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“Duly noted,” Adonara acknowledges, before adding with a show of optimism, “Maybe its teeth can be turned into something pretty afterwards.” Given what Ragnar and Fulk pointed out, she takes the time to cast her own cantrip to see if she can get a sense of the lingering aura of the temporarily inactive coral wards, and if there’s any hint of a link to the new anchor that’s compromised them. As she kicks off to start swimming to the next nearest wreck, she adds, “Though speaking of pretty things, I think we probably should brave the depths before too long and before I get so prune-y that it will take ages to smooth out again. I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be the only one put out by such a development.”
Now that her attention’s been drawn to it, Adonara peers down at the shape swimming about down below. Something about its movements is just that bit off in a way that she recognizes as someone trained to fight such unholy menaces, and she promptly pronounces, “It’s a zombie. Again, one of the best ways of dealing with it works less well underwater.” There’s a quiet huff of bubbling breath that sounds vaguely like ‘bloody necromancers’ followed by a bit more Elven invective in grudging admiration against foes clever enough to exploit the environment to their best advantage, before she adds at a normal volume, “So, the wards up here are damaged, and with that thing lazing about down there, I’m not inclined to make any odds about the chances the stone we’re looking for is also in that direction. I can get us past, but that will only last as long as we don’t find anything else that needs to be taken down. Probably a question of whether we want to fight this shark now or risk leaving it behind us.”
Adonara’s grateful for the others’ focus, as her own eyes stick too close to the falling light to even really notice what it might illuminate. Along with the thoughts suggested by the name of the place, seeing light fall into cold darkness hits a bit too close to home for the courtesan. She snaps out of it as the more observant point out what they’ve spotted, and tries to wrangle her thoughts again and put the pieces together.
"Any body secretly a Varisian Dancer?" Til asks, grinning, while looking directly at Adonara. "No? Shame." “No, but we dancers often exchange tips and techniques,” Adonara says, flashing a smile over her shoulder. “Done right, it can be most mutually gratifying.” And then she stops short at the edge of the pit. She’s inclined to agree with the others’ impressed murmurs, and she wonders what happened here. It doesn’t look like what she would imagine an underwater volcano would look like, but what does she know? She stoops to pick up a piece of detritus in the tangle of coral at the rim, and lights it up with a cantrip as she makes sure it feels dense enough to sink quickly. "Do you think the anchor is down there? Should we drop a lit stone and see how far it goes?" Valekar asks. “This part does feel more like an eye, doesn’t it?” she says quietly, answering somewhat obliquely in the face of the unnerving sight, and tosses her lit-up rock lightly into the pit. As her own stare follows its trajectory down, she tries not to think about the likely reaction poking an eye is likely to produce.
It was probably too much to hope that the anchor rune would have been out here, Adonara considers ruefully. Too tempting and obvious a place to explore for anyone braving the reef. That said, the fruits of the exploration aren’t anything to scoff at, and the courtesan is particularly delighted by the scarf: fashionable and discreetly deadly is very much what she aims for. It is a more awkward thing than the whips she favours, though, and she wonders if it would be possible to transfer the magic on it – perhaps especially to her whip, given the broad similarities of the mechanics of the thing, but maybe to one of the weapons of the gentlemen likelier to get in closer than she likes to in combat. As the group prepares to move on, Adonara also wonders if necromancers have an instinctive feel for their creations at all, something that would let their quarry know that something’s happened to the draugr. It’s a side of the question of undead that she’s never really considered so far, and a trip to a library might be in order at some point. She realizes she’s letting idle thoughts distract her from the matter at hand since she fully expects it’s going to get messier, so she forces herself to focus. With an inquiring gesture, she points to the slope further down towards the west, before leading the way, eyes alert for trouble.
“Do let’s,” Adonara nods, as she makes a “We can hope,” she adds, her jaded cynicism prompting her to offer a word of caution nonetheless, “but it was bound to be whatever was pulling their strings that we really have to worry about. Especially if it created them.” Necromantic aboleth, the courtesan thinks, disgustedly. As if the slimy, megalomaniac things weren’t bad enough to begin with. As she gets closer to the wreck, Adonara peers through any promising holes in the hull for anything of interest or more lurking undead.
"Are they resistant to cold energy? " Valekar asks the others “I don’t think so, no,” Adonara offers, sending herself floating back from the nearest draugr, calling a spark of magic to her whip as she goes. She lashes out as best she can through the water, calling upon her favoured cantrip for this sort of business again like a prayer as well.
