsible? Was any other evidence found at the scene? Have all others who were in communication with the stone been informed that it was stolen? And I'm sure you want to be secretive about these proclamations, but is there anything you can tell us about what they entail or when they were planned for?"
"The stone was in the royal palace. The documents were also in the royal palace. We did, and we did our best to keep them safe. To safeguard them, we had some magical protections introduced by house Sivis. Protections you turned off with a jeweled wand. What we do know, is that Mr. Big stole the wand and used it to turn off the magic protecting the stone. Then he stole it, along with the documents. At the scene, we recovered the wand, along with his fingerprints. Yes, House Sivis knows it is stolen. The proclamations were to change the nature of the parliament and monarchy in Breland."
Prosperity grins. "Excellent, very helpful. Pardon my rudeness, I simply prefer to cut to the chase." They crack their knuckles. "Which we can now do. I'll prepare a few relevant divinations, should take about a quarter-hour. If there's any recovered possession of Mr. Big's you can send for, that would be quite useful as a focus. Or better yet some trace of his body — blood, a hair, flakes of skin, or the like."
Prosperity leans back in their chair, propping their feet up on the table and closing their eyes. Zoa slithers out of the satchel, for indeed below her draconic head and forelegs the rest of her body is that of a common snake, as though someone had been drawing a dragon and got bored halfway through. She climbs the chair to drape herself around Prosperity's neck, her breathing falling in rhythm with theirs.
Lambda-42 glances between the organics as they bandy questions. The conversation bores it a bit. What was there to discuss? What reasons for motivation were necessary? The King called, and those loyal to him should answer. Of course, organics must have food, clothes, and a place to sleep, all of which must be bought. I suppose they must be given coin as compensation for their time, even when serving the king. I am pleased not to have such limiting needs. And better things to spend my coins on. "Perhaps refreshments for those who need them, while we wait?" the warforged says, finally.
Lambda-42 glances between the organics as they bandy questions. The conversation bores it a bit. What was there to discuss? What reasons for motivation were necessary? The King called, and those loyal to him should answer. Of course, organics must have food, clothes, and a place to sleep, all of which must be bought. I suppose they must be given coin as compensation for their time, even when serving the king. I am pleased not to have such limiting needs. And better things to spend my coins on. "Perhaps refreshments for those who need them, while we wait?" the warforged says, finally.
"Cool name AND you're a visionary! Can't beat that; I've wanted a drink since I walked in here. Will you join us L42? I know you don't need to ..."
"To be perfectly honest, I am focused on 2 things right now: my drink and my codename. After those are sorted, and Team PZ finishes their divinations, I think we head out to the vineyard."
"Wine sounds really good right now actually ..."
"The reality is this: either Monsieur Grande expects everything to go to hell, OR, he thinks there are things that won't. We can make sure he knows it all will. The odds are, he thinks there are boundaries. So If we show up and torch a few hundred square feet of pinot, just as an introduction, it's pretty likely someone will say something. THEN we can actually introduce ourselves!"
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"Or more likely, he'll run away while we waste time with petty arson. Lighting things on fire is not the solution to all our problems. She sighs. "Also, not that it matters, but grape vines are natural fire stops. They burn very slowly, if at all."She turns back to GQ. "I, at least, assume I was brought in to handle this with stealth."
"Or more likely, he'll run away while we waste time with petty arson. Lighting things on fire is not the solution to all our problems. She sighs. "Also, not that it matters, but grape vines are natural fire stops. They burn very slowly, if at all."She turns back to GQ. "I, at least, assume I was brought in to handle this with stealth."
"Hadn't planned for it to be petty, or natural for that matter. Vines are NATURAL fire stops, for sure. I wasn't proposing a natural fire at all."
"The point is to get the attention of our quarry, which we can do any way the team wants to really. But the principle of threatening something someone values to get their attention and to motivate them stands. If there is a better suggestion, I would probably listen to it. As yet, there isn't. The vineyard remains our best & most logical lead."
"and I never said we couldn't do recon, and I never said we couldn't 'sneak' and I never said we couldn't avail ourselves of other information prior to 'sending a message' either. I'm not sure where that assumption came from. LOL haven't done a lot of hunting? Running away is precisely what we want. We want him to feel unsafe, we want him to make bad decisions ... because right now, he's had 7 days to fortify himself, and yet we're still here discussing that you thought I wanted to throw torches in a field and wait for the wind to blow."
"GQ brought ALL OF US here for our talents ... stealth was probably ONE of those. Is it okay with you that GQ makes a few decisions? The King seems to think so."
"Once we have all the information we need," Opi said cheerfully, "We can compare notes about our strengths and abilities. It'll be fun! Maybe over a meal?" She looked over at GQ, peeking over the table. "Is there any more information you feel would be valuable for us to know?"