Wings of Protection

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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Sir Gusairne's face colored at Diana's words and somewhat petulantly he replied, "Can't you see what she's doing? You know the saying, Taldor has so many laws you break three every day before breaking your fast. She's cherry picking her argument to make us look bad!"

But this line of argument fell hollow even to his ears, the derisive looks from his entourage said everything.
Sense Motive DC 22: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13 <--- FAIL

OK so he upped the ante to 4 and failed. That means he has 16 determination left.

Sense Motive DC 18:
The guard on the left with the spider web tattoo is a cold sweat. He's clearly starting to worry about what might come after...

I think the Ante is supposed to reset to 1, but for sake of this not taking forever due to PbP lets say it carries on increasing... The ante is 5 now and you need to match DC 22. Don't forget Diana has 3 edges so that's eminently possible.

Sensing the weakness of his initial position, Sir Gusairne attempts a different tack. Answering Lope's question, he returns "See here Betony, the steward of a county has always enjoyed tremendous latitude when it comes to legal matters. Abusive taxes you say, tough I say. And as for an heir to the throne. Well the count has wisely assured Maxillar of his support and I can assure you the Promachos will only be too keen to swell his army with debtors! You would do well to pay up and avoid being sent to the front!"

Intimidate: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Any other input? :) You can assume there are supplies needed to bring you up to WBL, mac individual item cost is 1/3 WBL.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

If you spend a round to examine the skylight at close range I'll let you automatically notice the sabotage.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

The audience is Sir Gusairne and what is left of his retinue. I'm curious to see how this one will end up :)


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

The other game took longer than expected to make a post for, so I'll try and update this tomorrow.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Upstairs:
Cyrene gingerly takes the bars away from the door and ever so carefully eases the door open. She peers out onto the roof and sees, we nothing in particular. The slates are quite steep and the estate is on the top of a hill so there's a fabulous view over Stachies and the surrounding farmland.

Perception DC 16

Spoiler:
You noticed a glint of shiny metal along the edge of Lope's skylight. Somebody has run a blade along the metal retaining rim, likely to allow them to silently remove the glass at a later date.

Perception DC 24

Spoiler:
While you don't see anyone, you distinctly heard a supple leather moccasin boot shifting on a roof tile. They're standing close to the edge, and you could if you dared try to knock them off... Or you could do something else entirely, they're invisible and you've pinpointed them.

Rules wise Diana has an advantage over Sir Gusaire, and starts with 31 determination and 3 edges. Sir Gusaire starts with 20 determination.

Determination:
At the start of a verbal duel, each duelist gains a pool of determination. Determination is a mix of personal magnetism, native intelligence, the ability to gauge and react to an opponent’s tactics, and any other mitigating factors pertinent to the duel. As the verbal duel progresses, exchanges take place and the stakes increase. A duelist loses determination equal to the exchange’s ante each time she either concedes or loses an exchange. Other factors may also decrease a duelist’s determination. When a duelist’s determination is reduced to 0 or lower, the verbal duel ends with her defeat.

Determination: A duelist’s base determination is the average (rounded down) of her Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma modifiers (minimum 0) + her total Hit Dice.

Adjusting Determination: Circumstances and effects might increase this pool of determination points, at the GM’s discretion. For instance, for a particular type of verbal duel, it might make sense to use a single ability modifier rather than the average. For a longer verbal duel, especially at low levels, it might make sense to use the highest of a character’s three mental ability modifiers or even add two or all three together.

Edge:
An edge grants a re-roll on a social check.

Sir Guisarne looks at Diana then Lope and his hand strays to the pommel of his sword. His men at arms shift nervously and he catches their eyes before taking Lope to task saying, "Now you look here! If anyone should be surrendering it's you! Point of fact *I* am Count Bartleby's representative in these lands. With his grandfather's blessing, my words carry *his* authority. When it comes to taxaction my word in this county is law!" He thumps his chest several times as he says this to add emphasis.

Sir Guisarne: Intimidate: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16 You'll need to counter his intimidate. You can do that with any plausible skill or ability check (DC 16). Within reason I'll allow aid another and circumstance bonuses for props or item use if you can think of any that might apply. The ante to start with is 1 point of determination. Whoever looses this exchange has their determination go down by one and they get to open the next exchange. When you do this you can up the ante by one each time it seems. So in practice this means a typical verbal combat will only last 3-4 exchanges.

Kn: Local DC 16:
This is true up to a point. However taxes in Taldor are subject to various limitations. Limitations he's ignored time and again.


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

As an experiment I'm going to recast this encounter as a Verbal Duel. Rules.

If you win the duel you'll be able to take Sir Gusairne into custody, fail and it'll turn into actual combat.

It might make sense to retcon the duel as having already started. I'll update soon to let you know.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Apologies for the delay.

If you hurry upstairs:
Please make stealth checks if you wish to remain unnoticed.

You hurry upstairs to Lope's master bedroom. Everything seems as it should be, mostly empty since you're traveling and like like the rest of you Lope didn't have room to bring much from Oppara. In addition to windows overlooking Stachys, there's a wide skylight which fills the room with daylight. This room is built on a grand scale with fifteen foot ceilings, there isn't any obvious way to get up there although you know there's a stairwell which leads to the roof. The roof door is barred from the inside with a pair of heavy iron rods.