It won’t work but half as well underwater, but Adonara gets her whip in hand as she joins the others in pressing their attack diving down to the wreck which the wretched undead are scattered about. She stays out of reach, just close enough that if she doesn’t get charged next round she can put her whip to good use, and sends another cantrip at the draugr Valekar wounded.
Peering through the shadows of the waters, Adonara nods appreciatively at Ragnar’s aggressiveness. “Sounds like a plan, but if those are draugr, they’ll be resistant to the weapons that work best underwater, so we might want to concentrate on taking them down one at a time.” Then again, many of the others are much better at the direct application of violence than she is. In any case, she waits until the group is just close enough, and then…
Unfortunately, that’s one of the cases both the spell text and the entry for invisibility in the glossary of Core calls out specifically, though one does get to hang onto concealment. Doing a bit of digging, since I thought I had seen something, there is a separate spell, invisibility bubble, that covers underwater shenanigans. Not for us warpriests, though, either way. --------- On the other note, don't worry about it: I hope your conference is fun!
Come the morning tide, Adonara greets the day with a certain degree of trepidation, remembering her grandmother’s stories about what lurks beneath the waves, and that her ancestors have fought and her kin still do. Nonetheless, the danger only steels her resolve, combining in turn with her zeal to perform a feat worthy of dedication to her goddess. As the Eye comes into view beneath the waves, along with a wreck that shows that the place lives up to its adjective, she calls out, “There! Worth taking a look at before we go deeper, do you think? If I were defending this place with undead, I might hide some in the wreckage.” She keeps one eye out as Ragnar sets about guiding their efforts at making safe anchor and everyone gathers their supplies for the dive. In the meantime, knowing the sorts of other tricks a necromancer might try, she finds one of the things she won’t be taking into the waters below, but brought on board for the purpose. Opening up a slim volume bound in black leather, over the hustle and bustle Adonara recites one of the litanies of war found within. The imagery is perhaps unusual, but aptly pointed, if not even vicious, as befits Calistria, and she’s sure that even nonbelievers might be inspired. And then, after a suitable pause, when everyone’s physically ready, it’s time to start layering on spells. She turns to Athannah, and inclines her head gratefully, indicating that the adventurers are ready for her water-breathing spell. “Thank you, and we’ll see you back in Acisazi soon, I hope. You should probably return where it’s safest, but this one spell might give us the edge to put things to rights sooner rather than later. If you don’t hear from any of us within a couple of days…” She lets the winds carry away the obvious implication.
“Of course,” Adonara says gently, “and we appreciate the courage to brave even so much. We’ll do our very best to put things to rights as soon as we can.” “That is, after all, what some of us are born to do,” she proposes wryly, knowing all too well that she doesn’t quite cut the prototypical figure of a crusading saint or heroine straight out of legends and old stories. Even after all this time, she sometimes feels like she’s in costume – that sort of adventuress playing at the other. “If there’s nothing else that needs immediate attention in our preparations, I’ll return to my devotions and see what spells the goddess sees fit to grant for the morrow,” she concludes.
“The problem of air complicates matters a bit, but we can certainly do a quick, discreet circuit before inserting ourselves. I think most of us are fairly subtle, and I know a few blessings that can help. I would say especially with the undead, but the one I know works best with simpler brutes than draugr, and it only holds if one doesn’t hold immediate hostile intent,” Adonara floats. “We also wouldn’t want to leave our scout exposed in a forward position for too long. But it’s worth seeing what we can see when we get there. On the morning tide?” Sneaking strategy (TL;DR: sure, however we feel like doing it):
Sounds … Skaldish, Adonara thinks vaguely, as the pieces fall into place and she remembers a book she read back home once on the varieties of ghouls and the best ways of putting them down. “They’re like sea-sick ghouls, as it were. Draugr, I mean. Not like lacedons, exactly, but they’re undead whose blows can badly turn one’s stomach, though I don’t think their touch will paralyze.” “Probably the most obnoxious thing about them, for present purposes, is that they’re resistant to the types of weapons that are most effective underwater. If there are any airy spaces in the Drowning Eye, we might want to lure the draugr there,” she continues. “With the goddess’ grace, though, we’ll find the stone first and thwart this Menetheguro. There are some abominations that should never have emerged to crawl below the waves,” she says quietly, a gleam of zeal sparking in her eye as she considers the prospect of stopping the plots of creatures that are an age-old enemy of elvenkind, and of all free folk.
