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”Just a few minutes ago?! We need to find this rat or more importantly his master! ”In the meantime, don’t worry you are not going insane. You have been ensorceled and compelled to act against your will. So it is not your fault that we’ve been betrayed, but now we need to do damage control. So it is very important that you tell us what have you told the Dottari about us already. We can still turn this to our advantage.”
Pharast 16th, later Later that day, Declan made his way across the greens to the Sarini estate. Seeing their butler answer their door, he immediately fell into old habits, "Good to see you, Baxter! It has been far too long! You are looking well. My compliments to Mrs. Parsons, and to Countess Sarini of course, as she is keeping this house all too well!"
"If only this visit were for a more pleasant occasion. I have heard the news of master Chaunceworth's dreadful accident. I can't imagine he is in the best spirits today. I only hope that you have not fallen victim to his temper. As a matter of fact, I come bearing gifts from Lord Tanessen to cheer him up." Declan flung open the door to Chaunceworth's room after being shown to it, exclaiming "Chauncey, old boy! Wake up! The greatest of all your chums is here! Upon first sight of his face though he gasped loudly. "You poor, poor thing. Just look at you. I cannot believe those ruffians would assault such a defenseless creature. They clearly have no respect for the aristocracy. Well rest assured that the Tanessen family has not forgotten you." Declan produced a single scroll, the other safely stored with Jeeves. "A gift from father. This contains two incantations, written in my father's own hand, to help hide that hideous face they've cursed you with. May these help you keep a stiff upper lip and soldier on, without embarrassment to your family name."
Pharast 16th Declan could not have concealed his wide-eyed wonder at his family's treasures even if he wanted to. He had been certain that his distant memory of visiting his father's glorious Arcanarium as a young boy could not be accurate. Yet if anything his memories did not do the place justice, or the collection had improved significantly in the last decade. His mind raced with ideas of robbing the place blind, and while the challenge should have deterred him, the thought that did deter him was that it would most likely require harming poor Crakehall to gain access, and certainly would lead to him being blamed when the theft was discovered. Declan approached the podium and pored over the book in detail, making a mental note of all that it catalogued. Afterwards, he wandered a bit like he was in a museum. "I think I still remember some of my schooling. May I examine some of these?"
Once Crakehall indicated he was beginning to overstay his welcome, Declan sighed contentedly and smiled warmly at his father's valet. "Thank you, Crakehall. I greatly appreciate you indulging me. You have reminded a lost son of what could have been. Alas, someday perhaps I can climb back into father's good graces, but I fear I have squandered those chances. Nonetheless, I mustn't tarry any longer if I am to get these scrolls where they are needed. Good day to you!"
How have I forgotten about Father's cache down here?! What a treasure trove! I am sure he wouldn't mind if I borrowed a few things. I am sure it will all be part of my inheritance someday afterall. "Wow, it has been too long since I have had a peek at father's index. Would you indulge a curious boy?"
Declan made his way down to the servants quarters where he knocked on the door to Crakehall's office. He had spent much of time growing up 'below stairs'. Not that he realized it consciously, but he sought out their attention and approval when he found his father's lacking. Some certainly were annoyed by his presence, and some found it rather inappropriate, but he usually charmed his way into everyone's good graces eventually. "Good morning, Creeky! How are those old knees treating you today? I trust that ointment I procured for you is helping?"
"I couldn't help overhearing father burdening you with an extra task today. I'd planned to pay my old friend Chaunceworth a visit today anyway, so I would be happy to save you a trip and deliver those scrolls for you."
All it took was hearing Collins laugh to soften Declan. It really had been too long since he spent time with him. It didn't take long before he was laughing along with him, not in his usual constrained chuckle, but in deep belly laughs. "Pink sheen of a worm? Okay that is perfect! Shame to hear about the loss of your men, and honestly it is a shame to hear about the death of more of our citizens, even treasonous ones. The route that our Lord Mayor has taken certainly is a bloody one. It undoubtedly seems like there must be a diplomatic solution somewhere. Then again that would require Barzilai to compromise."