Perception DC 25

Spoiler:
It was very faint, in fact you're surprised you heard it, but distinctly heard the faint scraping of a silken rope on the roof tiles.
[/ooc]


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

> So, would learning to fly the ship be a skillchip? Like Knowledge: Spaceship navigation, or Profession: Spaceship pilot?

Yes.

> and the 1/3 wealth by level limit is how much advanced tech we can individually have total,

Yes. The machines here can make anything in the technology guide (including non-implants like weapons) but to avoid all balance going out the window I'd like to limit what you can get to 1/3 WBL. In game we can say that there's only so much augmentation a body can safely take.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Kn: Nobility or Kn: Local DC 18:
The Kez Imperial State Crown is only worn on a handful of days each year. On other occasions it's usually on display behind glass in the Midderland Imperial Museum.

Let me know if there's any specific knowledge checks you'd like to make.


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

In principle everything from the technology guide up to 1/3 WBL is available.

Xindrya / Yukarii, you still here? :)

After a while Zedara realised she's ravenously hungry. The guardian remarks, "Ah yes I'm not surprised you're hungry, you've spent a. full day accessing the terminal, it's very easy to loose track of time. Anyway come with me we'll soon get you fed and watered."

He leads you a short distance to what turns out to be a cafeteria with comfortable bench seating set around an open plan kitchen with acres of brushed steel kitchen equipment. In some way this was familiar and others unlike anything you've seen before because despite there being no staff and no visible food The Guardian insisted it was still possible to get food, saying "Allow me to demonstrate." He walked over to the counter in front of the kitchen equipment where he took a plate and tray, and said, "A northern spiced chicken noodle soup please."

Suddenly an army of translucent disembodied chefs appeared, along with fresh ingredients on work tables where the meal was diligently and extremely quickly prepared. Likewise any meals you ask for are cooked to perfection.

Spellcraft DC 18:
Magical rather than technological, you think this cafeteria could easily feed hundreds of people every day. The chefs seem to be a specialization of the unseen servant spell, along with several powerful divination and summoning magics to fetch the ingredients. You speculate the enchantments are at least semi-sentient.


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps
Diana wrote:
"For example, did you know that, for a law dating back one thousand years, the treasure-trove law has been rarely enforced? I admit I am curious to hear what makes our guest so sure the amount can be classified as such, as the definition is so vague that it has been the subject of much discussion since its inception and is the reason the law has found little applicability since then."

Sir Gusairne glowered at this but behind him Lord Titus looked thoughtful.

Lope wrote:
"About the taxes. There are limits to the amount that can be demanded in taxes. And the three thousand asked for is a gross violation of those same limits. As a Lord of Meratt County, I am within my right to detain you for this crime"

Titus' eyebrows rose at this revelation and Sir Gusairne's face took on an ugly hue.

Diana wrote:
"The laws apply to everyone, Sir Gusairne. You cannot just choose to ignore part of them when it is convenient to you... Please help Lord Betony detain him. Lord Bartleby will have to be informed of Sir Guisarne's actions afterwards, of course."

Before anyone else could reply, you heard laughter from behind. Lord Titus had got off the chair and sounding highly amused he remarked, "Sounds like you've been a naughty boy Gussy! To think of that speech you gave me yesterday, sounding all righteous! You put me such a guilt trip to make me come. Ha! Well now, it seems this is your mess, you sort it out."

He made a motion with his head towards several of the men at arms who turned and left, suddenly Sir Gusairne's retinue was down to other rather nervous looking men at arms and a gaggle of lightly armed bean counters.

Sense Motive DC 20:
The two remaining men at arms, clearly don't like the situation but they seem to be loyal to Sir Gusairne. They come across as competent fighters so this could get ugly.

Sir Gusairne snarled "You've just made a grave mistake boy. One I will not forget!"

Turing to Lope he says pointedly, "You seem to be under the misapprehension that you have any power in this county. Meratt belongs to Count Lotheed, and you'd do well to remember that. Maybe you think you where the power lies but you've yet to meet the real count! No I'm not talking about the boy, I mean his grandfather. I don't think you'd like to meet him, no I don't think you'd like that at all... But don't take my word, ask her about her grandfather. And when you've come to your senses, I'll expect an apology and a suitable donation to the county treasury."

With that he turned to leave.

Diana:
You have of course know of your grandfather Panivar Grandfather Lotheed. You were presented to him once when you where little, to say he was scary is an understatement, he was able to read you like a book with his cold cold eyes. Your parents where scared stiff of him so it's understandable you still occasionally have nightmares to this day about the man. The only good thing you have to say about him is he's not been around for at least five, maybe ten years.

I'm out of time for posting now. I'll update Cyrene and the others tomorrow.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Cyrene:
If you can get away with that Cyrene I'd like to see it... Let's say you're hidden nearby and you haven't been noticed, yet.

The 'squire' finds a sturdy iron drain outside, going up the wall near the master bedroom. He carefully checks that nobody is watching and climbs up with the grace of a dancer. You know there's a skylight up the top in Lope's suite, maybe he's headed there.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

@Diana. Yes with a decent Kn: Local roll (DC 18 I'd say).


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

There's a lot of conversation, it's hard to weave this all into a coherent narrative.

When Triphylla accidentally on purpose spills her cereals, one of the men arms next to the bean counter with the book shouts, "Clumsy OAF!" and tries to clout her round the ear. But Triphylla is way too quick and he misses.