“Thank you, Athannah,” Adonara says, echoing Tilorean. “With your help, we can set to work thwarting this necromancer soon, perhaps as early as the next tide. As you know, we’ve tangled with some of his creatures before, to their cost.” She tries to sound reassuring, though privately she worries about where that devil got to, and she’s not sure if Fulk or Valekar are keen on the finer points of abjuration, to dispel this rune. Worst case, could they just magically erase the aboleth’s anchor rune, or – though it pains her to be so crude – destroy whatever it’s inscribed on? She tries to place the name ‘draugr:’ some sort of servitor she presumes, though not so common that she can immediately pin it down and identify any weaknesses, especially. Though based on what they can guess of their foe so far, she presumes it would be either some sort of undead or devil.
As the Ravens equip themselves with suitable ordnance, Adonara can’t but notice the villagers caginess. Not that she blames them, with the pressures they’re under: even with their scouts newly returned, and with her and Valekar in the mix to provide a connection to other branches of elvenkind, it’s a lot of new faces under less than ideal circumstances. She accompanies Tilorean to meet with Athannah, to announce the group’s preparations and request an escort to the waters of the Drowning Eye and, if such can be spared, a spell to mitigate the drain of water-breathing magic on the Ravens’ resources. She explains the plan to anchor off the Eye and dive down, and that while their own spells offer them fairly wide scope for action, depending on what’s down there, it might take more than one trip.
“I think we have a very good idea what’s haunting the place,” Adonara says grimly. “A tentacled abomination from when the world was young, and probably its pet devil, at this point. Primeval magic. Hopefully not ghosts, but we could try to prepare for those as well, as best we can.”
After taking a tour of the parts of town accessible to air-breathers and thinking about it a bit, Adonara remembers something else that could be helpful, and tracks down the local equivalent of a smith. She’s not a huge fan of crossbows – in this regard, at least, she’s a bit of a traditionalist – but she knows her cousins and other aquatic species have designed a few that work much better underwater than anything she could bring from above the surface.
Go for it! And not as such, on the spellbook front (except for dabbling), but I don't think that's a major obstacle: divine spells don't normally(?) get written down in spellbook form, but as I understand it, they can be? It wouldn't work for an arcane caster trying to cast from a divine scroll/item natively, but if it's just to learn from the equivalent of spellbook notes, to write into one's own grimoire something on one's own class list, I don't see why it wouldn't be possible. It's just a Spellcraft check to decipher it, and then personalizing it is what sets Calistrians from Iomedaeans from arcanists apart. :) I'm getting a feeling of déjà vu here, but a cursory search through the thread isn't turning anything up, so I'm sorry if we've already decided somewhere down the line that it doesn't work like that.
Having two historically-minded elves around – especially if one is local and the other was trained in what is more or less the preeminent elven homeland in Avistan – proves unsurprisingly helpful in tracking down unobtrusive elven settlements on the fringes of human lands. More practically, though, it’s very good indeed that someone knows how to manage a boat, and it’s mainly due to Ragnar’s seamanship that the Silver Ravens are able to take Adonara and Valekar’s gleanings and turn them into a course along the coast that will let the group watch for the signs they’re looking for to track Acisazi down. Privately, Adonara finds the settlement unprepossessing, but then she’s a big-city, cathedral-school sort of girl from Kyonin, so her perspective is bound to be skewed, and besides, she's sure most of the interesting parts of the place must be built into the cliffs underwater, the thin line of surface construction mainly for the benefit of a few eccentrics and the rare trader or two. She is, however, glad to see that the cousins the Ravens rescued have made it home safely, of the opportunity to see a bit of how aquatic elves live, and, not least, for the breathing space to gather a bit more intelligence on what exactly is going on with the village plagued by Menetheguro and its lackeys. Adonara’s heard of places like the Drowning Eye before – her family’s roots actually go back to the Mordant Spire, and they’re comparatively recent arrivals in Kyonin – so the talk of failed wards, mysterious illnesses, and the knowledge that an aboleth is involved stir an unusual aggressiveness in the courtesan. After all, even beyond Acisazi’s needs, she wouldn’t want to let her forebears’ long war against the abominations crawling in the abyssal depths down. She prepares as best she can for an expedition to investigate the cursed pit.