Declan let that thought hang for a moment and then cleared his throat. "Forgive me, brother. I let emotion get the better of me there. It is surely foolish to say such disloyal things to a member of the Chelish Citizens Group--even if he is my big brother!" he laughed and joined his brother for a glass of wine. "You ask what I have been doing? Well I guess I have been spending too much time in taverns, hearing the sob stories of the common folk whining that they're being persecuted," he laughed and refilled Collin's glass while he carefully took small sips of his own. "In fact I tried to offer my help to Padraig for the Dottari to act as a pair of eyes and ears among the people, as well as making sure that our side, as the ruling aristocracy, is heard. Alas, father forbid it apparently on the grounds that I still dine at his table. As if he truly wants me out there seeking lodging at a time like this?" After refilling Collin's glass again, he adopted a slight slur to his words "So it s-sounds like Padraig and this Egregious fellow are calling the shots? Aren't you the big brother? The elder member of the elder family? S-seems to me like they oughtta be lis-stening to you! If they are so sure this professor is guilty why leave her on the streets? Ugh! Do you remember playing chess with Padraig? He would take sooo long to take his turns and would never seem to go on offense. He'd just spend all his time creating these elaborate traps. Ugh, it was exhausting!" Declan said, rolling his eyes.
Declan was rather annoyed at the interruption to his conversation with his father, especially as he was denied even the opportunity to respond to his belittlement at his father's hands. It took him a moment to even process his brother's question. "What? Oh, yes. He's perturbed alright." He raised his voice pointedly, "Your colleague--Egregious is it?--certainly committed quite the faux pas. Someone should remind him it is not wise to interrupt his betters. Father was dangerously close there to expressing open anger." Declan chuckled before sighing and continuing as he walked with his brother through the halls of Tanessen Manor, "As usual he is disappointed in yours truly. However now that you mention it, I couldn't help noticing that his disappointment seemed to actually deepen upon Old Creeky's announcement of your arrival. If I didn't know better, I'd say that father dearest does not approve of something you are up to." While Collin was surely not cruel like his other brother, father's approval--and attention--always seemed to come so easy to him, so seeing it withheld gave Declan real satisfaction. After allowing himself that momentary pleasure, he refocused on the task at hand, and played the supportive younger brother, "I apologize, that was unkind. You'll have to forgive me feeling a bit of camaraderie at sharing with you, father's disfavor. However, while I may be a lost cause, you certainly are not. Perhaps I can help." Jeeves interjected, "But Master how can you help? You know nothing of master Collin's activities of late and--" "That's enough! Declan silenced him with a glare, before sighing and continuing with Collin. "Unfortunately my presumptuous manservant is correct, I am not in the know, as it were, of your activities of late, so I cannot speculate on which might be troubling father. But that just means that the two of us have some catching up to do!" Declan said returning his brother's clap on the back from earlier (with all the strength he could muster) with a big smile, "What has my big brother been up to? Spare no grizzly detail!" "Did I hear correctly earlier? Old Chauncey took a bottled torch to the face, eh? Perhaps he will finally reevaluate that high opinion he has of himself." Declan laughed before shaking his head and continuing on a more somber note, "Alas, I shouldn't laugh as our city rends itself. I trust at least that you have the culprits in custody?"
downtime for Pharast 14th (the morning after my conversation with Padraig): Declan was in a particularly feisty mood that morning when he came down for breakfast. He pointedly chewed his food loudly and repeatedly cleared his throat until finally his father looked up from his morning paper at which point he launched into a rant, seemingly already mid-conversation, "So I finally decide to do something myself about this rebellion nonsense, and Padraig tells me that you've forbidden it! Forbidden? What am I twelve? You have no complaints about Padraig and Collin wading into melee with the unwashed, yet I am not permitted to work on public relations? You know there is no one who could better sway the masses than I! You know I can take care of myself, especially with this lout," he said with a gesture at Jeeves standing behind him, "looking after my person. So why hold me back?" After a moment's hesitation, he added one last barb, "Mother would never stand for this."