Unarmed: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18Non-lethal: 1d4 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7 <--- MISS

He looks at Sir Gusairne to see if he should pursue, but the senchel shakes his head, "She's not important."

Triphylla wrote:
"Indeed, and I expect that the total amount of loose coin is also enumerated in the official record. But oh, I don't suppose we'll recover that now. Perhaps you recall from memory the precise amount?"

The bean counter gave her an incredulous look, "What is she talking about? We came here to ensure this ahm Lord Betony, declares his find. If it's deemed to be treasure-trove which I expect it shall be, then the county is due 10%."

Kn: History or Local DC 22:
This actually IS a law dating back well over a thousand years. It's almost never enforced however, because the definition of what is and is not treasure trove is so ill-defined as to be virtually useless.

Triphylla wrote:
"Is the Baron even aware of your excursion?"

Sir Guiarne didn't bother to answer that, in fact he'd turned his back on Triphylla enturely.

Sense Motive DC 20:
You almost missed it, but this question surprised Lord Titus who was lounging in a chair he'd pull up to sit the wrong way around with the back between his legs. He gave Sir Guisarne a questioning look which the older man waved away. On balance you suspect that no, Count Bentony doesn't know about this excursion, and neither would he want to.

Triphylla wrote:
"Your personal appearance here may be interpreted as a neglect of your proper duties."

"You clearly have no idea what my duties are madame..." sneered Sir Guisarne dismissively.

Diana wrote:
"Your actions reflect on him, and so I expect not to see such carelessness in handling these matters in the future, so as not to bismirch his good name."

Rather crossly, Sir Guisarne retorts, "Let me get this straight, Lord Betony here intimidates Count Bartleby's tax collectors, interferes with their legal duties and forces them to leave without collecting the full amount due and you have the temerity to accuse me of bad manors?! They are here to ensure compliance with the law, nothing more, nothing less."

Sense Motive DC 22:
He comes across as angry, but he's enjoying this. A lot.

Behind him Lord Titus stifles a yawn, it is rather early after all.

Diana wrote:
"Please have someone bring us additional paper so we can continue."

Another beancounter pipes up, "We do have a backup ledger, which I trust nothing else is going to blot..."

Lope wrote:
"Can we settle things out Sir Guisarme."

With a tense smile that did not reach his eyes, Sir Guisarne replied, "Perhaps. What are you proposing? May I remind you the county needs you to declare how much coin you found in the Telus Hoard, and how much was sent in that chest the halfling spoke about."

Perception DC 16 for Cyrene:
The 'squire' seems a very slippery sort. They're skilled in moving unseen, and it takes you a few minutes to find them outside, discretely examining the walls and drain pipes etc as if planning a later burglary or perhaps murder.


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Re Skill Modules, Kn: Engineering DC 20:
You discover the flight deck has a dedicated cybernetics medical suite. You also find notes that explain not everybody is suited to every possible implant, it takes experience and fortitude to handle implants. There's a long list of cases where people who tried implants that where too much for them had terrible things happen to them. Still this sounds worth checking out. In game terms you can have up to 1/3 WBL in terms of implants of various types, in addition to any other items you might find.


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Zendara spends several hours making various basic queries. In the distant past there where many regional languages with a surprising variety of syntax, sound, rhythm and written representation if any. These were by and large replaced by Marin a constructed language for The Interstellar Commonwealth considered to be superior to everything that had gone before. "Written" Marin is fundamentally a binary language. Each symbol or glyph is a representation of a binary number or byte created by arranging the bits within a multi dimensional container. Different strata of Marin use different byte sizes, with a commensurate increase in the number of possible unique glyphs. Byte size, and the number of dimensions a glyph may be constructed in, are limited only by computational resources. In practice, the more complex strata of Marin - using very long bytes and multi-dimensional glyphs - are only used by and comprehensible to machine intelligences like Minds.

Before the sundering Oberon was a glittering jewel of a world, with sixteen billion sentient inhabitants from roughly forty intelligent races. Oberon was one of the founding worlds of The Interstellar Commonwealth a collective of worlds spread across the delta arm of the Eurbius Galaxy, connected by a vast network of portals. The Eurbius Galaxy contains a large number of planets, most of which are unsuited for habitation but a surprising number of the marginal ones were used to house vast factory cities.

The Commonwealth power network was regarded to be a marvel, zero-width super-conducting portals provided bulk interconnects, with the majority of power generation coming from a myriad of solar wells floating in the upper mantles of various stars. The truly prodigious quantities of energy these provided powered an amazing array of technology including some truly fearsome sounding energy weapons capable of distorting space time and scorching planets.

She finds another report describing how the defense network was compromised and turned against those it was supposed to protect when several of the controlling minds were suborned by the enemy. This wasn't supposed to have been possible because there were many levels of filtering and firewalls but the enemy was able to locally alter some of the rules of physics allowing intimate access to the minds multi-dimensional processing substrates.

The simulationist faction took this as a sign that the known universe was indeed a simulation. Others rejected this idea as being entirely fanciful, pointing out that the holy texts of Elodian and several other gods hinted that physical reality was created by sufficiently strong will. Essentially the gods had willed the universe to work in a particular way and so it did, implying that the enemy was indeed a god opposed to the pantheon. They further speculated that with sufficient understanding and willpower using something called a time crystal, would be possible to ward an area (perhaps even a very large area with sufficient power), stabilizing reality and preventing the enemy's manipulation.