Maybe we can hope for a 15-minute adventuring day? :) Ragnar's got a cloak of the manta ray, so that's him covered. Between the rest of us, even with Ado being a CL down, though it would mean intensive investment in terms of spells prepared if we want to avoid scrolls, I think we could get 7 hours/day easily. *Shrugs.* Before such time as we get reliable access to freedom of movement, we have other problems underwater, so I'm guessing hit-and-run may be the order of the day. We do know who's responsible, so maybe we can hope that's a sign that we won't have to get through an absolute horde of minions first. Edited to add: Oh, we'd have to get close enough, but lay of the land might help for navigation? Looks like a neat little spell.
Ado's got a couple of scrolls of water breathing - feel free to grab one to scribe from, if you like - and a bit more awkwardly, tracked down a source to learn how to cast aboleth's lung. (Same sort of thing, except it prevents the subjects from breathing air for the duration. It's a level lower, though, which is good for a multiclassed partial caster like her.)
It is quite fortunate – or perhaps thoughtful of the Gray Spiders – that the vault beneath the Lucky Bones contained a suitable mode of transportation for exploring the coast. Valekar and Fulk seem best placed to figure out how the strange trinket works, and thankfully Ragnar knows something of sailing, so Adonara is happy to take a step back and observe, making a few mental notes for when she next has to deal with an unfamiliar magic item, and pitching in to hold a rope or tug at an oar as required as Ragnar puts the boat through her paces.
“I can’t speak for our human friends,” Adonara grins, “but they do allow for testing the waters discreetly: making a few cautious overtures, seeing what others might be interested in that they wish to announce but not entirely openly, even using the mask to encourage oneself to try something brave or new.”
“And, of course,” she adds lightly, “it’s an excuse for fabulous costumes.” More seriously, she considers the question of logistics. “Even Vyre’s not much more than 70 miles away, is it? A message should be able to catch up to us if there are any sudden developments that would call us back home. Otherwise, let’s start with the coast: Acisazi first, since they need help, and Vyre on the way back, perhaps.”
Adonara agrees readily to the prioritization of tasks beyond the city proper. [i]Securing allies before we do something as obvious as taking the Menador Gap is far the best, and Acisazi needs help, unlike Vyre, as far as I know i]
What’s going on in Kintargo might be a bit of a complication. “Hmm. Well, we might give the person looking for us the slip long enough to track her down in turn if we take a break to sort out my marine cousins and Vyre. So that’s one thing, but I couldn’t bear to miss a masquerade! Do we know how soon it might be held?” “And if the real mayor never left, that’s certainly concerning. Perhaps we should keep our ears to the ground while we prepare to go to Acisazi, look into those two things first, whichever we can learn most about while the masquerade is still in the offing.”
Adonara relaxes a bit as it becomes clear that she’s not being called out for involving some adventurous youngsters in the rebellion (even if she would suggest that such is valuable experience and training for any upright young lady). She decides to take it at more or less face value for now, as a sign that the Ravens’ exploits have convinced the headmistress that they know what they’re doing and so deserve her tacit support. She inclines her head, “Lady Docur is most generous. I’ll be sure to write a note of thanks as soon as I can and place myself at her service. I’d certainly be interested to hear her ideas about security.” Not least, the courtesan thinks, because she’s been surprised by the offer, which would seem to indicate that Lady Docur is very good at keeping a low profile herself as she considers where it best serves her interests to intervene. It sounds like they might get on quite well, all things considered. “In the meantime, is there other news? Acisazi does sound promising, if there’s nothing more pressing: with due respect to Captain Sargaeta, unless he and very many friends are willing to throw their lot in with us, I’m not sure I like our chances against the Imperial Navy, and aquatic allies would help.”