The discussion board seems like a good place for this. I think it is worth planning a bit as to how we want to grow our rebellion teams. From the Player's Guide we know there are 4 basic categories of teams we can recruit (Advisors, Outlaws, Rebels, and Traders). We currently have level 1 Advisors (Street Performers), and level 2 Rebels (Infiltrators). I think we should recruit Outlaws to get Sneaks. Sneaks would allow us to take the Secure Cache action, which basically just lets us hide some of our gear around the city. This seems to be most helpful once the city starts cracking down on weapons so we can hide some around the city. However once upgraded Sneaks become Thieves and that allows us to take the Activate Safe House action, which gives us another hideout to stash people we've rescued and gives us passive bonuses to Security checks! Later on once we can upgrade them to level 3 they can become Saboteurs (which give us +2 to all Organization rolls for a week and reduce Notoriety by 2d6!), or Spies (which we can combine with other actions to increase their chances of success and reduce their Notoriety increases). They seem far better than Rumormongers (the upgrade to our street performers). Otherwise I think it is worth considering upgrading our Infiltrators to Spellcasters. It costs 1000gp, which I know is expensive but I wouldn't be surprised if we have that much left over after everyone spends what they can of the loot we just got. Spellcasters let us take the Restore Character action, which can do 1 of 3 powerful things: fully heal the party, full heal the party of ability damage, or cast Dispel Magic, Remove Blindness/Deafness, Remove Disease, or Remove Paralysis. Plus for a gp cost they can cast Break Enchantment, Raise Dead, Restoration, or Stone to Flesh. Currently we can't do these things as PCs, so being able to do so early seems awfully cheap for just a 1000gp investment.
Hey Kal, I think you are off on the sell value of the arcane lock scroll. A 2nd level wizard scroll would be 150gp to buy, so 75gp to sell. (BTW I think we should sell it) In fact, I really think other than one of the bows and the +1 chain for Rathgur, and the CMW potion of course, I think we can probably safely sell the rest. By my accounting, selling the feather token, arcane lock scroll, bow, 2 spears, 3 maces, shield, 4 studded leathers, 4 shortswords, 4 daggers, the carnelion, the jewelry, and the 3 doses of shiver, would net us 2281gp. If we also sell Rath's old scale mail and composite shortbow (Str 12) that is another 100gp. Added to the current cash in our coffers, that puts us at 2991gp or 427gp apiece when split 7 ways. (there are also 6 sp and 2 cp leftover, but I assume it is safe to just leave that in party treasure)
Declan looked back at the door and wished they’d closed it behind them. Although with that scoundrel blasting away with his hand-cannon who knows if it would have mattered. I’d better hurry this along. He uttered a quick arcane phrase and with a flick of his wrist attempted to distract the dwarf. He whispered to Huck, ”I think we ain’t got time to tinker with them locks on the cells. Can ya blast ‘em open?”
Disappointed that this time their trap didn't work, Declan moved up alongside these strange new friends of his that seem all too willing to rush headlong into danger. With a pat on the back and a quick incantation, he bestowed some luck on the perpetually angry tiefling. Then he decided to taunt the guards a bit. "Well I'll be! They seems to be a-feared of us. Ain't that some'n."
Declan replied again in his exaggerated impersonation of Huck's accent, "Not sure who this 'Deck' feller is, but ya seem to be addressin' ole Bob here. I beg yer pardon if'n my suggestion of not alertin' the whole neighborhood of our misdeeds weren't welcome, but I think you cain't argue with the benefits," he continued with a gesture towards the valuables they'd secured. With that, he stepped back out onto the street to keep watch, as Jeeves reentered the barracks having been summoned to load his pack with the ill-gotten gains. Finally this venture seems to have turned a bit of a profit!
After a lengthy discussion of plotting and planning out the assault, Declan led the merry band of rebels on what had to be his most treasonous act to date. That this followed his recent spat with family was of course coincidental. They took advantage of the hidden port in The Nest to launch a small boat and paddled their way up river to the Old Harbor, just outside the Western wall surrounding Old Kintargo. Upon arrival, the adventurers split up somewhat to attract less attention. The halflings, Dyst and Lily, took the lead as certainly the stealthiest of their group. Leila, Rathgur, Huck and Jeeves followed a ways behind, taking to the alleys to hide their approach as best they could. Declan made no effort to hide his presence, instead simply acting nonchalantly as a citizen passing through the area, stopping once he could see the entrances to the main building of the Sallix Salt Works and the outbuilding identified as a barracks by the Fushi sisters. The plan was to watch for the patrol that they were warned about, and after it got a safe distance away, they would approach the barracks building stealthily.