This leads Zendara onto the Staff of Jhistal. Records relating to this where frustrating, fragmentary, even contradictory. For the most part it was deemed to be nothing more than a quaint artifact of a bygone age, however there where persistent rumours (usually deemed unreliable) of it having some strange properties. The wielder, by tradition the high Clerist of Elodin, was granted glimpses of what was, what is and what might be. What was known for certain was it was surprisingly heavy and it couldn't be transported via portal, or via teleportation magic. Several sages at the Idromass Institute (a prestigious university) believed the head piece which looked like a large quartz crystal, to actually be a time crystal surrounding a tiny vial of neutronium or anti-matter which explained the unusual mass.

After a bit more searching Zendara brought up news report from an agency called Interstellar Network News, which detailed a scandal at The high house of Elodin, which only came to light after the death of the then High Clerist one Nigel Flatley. It turned out that at some unknown point before High Clerist Flatley's death, person or persons unknown had tampered with the Staff of Jhistal, replacing the head stone for a very realistic fake one. Curiously this happened about one month before The Interstellar Commonwealth became aware of the enemy.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Yeah that's my headcanon for what happened here.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps
Triphylla wrote:
"Your arrival in person is completely unnecessary, for Lord Betony has already dispatched a carriage overnight with his tithe, direct to the Palace Birdsong."

"Has he now indeed..." Turning to one of his followers he said, "Festus, enter the ahm master chamberlain's words into the official record."

Lope wrote:
"I trust your visit is well motivated. Please, join us, and let us discuss these matters civilly."

Sir Gusairne's smile didn't quite reach his eyes, "Oh it's well motivated indeed, a shortfall of taxes from this district the sum of three thousand gold no less. It appears however you've had an opportunity to correct the balance, of course we need to make sure everything is just so. Trust but verify eh Bentony?"

Diana wrote:
"... and perhaps all this could have been avoided if you had chosen to be a bit more patient."

Sir Guisarne's eyebrows rose "All of what exactly Madame?"

Diana wrote:
"Given the unusual nature of this visit..."

To which Sir Guisarne retorted, "Given the welcome Lord Bentony gave my tax collectors as they went about their lawful duties, I think one can only call this prudent. Feel free to fetch one Abadar's adjudicators, this is Meratt county and the count has the legal right to impose taxes."

Kn: Local or History DC 20:
This is true, but there are limits to how much tax they can impose. Limits that are being ignored.

Diana wrote:
"And in the meantime you can clarify exactly to what windfall you are referring"

This earned a withering look from Sir Guisarne, "Let me refresh your memory, does a prince's ransom in loose coinage liberated from the webs in the Telus Estate ring a bell to you? We have half a dozen witnesses to this fact."


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

The next morning Sir Gul Gusairne's party arrives shortly after dawn banging on the door of the Bentony estate, demanding to see Lord Bentony. By the looks of it, he's brought a page, Lord Titus, a half dozen men at arms and other disreputable looking types in his retinue.

When somebody opened the door to see who was making all the racket, Sir Gusairne called out, "It is I, Sir Gusairne come to speak to Lord Bentony about taxes. Everyone must pay their due and I hear he's recently had a windfall."

Kn: Local DC 16:
Lord Titus's retinue includes a trio of mean looking tax-collectors.

Perception DC 25:
Sir Gusairne's page, ostensibly a young boy, catches your eye. Something about the fellow seems too worldly for a strapling, how did one so young get such world weary eyes? There was another small detail you noticed as you watched them dismount their horses, the lad's cloak brushed against something invisible at his side. From the outline of the cloak you could have sworn he was wearing a scabbard...


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

The Guardian led you through a maze of tunnels halls and corridors towards what was unmistakably a cathedral in the centre of the flying castle. Dedicated to Elodin with shrines to all the saints it had an air of quite watchfulness and reverence.

The Guardian didn't stop here, behind the main altar led you to a small and surprisingly Spartan lodging for the clergy. At the centre of this was a library set in a large airy room with oak panelled walls and green desk lamps. "There's a good number of physical book her, mostly covering theology as you might expect, although there's a selection of other texts ranging from historical to political science and medical texts. Still the vast bulk of the texts held here are virtual. Note the consoles in the booths, you can use those to access and search the catalogue."

Kn: Engineering DC 18:
You try a few queries which are entered with a curious rectangular device with lots of buttons in rows. Quickly you realise there are hundreds of thousands of documents in the main archive. There also appear to be several restricted archives.

Kn: Religion DC 20 to recognize the Skyweir Project (The Skyweir were a faction of Elodin's faithful interested in theoretical magic, metaphysics and planar travel) as one sounding promising. I'll let you know more if you make the rolls.

Let me know if there are any specific things you'd like to search for. You have access to effectively the Wikipedia of an advanced technological society at your fingertips. There might be all sorts of neat things that could be made if you can find a suitable printing shop with the right printstock.


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Ok cool. I think we'll play the sword by ear, sometimes it'll have things to add, and it has its own agenda.

Gonna give you all another day to plot before moving us forward.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Lope:
When you hold your family sword, something stirrs within your mind. You feel a presence and sense of something, someone, much diminished... A guttering flame that steadies in your hands, and builds up with layer upon layer of complexity and meaning and feeling and something that's almost language!