Adonara considers the attendees while she makes herself comfortable. She’s only a bit surprised that the lictor has shown up in person: with the smuggling tunnels the Ravens now have access to, it’s considerably less risky, and then she supposes knights pique themselves about matters of valour and such, and given his rank and (presumably) experience, in the worst case, he stands a fairly good chance of being able to fight his way to a more discreet exit if necessary. Regardless. A flurry of emotions crosses the courtesan’s features at the very first item on Laria’s agenda, before she manages to school her expression. &?%$ *@!> £#&~. In the privacy of her own mind, she indulges in a burst of vivid Elven profanity. Looks like the cat is out of the bag. It was only a matter of time, I suppose. “Whatever those girls have been up to, I had nothing to do with it,” she says, entirely too cheerfully to be convincing. It could conceivably be disarming, at least, depending on how strict the headmistress is, and Adonara’s obviously listening to her own tone in an attempt to sound out the right note. “Though I may have provided a certain amount of encouragement, only.” She turns curiously to Haetamon, her awareness of the seriousness of the situation visible despite her liveliness. “By all means, let’s hear it. What might be the Lady Docur’s pleasure?” She acknowledges the other items for subsequent discussion. “ I can reach out to certain of my clients, of course, but Mr. Vashnarstill would be better placed to approach the nobility more generally.” She nods respectfully to Tilorean, adding only, before focusing her attention on their fashionable Milanite friend, “ And we’ll certainly need to consider what else folk in the street and parlours might be talking about, to say nothing of what we can do to gain more ground and support before the Thrice-Damned House decides to garrison a few legions and armadas about Ravounel.”
"If you just want people, I could invite several of those in my generation from the noble houses, but I don't think that will play out as well as we wish. Too many looking for an advantage. A few actually trying to display loyalty. Both would gain by turning us in." “If there are any you trust, though, by all means feel free,” Adonara invites. "We do need all the help we can get, especially for what happens after we get rid of Thrune." No need not to be optimistic, she thinks. Keep spirits up and all that. "I suspect the good people of this city may be leery of taking suggestions from a foreign courtesan, for instance, no matter how charming. Especially if she has her heart set on paying back the Abadarans," she says cheerfully.
So far Valekar has been effectively more like hired muscle. I'm hoping he can also contribute via his intelligence. When I joined the party there were at least three creative and effective face characters already. Yep, the world’s most unwarlike warpriest (™), a bard, and a very charismatic oracle. Thank you for providing someone who can fill the necessary people with arrows and rather angrier magic. :) If you do start feeling rather left out of the chatty side of things, but don’t feel like trying to sort out a full respec, something a player in one of the other games I’m in has his eye on might be an idea: the Orator feat? Which reminds me: based on our rebellion rank, Valekar gets a bonus skill feat from out of Alertness, Deceitful, Persuasive, or Stealthy. And as to the rebellion, the last bit of business this round is just to confirm No surprises there, but starting to shape up nicely.
"Is there anyone else you would like me to invite?"
Adonara offers an easy grin and a noncommittal shrug. “It probably doesn’t need to be named yet, but it might have to be once we’re closer to being ready to act more directly. It does sound rather like a shadow parliament to me, only here…” Her glance flickers north, in the vague direction of Nidal. “Regardless, it also sounds like Laria’s found some people whom she trusts, but who don’t want to attach themselves to the Silver Ravens outright. When it’s time to deliver an open challenge to Thrune, the ‘Silver Council’ is as good a name as any.” The Ravens can use all the allies they can get, so whatever the new players Laria wants to introduce want to call themselves, Adonara’s willing to work with it, and she waits curiously to see who shows up.
Adonara wastes no time leaving the surreal scene once Thrune disappears back to whatever he’s up to, though she is careful not to be impolite in so doing, even if it means sticking her neck out a bit longer. In the next couple of days, she tries not to jump at too many shadows, and though she feels a bit silly, she puts the word out here and there in such a way as to exchange the infernal mayor’s gift with a similar belt – one that his servitors would not be familiar with for the purposes of tracking magically. It may err on the side of paranoia, but then she is a priestess of a banned cult, and with a profile that is highly suspicious to begin with. Laria’s suggestion gives her something else to occupy her thoughts with productively, as she dashes off several notes to send out with elegantly coded invitations. Hmm. Just some ideas that would probably cross Adonara's mind:
There’s Rexus, of course, Hetamon, and – well, the Aulorian boy is probably out of the question – but his Captain Sargaeta might come, and likewise, while the lictor of the Order of the Torrent might not want to slink into Kintargo by smugglers’ tunnels, he might be able to send an agent or two.