"I can't rest easy. That's my whole point. This gods damned city is coming apart at the seams with peasants taking to the streets with torches and... and... that over-sized fork thing the groundskeepers use? You know what I mean. Schemers? You make it sound like some carefully orchestrated plot! It is nothing but a bunch of ungrateful commoners trying to claim they can run this city better than those of us bred to rule for generations. How hard can it be to lock up the rabble that marches through our streets? Now I hear that there is some scar-faced woman branding good, law-abiding citizens, and the people hold her up like some kind of folk hero? I am hearing a lot of 'we've got it under control' and 'don't worry' but I am not hearing much in the way of actual measures being taken to counteract this threat--from you or the town gossips. In the eyes of the public, we are losing this damn war, brother. We need to correct our public relations problem. You know I'll never swing a sword for this cause, but let me do what I do best: sway the weak-minded. Give me some seeds to plant in the taverns and the brothels, to show that our city is not at the mercy of these brigands!"
Declan opted to part ways at this point as well. He needed to find somewhere to change out of his wet clothes back into something respectable and then head home for a nice warm bath. After that, he head back into town to get a drink and ask around about this Creeley character.
downtime for Pharast 13th: Declan spent the day following the death of one of their followers, not somber, but concerned. He didn't like the idea of someone knowing where he hid away to commit treason. He needed to know if loyalist forces were closing in on them. He decided he needed to speak to his Dottari brother to see what he knew. This time he figured he'd try to return the favor and catch Padraig off guard on his return home.
"Well you look tired. Still an uphill climb to quash this rebellion? I thought you had all of this well in hand, and yet the rumor mills are a buzz all over the city with new enemies at our gates everyday. Perhaps the confidence in you was misplaced."
"What the--!" was all that Declan could manage before he landed in the pool with a splash. The things I endure for these dogooders!
Declan floundered in the water and gulped far more of it down than is strictly healthy, but did eventually pull himself ashore after a lot of effort. Meanwhile his remaining infernal minion continued to harass the fleeing guard and dog with beak and claw as they beat their retreat. But on its own without back up, the bird was a minimal threat. With a cough Declan spat, "Well that was unpleasant. I think it is time we make a hasty retreat of our own," he continued with a glance up to the Opera House to see if the Lord Mayor was enjoying the performance. "Someone grab those poor souls we just saved. I can throw up a smoke screen if that would help cover our escape."
As the mastiff chomped down on one of Declan’s infernal eagles and began to shake it vigorously in its mouth, it quickly found it only had a mouthful of soot.
if purple tries to move away: Declan clutched desperately at the guard’s cloak, “You’re not leaving me are you? Don’t leave me! They’re comin’ right at us!”
Declan flinched away from the zealous guard. ”Golly! What’re ya doing?! I’m a good devil-fearin’ citizen dammit! Attack the rebels, not me!”
Seeing Chauncey and company in retreat he stifled another smile. Good! Huck’s anarchist pals needed a win. Of course this just means that House Thrune is going to come down hard. Meanwhile his minions continued to tear into their new prey, the snarling, blind mastiff. for damage
for damage
If the bluff fails:
Seeing the ruse is futile, Declan decided it was best tool press the attack instead. He summoned new eagles to flank his aggressor, causing the previous infernal creatures to abandon their hopes of attaining Declan’s soul and return to their plane in a puff of black smoke.
for damage
If the bluff succeeds: To help sell the con, Declan took shelter behind the guard and raised his hands to shield his face and shrunk away from the encroaching rebels.
Declan allowed himself a small smile as Huck's blast finished off the misguided bigot his eagles had torn apart. But he caught two wicked hits on Dyst across the pool and decided they could use a little assist. He concentrated for a moment and then channeled that part of him that was good, but still rather fey. The area surrounding the mastiff and two militia suddenly burst with twinkling color. He knew its goodness would provoke the birds of prey he'd beckoned, and sure enough a moment later they streaked across the pool with a blood curdling shriek, talons bared. Then he let out a shriek of his own, "Blazin' hellfire! We are all gonna die. Protect me!" he cried as he hustled around behind the nearby addle-brained militiaman.
for damage for damage
Declan looked longingly at the melee surrounding ole Chauncey. Damn. I would have liked to be involved in taking that fool down a peg. Ah well. Plenty to do here. He smiled and stroked his chin thinking, Hmm, I wonder if I should sell my soul... On cue, the familiar fiery rift opened at the feet of one of the militia members and a flight of infernal birds screeched forth with smoke trailing off of their wings. A moment later they tore into his flesh with beak and talons.
for damage
for damage
"Tarnation! Look out! Asmodeus done sent devils ta kill us!"