Diplomacy DC 18:
You ask around and it seems Sir Guisarne's entourage includes a dozen men, stored fighters all, including Lord Titus.


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Lope so your archetype is built around an intelligent sword... How do you want to deal with that?


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

The folk of New Town can scarce believe it, but Frater Mosle and several others arrived shortly after telling a story that was growing by the moment of how the poor monstrous baron was finally put to rest.

Talk of reclaiming Jambis was met with shrugs, "Too much history there. Jarl and I were thinking of taking your lordship up on your offer at Stachies. A new place, a new start. Worth a try eh? Better than moping around here for sure!" Several others agreed, and by the time the party left it was clear that many people where packing up, getting ready to move.

Several days later you arrived in Stachies to great acclaim. Word of your many exploits had spread far and wide, there was also a letter waiting from a grateful Lady Paril who complements you for rescuing Festo from the goldpepple snake. Apparently Festo asked to be reassigned to help modernize Stachys and start work on a temple to Abadar.

Festo’s hard work and spellcasting contribute 5,000 gp worth of town improvements, which can only be spent on a temple.

The general party mood is soured somewhat when Cyrene returns with a story, which puts in a rather different light the news that Sir Guisarne and entourage are en route to Stachies to for themselves what the Bentony Aire has made of the place.

He'll arrive tomorrow. It's currently mid morning. Cyrene this might be a good point for you to share what you learned.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

I'll move us forward tomorrow, it got a bit late tonight.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

The Guardian frowned, "A message from a transcended, most unusual. He's absolutely right I don't accept calls from minds, never did trust them. They're far smarter than us, they live longer than most of us, we are at best ants to them. The claim was they worked in our best interests, but how could you tell? How could one possible know what was really going on within their higher dimensional processors? This was not a common position I know, folk said I was paranoid. But look what happened, we found to our great cost they were near unstoppable... But whats all this about The Staff of Jhistal?! That's named after Jhistal the first High Clerist. It became the symbol of office for High Clerists. I've never heard of it having any particular powers although naturally it was enchanted."


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Yukarii:
You get a sense of regimented order from the room, and running your finger along the console you get a glimpse of generations of sailors manning the equipment. Certain seemed more popular and while you still don't know how to use it, you have an intuitive feeling for which functions and controls are most used.

This lets you give a +4 circumstance bonus to the next person who attempts the check. In practice that's Xindara.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

I'll get a post up tomorrow, anyone else going to try their luck with the dice bot? ;)


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Frater Mosle and several other men looked on with wide eyes. "Wow I'd forgotten there was quite so much." remarked Frater, "Wot'cha gonna do with all that? If you don't mind me asking..."

I've updated the quest log You've completed a bunch of quests, and opened up two new side quests in addition to the main quest:

Side quest: Drive the red mantis assassins away

Side quest: Deal with Sir Guisarne

Main quest: Win hearts and minds of local nobles and commons alike, to legitimise in their minds the eviction of Count Bartleby. NB legally it's legitimate anyway.

Let me know what your next steps are.


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Retcon: Triphylla Miss%: 1d100 ⇒ 26 <--- HIT

Triphylla squirmed as she was thrashed around by the spider. She tried really hard to land a blow but she couldn't score more than a glancing blow.

Lope found the spider was focused on it's meal and he by contrast had no trouble at all landing a telling blow! Valeria once more called forth the hungry darkness to feed on spider flesh. The spider seemed to resist this, but its wounds where significant and this was was enough to finish it off.

Will DC 17: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22 <--- PASS

Combat over.

You investigate what lurks within the webs, as well as a number of smaller spiders you find heaps of coins, seven bottles of ink, and a new leather logbook. 8,052 cp, 4514sp and 942 gp, 17 pp. There's an antique fluted suit of enchanted plate armor, two amethysts, a glass eye carved from moonstone, a set of cold cutlery bearing stylized griffon talons and an antique sword with a peculiar black metal blade and a basket hilt. Lope you recognize this immediately and something stirs within as you look at it.

Spellcraft DC 18:
This is +1 agile full plate.

Appraise DC 18:
The two amethysts are worth 50 gp each. The glass eye carved from moonstone is worth 65 gp, and the set of cold cutlery bearing stylized griffon talons is worth 500 gp as a set.

Perception DC 20:
Underneath a loose flagstone you find:
Spellcraft DC 18
Spoiler:
Serpentine Owl Figurine of Wondrous Power

* A cache of coins 344 gp
* A carved owl with a magical aura.
Spellcraft DC 20

Spoiler:
Serpentine Owl Figurine of Wondrous Power

* A signet ring with a magical aura.
Spellcraft DC 18
Spoiler:
Ring of protection +2

* A scroll with fancy looking calligraphy
Spellcraft DC 18
Spoiler:
A scroll of restoration

* A slightly chewed wand
Spellcraft DC 16
Spoiler:
A wand of cure light wounds with 43 charges.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps
Zendara wrote:
"Are these inactive portals? Where do they go?"

"Yes. They used to lead to all across the system, unfortunately the enemy made planar travel too dangerous to contemplate so the whole system was shut down. The first time that happened in centuries you know, caused utter havok." replied the Guardian in a very matter of fact way.