And then there are the less adventurous but no less important Ravens, though some of them are almost still children – some of the urchins from Devil’s Nursery, and maybe a couple of the young misses from Lady Docur’s. She’ll have to make sure there’s plenty of something non-alcoholic at hand. And see if Laria would be willing to be unofficial chaperone. Not that there will be any need, but the last thing the Ravens need is an apoplectic headmistress on their hands. Now there’s a thought to put the fear of the goddess even in Thrune’s withered heart, Adonara thinks with a smile. She loved the cathedral school she attended back in Kyonin, though she didn’t have to leave home for it, and the teachers were kind, but that doesn’t mean that she wasn’t in awe of the cleric in charge. She imagines that Kintargo’s youngsters have just as much to be impressed by and considerably more to fear. She wonders who Laria might be planning to invite.
@Adonara- yeah you can easily swap them, there's nothing to show they came from Thrune. Oh, excellent! I’ll post a bit in character soon. Gm, is it possible for me to reallocate the 4k I spent on the belt of dexterity since we just got one from Thrune? Valekar would swap his as well, just like Adonara did On a related note, Valekar, I’m not sure if I’m misreading your question (and don’t mean to step on our GM’s toes!), but each of us was offered our choice of +2 stat item. Ado’s just being paranoid about being tracked through hers. If you have a physical stat-booster, would a mental one be handy? And wow, that's a lot of belts at hand. Maybe Thrune actually is trying to discreetly signal a kink, after all? - No, bad Adonara! Mind out of the gutter! ;) But I digress. I think most of you fine fellows joined us quite a bit after our last rebellion checks, so a bit of a recap. We’ve been playing it mostly as a neat toy and background generator to bounce additional in-character shenanigans off of, so the rolls have tended to go in Discussion, and we’ve been making them, with the GM to step in if something big happens. In the event, that’s mostly been me tinkering so far, and I’m happy to continue doing so, if this sort of nonsense isn’t anyone else’s cup of tea, but I don’t want to hog the dice. I figure I’ll check Upkeep and Events: but we have three actions for the activity phase, which I think we settled on: Recruit Team (Sneaks): 1d20+15 vs. DC 15 Secrecy, so that’s a fait accompli, actually, but a natural 1 increases notoriety by 1d6
Given folks’ interests and backstories as I remember them, would Til and Ragnar care to make sure it wouldn’t be my cursed dice in the worst-case scenario, for Sneaks and Peddlers respectively? And then anyone who feels so inclined can call dibs on rolling to see if we snag some more supporters? Upkeep:
Event:
TL;DR: Pending the Activity phase results, the Silver Ravens can breath easy this week. :)
Just saw you posted while I tried to imagine what it might have been like. I imagine there’s a bit of wiggle room? Mostly a short, dismal civic ceremony, but maybe there are fun people in the crowd or whatever. :) Anyway, here’s a paranoid idea: how easy would it be to, um, discreetly exchange our gifts for similar in town that aren’t an obvious invitation to scry us? *Fast forward a few days to elsewhere in the magic item (black) market, some other poor adventurers about to stumble into potential complications:*
*Shrugs.* Or we could take our chances until we have occasion to upgrade. The surgery went well, and now it is just the healing phase which still takes assistance. On another note altogether, I’m glad to hear it, Ragnar! I hope everything goes smoothly.
“Oh, how delightful!” Adonara enthuses, clapping her hands. “Absolutely!” She does get a bit nervous as Tilorean suggests that they should put in the effort, sartorially speaking. Her finery, at any rate, is – not to put too fine a point on it – not exactly designed with the expectation that there will be much under it other than herself. But ‘Woman proposes, goddess disposes,’ as they say, and Adonara’s beyond sure that Calistria will favour a certain boldness.
Anyway. Digression about mithral:
In the event, though, it ends up being a more subdued affair than she expected, given his-plaguey-lord-mayorship’s penchant for the dramatic, as she understands it. It is also, for lack of any better word that she can think of, especially in Common, a decided mindf!%&. There are people in the assembled crowd that can read between the lines, but there are also very many that have bought the party line, as it rapidly becomes apparent that the event has been preceded by a propaganda push and collecting the ‘right sort’ of audience, for which the Silver Ravens’ activities have been cast as conceivably acceptable or even supportive of the regime. So, there’s a lot of talk in the crowd about stopping a serial killer (and somehow it only makes it weirder that Thrune seems to have been kind enough not to mention – for now – that when Adonara was And while it’s definitely a relief that bloody Thrune seems to be a bit worse for wear, Adonara worries about all the reasons that might be, especially if he’s looking for the Book of the Damned. She shudders to think what even scraps of that blasphemous thing might unleash, at whatever cost to its reader, or whatever else Thrune’s been up to. Somewhat awkwardly, she smiles and waves and tries to be gracious with both the crowd and various Thrice-damned movers and shakers. Or maybe he’s not a eunuch? the courtesan speculates idly, considering what might be wrong with the new mayor. Are erinyes rather like vengeance demons in that regard too, after all? Sadly, even wicked thoughts and doing her best to convince the prettiest Hellknight in attendance to put the belt she chooses around her narrow waist in a way that is absolutely meant to encourage the crowd to imagine what it might be like to be the lucky girl who gets to remove the belt again don’t restore Adonara to her usual effervescence.