”Bob Tanner’s the name,” Declan said with a quick vigorous handshake, ”I cain’t say I ever made yer acquaintance before. This is a foul site ta see, that’s fer sure! I hate ta say it, but someone oughtta teach them jackals a lesson.” Declan looked around to see what other threats they needed to worry about and to see if his allies were in place. We will need to end this quickly and decisively.
Realizing that someone had been inside their secret hideout and sabotaged it was not sitting well with Declan. I will have to be very careful not to let my guise slip and should limit the time I spend here. His next thought he decided to share with the group in a hushed whisper, "It is interesting that whoever our saboteur is, they opted for this relatively minor booby trap attack. Why not run to the Dottari? The saboteur must either not want the attention that would bring, or perhaps not even be aware of that as an option. If this chisel were meant for smaller hands I would suspect another mischevious fey creature like the tooth faeries who simply didn't like us in their lair or something, or dare I say it, perhaps even our gracious host who'd developed second thoughts about harboring fugitives. But these tools seem to be meant for human-sized hands. Laria said she used to use this dock for smuggling. Perhaps someone else used it for similar 'less than legal' purposes and would like us out of the way so they can resume their business? Curious."
"Huck and Lily, I believe you are the point of contact for the Fushi sisters and the Street Performers, respectively. Why don't you each reach out to your group and get them started on casing the prison? We are going to need to get an idea of the best point of entry and exit--ideally an underground access point, where inside the prisoners are located, a good escape route either back here or preferably to another hideout where they can lay low, and of course the number of patrols--and their schedules if possible!" Then Declan pointedly unstraightened his clothes, roughed up his hair and took on a slight hunch as he continued, now in his best impression of Huck's accent, "I dunno about this 'Dec' guy, but ole' Bob Tanner has a hankerin' for a bar fight!"
"Good to see you again, Rexus. How's life on the lam treating you? I trust that Laria is taking good care of you here. So Jackdaw, eh? Perhaps we should start incorporating her tale into the message we are putting on the streets of this fledgling rebellion. Perhaps we could even refer to Lily here as the second coming of Jackdaw, as a freedom-fighting priestess of Milani herself," Declan said with a wink to Lily, "The people love a good narrative. Speaking of the word on the street, I am impressed and gladdened to hear that word has already made it back to you of our good deeds last night. I feel like we are starting to get some momentum going here! Although I fear that retribution from House Thrune is looming on the horizon, so we should certainly tread carefully." "To answer your question, we have a couple of options. First, we have been hearing rumors of the jailhouses being so overrun that the Dottari has taking to using the Sallix Salt Works as a makeshift prison. To me that sounds like a ripe target. The building was obviously not intended to be used as a prison, so its defenses should be limited. Plus it is located in Old Kintargo, where the Dottari presence seems weaker for now. Second, old Clenchjaws seems to be on the cusp of being shutdown by the Dottari thanks to a lot of recent fights and generally high tension over there. If there are indeed a good number of those friendly to our cause, it could make for excellent recruitment, but we will need to calm things down before they get themselves tossed into the aforementioned salt works." "Personally my vote would be to do some research into just what kind of opposition we would likely face at Sallix, while we tackle the unruly bar patrons at Clenchjaws. Then, once we can properly prepare, we can assault the prison. But that's just my take. I have no doubt that Mr. LeBerry will happily champion the opposite of any suggestion I make."
Completely ignoring Huck, Declan commented, "From these writings, it appears that this ritual wasn't done by the fey. This was done intentionally by some unknown third party to summon these fey here. And it also binds them to a relatively small area, so this was intended to terrorize this neighborhood. So we may have stopped the tooth fairy threat for now, but we have yet to discover the true culprit that started this. In the meantime we should celebrate this small victory and bring the remains of this poor child to Zea, Arathi, and the rest of the Cloven Hoof Society. Some poor soul I am sure would like to bury their child." With a gesture he instructed Jeeves to pick up and carry the child's body, after which he placed his cloak over the corpse respectfully. "Lily, my dear, would you mind tending to the wounded? Those nasty creatures certainly left their mark on us and we should be at full strength before venturing back out. It is after curfew so another encounter with the Dottari is possible. I think my injury is minor enough that it can be ignored but my manservant here on the other hand should probably not be actively be bleeding when we present the dearly departed."
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