Kn: Engineering DC 20:
You'd need more time to be sure, but the portals all look in pristine condition. Perhaps they could be started up again?

Zendara wrote:
"This is... a ship... like a spaceship? Wow. Let me see if I can figure out these controls..."

Looking over the controls Zendara spots what she thinks might be the navigational helm, the controls look strange though - she doesn't have words for many of the things she's seeing.

The guardian smiled, "Indeed! There's uh, well I assume anyway there's text books or perhaps it was all done by holo. Wasn't really my department... Anyway we used have a flight school down on the hanger decks. Perhaps you might want to check there."

Xindara wrote:
"Intruiging, Gatekeeper. Would you mind if we try helping you understand the place's mysteries?"

The old man smiled, "The command deck was always something of mystery to me, but I'll try." He looked around and frowned at a blinking light on a console, "Oh! How peculiar it looks like communications system has a message queued up."

He tapped something complex into the keys before trying something else and giving up with a sigh, "It won't accept my access code..."

Kn: Engineering DC 25:
You start playing with the comms system and intuitively you understand some of its functions, the simple ones anyway. There's indeed a message queued but it has a biometric key - only the chosen person can access it but to authenticate you need to activate the biometric sensors which are turned off. Fortunately you stumble upon how to do this and you wave your hand in front of the sensor which glows green briefly. Then on top of the console a hologramatic image flickers into life accompanied by the crackle of radio static and... It's neat if you get this, and I'll tell you what happens next, but if you don't - don't worry!


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Triphylla ducks and tumbles past the spider's maw as she moves in and stabs her weapon through one of the spider's legs crippling it. Flavor text only!

With grim determination, Lope tried to pressed home his attack but while wounded, the spider was still dangerous and its carapace was very tough and his sword bounded off.

Valeria goes all in and once again summons the mist of darkness around her hand, and within unseen mouths eat away at the spider's innards. From the outside the spider seems to deflate and its empty shell crumples to the ground!

Valeria:
As you completed your spell you had the strangest feeling that something primal, something hungry, was pleased with you and wanted more.

Diana vanished as the remaining spider turned on the one that had wounded it. Nearly taller than Lope, it was child's play for the spider to grab hold of Triphylla as it's fangs injected poison. Triphylla felt the burn but fortunately no lethargy, yet...

Bite: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26Damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10 <--- HIT
Grab: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (18) + 14 = 32 <--- PASS
Triphylla: Poison: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 9 + 2 = 31 <--- PASS

STATUS: Round 1 wrote:

Environment: Webs are difficult terrain. Except near the glow stick, low light (20% miss chance)

Buffs and Debuffs:
---- Round 1 ----
Lope
Cyrene
Diana
Valeria Grappled (2 rounds)
Spiders Grappled (2 rounds)
Triphylla
---- Round 2 ----
Lope
Cyrene
Diana
Valeria Grappled (1 round)
Spiders Grappled (1 round)
Triphylla
Damage Log:
Round: 1
Red was hit by Lope for 13 (total damage taken 13)
Red was hit by Valeria for 14 (total damage taken 27)
Blue was hit by Triphylla for 13 (total damage taken 13)

Round: 2
Red was hit by Valeria for 15 (total damage taken 42)
Triphylla was hit by Red for 10 (total damage taken 10)

Totals:
Red: 42 damage
Blue: 13 damage
Triphylla: 10 damage


COMBAT ORDER:
Lope
Cyrene
Diana
Valeria
Spiders
Triphylla Grappled <----- WE ARE HERE

Triphylla, Lope, Cyrene, Diana and Valeria are up.


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Sorry for the delay!

Lope's sword burst into flame and it scored a deep sizzling line along the abdomen of the closest spider.

Just then Diana shouted something and the ground beneath the two big spiders became incredibly slippery. The spider Lope had just cut was off balance when the spell landed causing it to slide and fall over! The other spider had it many legs firmly planted and it seemed unaffected.

Red Reflex DC 16: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12 <--- FAIL
Blue Reflex DC 16: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21 <--- PASS

Just as the spider comes in, Valaria completes her spell and waves of darkness surround her had. She reaches out to touch the spider and it was as if something hungry was within the darkness, something that left terrible wounds when she pulled away.

Both of the spiders tried to attack Lope who was the closest target. The fallen spider came very close to clamping down upon his leg to inject its poison and if it hadn't been toppled it almost certainly would have done so. The other one tried to attack but it was hampered by the slippery ground.
Red: Bite Lope, prone: 1d20 + 8 - 2 ⇒ (16) + 8 - 2 = 22Damage: 1d8 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8 <---MISS
Blue: Bite Lope: 1d20 + 8 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 8 - 2 = 8Damage: 1d8 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10 <---MISS

STATUS: Round 1 wrote:

Environment: Webs are difficult terrain. Except near the glow stick, low light (20% miss chance)

Buffs and Debuffs:
---- Round 1 ----
Lope
Cyrene
Diana
Valeria
Spiders Sickened (2 rounds)
Triphylla
---- Round 2 ----
Lope
Cyrene
Diana
Valeria
Spiders Sickened (1 round)
Triphylla
Damage Log:
Round: 1
Red was hit by Lope for 13 (total damage taken 13)
Red was hit by Valeria for 14 (total damage taken 27)

Totals:
Red: 27 damage


COMBAT ORDER:
Lope
Cyrene
Diana
Valeria
Spiders
Triphylla <----- WE ARE HERE

Triphylla, Lope, Cyrene, Diana and Valeria are up.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

"My name..." he looked far away and seemed sad and in a tremulous voice he told you, "I gave that up when I chose to remain. I am simply the Gatekeeper of Elodon's Fastness now. And speaking of that, perhaps you should come in and take a look around."