Nice to see you again, Valekar! It looks like we're a very clever, nimble-fingered set here, and I think I share that campaign trait with you, which I've set to Secrecy, so maybe one of us should switch to Loyalty instead. I don't mind, particularly since: My hot take, given everyone's stats and such, is - for now - to pencil in Valekar as Strategist and Adonara as Demagogue. Unless Til wants it, especially if he's planning on raising his Cha next level.
Yep!
As the day of Thrune’s ceremony approaches, Adonara does indeed spend a good deal of time in prayer, as well as browsing the shops and markets for likely tricks and gossip that might help the Silver Ravens dare to attend what must surely be some sort of trap. She sends a flurry of notes to the others around town as ideas occur to her. Unsurprisingly, she confers most extensively with Ragnar since, as a fellow priest, he has a similar baseline for what sorts of things might be possible. Of course, Iomedae and Calistria have rather difficult approaches to strategy, but still. “There’s a limit to just how drastically I can cheat onlookers’ eyes,” she sighs, at one point. “In her wisdom, the Savoured Sting has seen fit not to gift me with spells of outright invisibility, yet. A shining mist to cloak a hasty retreat should be possible, if necessary, and I should be able to channel some of her grace to turn aside the blades of the less willful, though the stronger-minded might be able to push through.”
Ah, OK. My mistake. And if wearing mithral underneath is a no-go, we do have a wand of disguise self that we can pass around. Oh, and I forgot about the pearls the drowning devil left behind: there's a 2nd-level pearl of power - Ragnar? Fulk? (I've got enough goodies this time around that it would be fair for you guys to flip for it.) And also just mundane pearls, which if we just share out between the lot of us and the leftover for the rebellion fund, gets us each another 400 gp. Otherwise, here's a fresh link to a tentatively updated rebellion sheet: Ta-da! Happy to hear suggestions for what we might want to do next with it while we plot our next move. Since we now have three actions per rebellion turn, and two empty slots for teams of agents, I would suggest we try to fill those and then try to raise more supporters (and, so, work towards our next rank). We already have a team of rumormongers and of infiltrators (the latter of whom are under Adonara's aegis), so maybe some sneaks and peddlers to cover our bases / the spread of team categories available? Or whatever sorts of minions you guys might want, since teams require PC supervision. I know it can't actually represent that - far too premature - but I can't get the image of rebellion peddlers as flogging kitschy Silver Ravens merch out of my head: t-shirts with our characters mugs on them, instead of Che Guevara's? :)
I can live with that suggestion for me. Just to make sure that that's more of a shrug (like Til's) than a heavy sigh of resignation: if there's a role you prefer, don't be shy. :) Otherwise, why don't we go with that, going forward? If things go disastrously or borderline at best, it should be easy to shuffle things around a bit. Til, I'm down for hand-me-down upgrading. Multiple people getting a boost is good. I don't think so. Just so we're on the same page with the musical Anyway, Ado's hp rolls:
It’s nice to spend a few days not dealing with sinister cultists, or followers of mysterious puppeteers outside of the city. Adonara starts crossing some things off her agenda, including clearing up a room for herself in the upper levels of the former lair of the Gray Spiders, for when she’s not at home. Now that it’s in the hands of the Silver Ravens, we should think about renaming it. The ‘Lucky Bones’ no longer. Hmm. Perhaps ‘Kindness House.’ We’re friendly ravens, after all. She still has to see what some of her contacts around the city have been up to, including at Lady Docur’s, and it’s a sign of just how harrowing the life of a heretical conspirator is that finding a suitable buyer for the highly lethal poisons recovered from the Spiders’ vault is positively relaxing after the past few days. Still, when Adonara meets with the others with an extremely unexpected invitation delivered to her official (public-facing, as it were) residence in hand, only to discover that the others have received similar, she can’t help feeling a bit of excitement as well as Tilorean’s reservations. "Seriously? An invitation by HIM? How is this not suicidal?" “It might be a very interesting party,” she says lightly. “I’ll have to hang out my nicest dress.” The courtesan’s smile fades, but does not disappear