He leads you inside and takes you on a tour. The fastness itself is an architectural marvel, the entrance hall has soaring vaulted ceilings perhaps eight stories high. There's a grand sweeping staircase at the end of a hall drenched with light from vast stained glass windows. The gatekeeper explained that windows where actually a technological marvel, a metal stronger and lighter than steel.

Branching off from the main hall where conference rooms, administrative centers, cafeterias, barracks, workshops, laboratories, worship rooms with shrines to each of the saints and more. Everything was spotlessly clean, although here and there you came across evidence of a hasty evacuation. Lost cloaks or books, and other various personal items from people over a millenia dead. It was kind of eerie, everything looked like the people who once lived and worked here had all gone out for lunch but apart from the Gatekeeper you were the only ones here.

Kn: Arcarna DC 20:
On the way you passed a small room next to empty guard points, filled with strange circular wheel like things taller than any of you, forged from some strange greyish metal. From the rune inscriptions you get the impression these are inactivated portals. Where they once lead to you can only guess.

He took you up towards the top of the building into the command area. You passed an increasingly large number of technological items on the way. You entered a room with wrap around windows full of inscrutable machinery. The gatekeeper told you sweeping his hand this way and that "So this is the bridge, from here it's possible to navigate to well pretty much anywhere, and to conduct a battle. The fastness has short range defensive weapon systems, although it always was more of a carrier than a battleship per se. Before you ask, I'm afraid I don't know how to use this equipment but I have a good idea of what it's capable of. I'll try my best to answer any questions yoy might have."

Kn: Engineering DC 20:
You get the distinct feeling that this building while clearly heavily enchanted is primarily a technological artifact, made by a very advanced society. You get the sneaking suspicion that not only is it capable of flight, it might not be limited to the atmosphere... The controls look complicated but you think with some study you might be able to use them.


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Meant to post tonight, but it got late. Will try to get a post up tomorrow.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Yeah think that's a wrap Cyrene. Feel free to insert yourself back into the party whenever.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Lope starts poking his sword into the thick webs, he brushes up against something that could be metallic. Before he could investigate any further, a pair of giant spiders descends from the ceiling on stands of thick, vaguely luminous silk!

Initiative rolls:

Diana: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18
Lope: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Triphylla: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Valeria: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Spiders: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15

STATUS: Round 1 wrote:

Environment: Webs are difficult terrain. Except near the glow stick, low light (20% miss chance)

Buffs and Debuffs:
---- Round 1 ----
Lope
Diana
Valeria
Spiders Sickened (2 rounds)
Triphylla
---- Round 2 ----
Lope
Diana
Valeria
Spiders Sickened (1 round)
Triphylla

COMBAT ORDER:
Lope <----- WE ARE HERE
Diana
Valeria
Spiders
Triphylla

Lope, Diana and Valeria are up.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Cyrene:
Cyrene wrote:
"I thought the legitimacy thing only applied to monarchs?"

She replied, "From what I gather that's true officially, unofficially it often extends to the aristocracy."

Cyrene wrote:
"But they don't have Voinum and de Vega as targets."

She looked thoughtful before replying, "You might be right, I hope you are. Have to admit I'm worried though, Sir Guirarne is the sort to hold a grudge, this might just have bought us time. Time I agree we should spend hunting them down. How about this, can you sneak into his office and gather any correspondence he might have or a diary perhaps. Yes it's foolish for him to have such correspondence but like many of us he is a creature of habit. Meanwhile I'll find out what I can from my end."


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Lope doesn't see much beyond the obvious, a thick dirty mass of overlapping webs.

OK are you going in?


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Not sure if there's a consensus yet on what to do. I don't think I'm giving much away by saying there'll be an encounter if Lope does poke his sword into the big mass of webs in the corner.


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

He brightened suddenly swelling with prdie as he said, "Oh! Welcome to the high house of Elodin the busiest place in Oberon!"

Then in a small voice he muttered, "Oh. Or at least it was before everything fell apart... It's hard to explain how much has been lost. This place was so busy, with delegations from every nation. How to explain it, yes this was the center for Elodin's faithful but it was more than that. At times it was a fortress, but it was a symbol of our civilization. They tried to destroy it you know, many times. In the end, when it was obvious the enemy had won, it was sealed away. To ride out the storm, to be there for future generations to rekindle hope when all seemed lost."

He looked far away for a moment before adding, "As for dragons I can't rightly say. Tex'urdal'nasla and Mishan'contrala usually keep themselves to themselves."


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Nobody has used any healing abilities so far, so I guess I'll hold off on ruling what happens when Lope investigates.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Cyrene:
She turned as you moved to kiss her cheek and there was a moment where it could have become something more, but it passed. She replied to your suggestion, "A generous offer. Normally I'd appreciate that, but there's something you don't know. I found this in the backpack of the assassin I killed. I thought she was free lance, it seems I was mistaken..."

She opens her pack and inside it you find a hideous red mask, one designed to make the wearer look like an insect. There was no mistaking which group of assassins this belongs to. She whispered softly, "This implies that they don't regard Lope or Voignum as legitimate which is interesting... I get the impression they had already had an agreement in principle, it's possible others will come. If so we need to make it clear to the local Vernai that the cost will be exorbitant if they make an issue of this. I'm not worried for myself, but they may be stubborn about Lope and the Baronness. Perhaps we should set a trap, what do you think?"

Lope wrote:
Have you happened to see a sword with a black metal edge, darker than the axiomites' smith where it was forged.

Frater replied, "Ah yeah... I think I might have seen that actually. Araig had us toss any valuables we ahm... found into this big spider's nest over the in the north eastern corner. There's actually quite a lot of stuff in there but none of us dare get close."

The webs do look very thick in that part, and they move occasionally as if something large was inside.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Thinking about her response, will post later!


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

A man behind the one who spoke pushed his way forward and rather stiffly he told, "I'm uh Master Frater Mosle. You killed my friend, or what was left of him. I uh... I uh suppose I ought to be glad it's over, watching my best friend slowly lose his mind has taken its toll. Now if you'll excuse us it's about time we went back to our families."

Diplomacy DC 20:
It took a bit of persuading, but you got the story out of Frater. He grew up with Araig, and while he knew the young baron could be arrogant and thoughtless, he got to see the noble’s curiosity, generosity, and ingenuity as well. Watching his friend lose himself and become a monster was very painful, and Frater hated that he couldn't can’t reverse the curse’s effect.

As for the curse itself, three old women knocked on the estate’s grand doors one stormy night a decade ago and asked for shelter from the driving rain. Araig ordered them to find an inn before slamming the door, unaware that the trio was the Sisters of Indulgent Dreams, night hags on their way to the Palace of Birdsong... The coven burst through the doors and declared that Baron Telus should have a form to match his verminous, lowly soul before disappearing back into the night. Araig thought little of the incident, unaware that the old women were anything but what they appeared, but over the coming weeks he grew increasingly disturbed: hiding in corners, chewing at insects, and becoming obsessed with weaving. Those servants who could left, and those who could not did everything they could to appease their increasingly eccentric master. After a year, Araig’s skin began to slough off, revealing, bruised, stubbly flesh and claws beneath, beginning his transformation from handsome human baron into a prince of spiders.

With the largely modular, independent nature of local rules and the death of Allis Betony—Araig’s only attending lord—no one in the county beyond his servants realize what Baron Telus has become. Even the citizens of Jambis know only that their lord became some sort of monster after crossing a witch—and having heard the tale second- or thirdhand, most of them believe it to be but an allegory describing a man losing his sanity.

Those close servants who remained became Araig's jailors, and eventually bandits of sorts who tried to balance protecting the world from their master and themselves from Araig's incessant demands for treasure.


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

The AP provides a nice sandbox, so how you want to deal with the threat of assassins is up to you. Looking forward to see if you'll take a reactive or proactive approach!


Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

I'll post an update later Cyrene. Would be good to get the party to link up for the next bit, I suspect your counter espionage skills will be needed.


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

Tried to post last night but was getting errors from the website.

Valeria attacks the baron's mind, hoping to make him stutter and stumble any spell casting. This should have worked but the extensive mutations made his mind surprisingly alien and Valeria's thrust recoiled in horror at what she glimpsed within.

Will DC 16 (with riving strike debuff): 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (17) + 10 - 2 = 25 <--- PASS

Lope opted for a more direct approach, charging his blade with crawling lightnings of his own. He went into thrust but the baron contemptuously batted his blade aside with a claw like arm.
Blur Miss%: 1d100 ⇒ 58 <--- HIT (but misses due to AC)

Succumbing to bloodlust, Triphylla went full beast mode. Making her fingers into a knife edge, she slammed her right hand in between his ribs, using the leverage this gave her, she forced her left hand up into an eye socket. Finally she pulled herself up and chomped down on his throat, savaging it like a wild animal as greenish blood sprayed everywhere!
Blur Miss%: 1d100 ⇒ 78 <--- HIT
Blur Miss%: 1d100 ⇒ 79 <--- HIT
Blur Miss%: 1d100 ⇒ 47 <--- HIT

COMBAT OVER

Loot:
A battered crown with a red gem: Spellcraft DC 21
Spoiler:
It's a Minor crown of blasting.

A filthy cloak with golden thread that needs a thorough scrubbing before anyone with a ounce of self respect would do it. Spellcraft DC 21

Spoiler:
It's a cloak of resistance +2.

The baron also wore the House Telus signet ring, which isn't magical but could potentially be valuable. Appraise DC 18

Spoiler:
Worth 500 gp to a collector.

You notice a door to the west has opened and just outside a small crowd of disreputable looking men stare at the spectacle in disbelief. One of them points and cries, "They've slain the beast! Perhaps we can go home now!?"


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Palace of Birdsong| Shards of Oberon map | War for the crown maps

The man looked rather distant for a moment before replying "Ah yes! That's it, I knew I wouldn't forget, although it has been such a long time. Sorry I'm babbling. The prophecy was 'That which was closed shall be opened, that which lost shall be found, that which was sundered shall be reforged anew. Look for the ones that open the way on the day of the winter solstice. They shall be ladies three, and a gentleman ratfolk, scholars all.'"

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