entirely, as she considers the matter (more) seriously. “It’s very definitely a show of force. We’ve been underground for the past week or so (almost literally, for most of it, I’m bound to mention), so the fact that he’s been able to find enough to … associate us with the cause, even if it’s not enough for him to act directly, must be meant to show off that he has actually got competent agents somewhere.” “But either he doesn’t think he’s got enough to convict us to send Hellknights after us in our beds (And a good thing too! There are several parties that would be most put out. Speaking for myself only, of course.), or he’s plotting something trickier. I hate to give him anything he wants, but I have to admit, it’s well-played and intriguing. Do you think we could brazen it out, if we prepared suitably beforehand? Perhaps we could take a trip to visit our maritime friends immediately after this ceremony? (Possibly invisibly and at speed, for preference.)” “The Unquenchable Fire will light a way. I’ll have to meditate and pray on this,” she says piously. “Pray a lot.” The quip shows just how rattled Adonara really is. Fortunately, they do say that Calistria stands on conviction rather than ceremony, even with her priestesses.
Congratulations, you are now level 7Level 7 or 6? I'm currently 5. I think most of us are at level 5 going into 6? I mean, I wouldn’t be heartbroken to fast-track to 7, if that would make things easier, but I’ll hold off until confirmed. (I don’t know where the confusion crept in, but we could handwave it as part of leveling up the rebellion.) * * * On that note, with the rank boost for our rebellion and things brewing since our last phase there, that’s definitely going up by 2, to rank 5. I don’t know if anyone else is particularly invested in the subsystem – I can try to help ease anyone into it that hasn’t been too curious, or if folks are happy leaving it in the hands of those of us who are nerds that way, that’s fine.
Adonara: Strategist
Ado and Til could switch places – I know ages ago Til had mentioned that might spread our bonuses a bit more evenly (otherwise, given how the rebellion rules work, we’re leaning veryvery sneaky, which suits Ado fine, but worth mentioning), or we could even do Til – Strategist, Bachu – Sentinel, Adonara – Recruiter, if that fits people’s sense of characterization better too. (Ado will have that toaster! As the old joke goes. ;) )
Anyway, what is more immediately to the point, since we’ve now jumped to rebellion rank 5, we’re also officially ‘Guardians’ of Kintargo, which gets us each a bonus feat chosen from among: Alertness, Deceitful, Persuasive, or Stealthy. So you have an extra choice to make, Til. :) (I think I’ll follow your example – it’s either that or Stealthy, for Ado, but Persuasive is probably that bit more in-character for her.)
OK, so counting up the cash and jewels and such from the vault and odd corpses, guessing that none of us wants to dabble in poisons, that nets us an impressive 22 528 gp to work with, in addition to the magic items. Setting potions and consumables aside for use by whoever as needs must (Fulk should probably carry the wand, though Ado can also use it, and Til), and the general utility stuff (handy haversack and folding boat), I think the easiest way to sort things out is something like this: 1) Adonara will glom onto the new ring. (And possibly inherit a hand-me-down armour, though whether she actually wants mithral depends on if she can also add aszite to it eventually. I know special materials don't normally mix.)
B) That would leave just the robe of bones and cloak of elvenkind to sort out. If we just sell those, the guys getting coin would add 612.5 gp to their shares. Going forward, we would give whoever doesn't get the dagger first dibs on the next shiny weapon that shows up that suits his proficiencies, and prioritize those who didn't get a big-ticket thing the next go round? More about rebellion shenanigans tomorrow or so.
“As much as part of me would like to rush off to Acisazi immediately, to see how they fare against this Menotheguro, if they can spare us for some time yet, it wouldn’t be fair to your fair city, if you’ll forgive the homonym,” Adonara muses, her irrepressible facetiousness getting the best of her efforts to be serious before too long. “It will take a few days, I’m sure, for this place to dry off, but we should tell Laria, and the Milanites, and see what we can do to secure it before getting too comfortable. See what else might be brewing in the city too, while we’re at it, and probably put some of this treasure to good use.”
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