"The issue being him becoming a liability," Dev adds, appearing on the other side of Digger. "Additionally, we still need to identify the packet Jake was attempting to conceal. Hezek is, unfortunately, not an option."
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Dev leaves the area, having spent more time than he wished and not wanting to draw attention to himself. He feels the others may have finished eating and can only think that it is a good thing he needs little in the way of sustenance. He meets with Drewan and informs him of what he found. "His fate is uncertain, but it is best to assume he is lost. I recommend having those disguised in the city guard to inquire into the incident. "Additionally, that means I was unable to have the contents of the packet identified. I do not know of anywhere else in this city I can do so discreetly. The only ones I know are the Fizzwinkles, but you know this city better than I."
Dev attempts to ask some passers-by on what happened, conversing in a casual but curious manner.
The long time between posts is heck on my memory, so I'll try to repeat what's going on and what we're supposed to do. This is the message we've received from our superiors, just to get the larger point of view: Denath's Message:
The Thran's have taken Gumlat. They attacked this morning coming from the cover of the woods, about 200 strong. More than than enough to cow the local guards and militia. More Thran troops are arriving by the hour though. Estimate they will be about a thousand strong by day's end.
While I'm less than happy to see Gumlat under their control this is a mixed blessing for our cause. The mages will no doubt respond with force, but that means a long supply line from Coran to Gumlat. The longer this incident drags out the better. You should consider any or all of the following. There is a woman, Taia, who works at The Barrels Bottom that can assist you with getting additional resources if you need them for any of these tasks you decide to take on. Capture, blackmail, bribe, or otherwise remove the bureaucrats who manage the logistics of maintaining the supply wagons leaving the city. Break into the warehouses, especially those with supplies they will need to maintain an army, or burn them down. Convince the merchant's guild to increase the prices of such goods. Disrupt operations at the docks to slow down the movement of goods into or out of the city by sea. Seek out those who are disgruntled with the government in the taverns or poorer sections of town and recruit them to our cause. - Captain Denath So far, we've sabotaged some wagons. Yabel, bureaucrat of Tiny Town, has been talked to by Digger and is leaning on helping us waylay more supplies from the front lines. We have yet to do this, I think: Yabel's Mission:
Yabel comes down in half an hour with several sheets of paper in hand. "I have what you need here Master Hiram. Let me see you to the door." He waits for Digger to join him in heading towards the exit he speaks quietly, "The seal needs to be placed here." He points at the bottom of a sheet of paper filled about two thirds with neat lines of writing. Then pointing to a blank spot in the writing about the middle of the page, "You'll need to fill in the exact cargo manifest numbers here and deliver it the originating office. I'll have someone waiting for the delivery in the slums location indicated." He stops at the door and more loudly states, "Don't hesitate to come see me again if there is anything else I can help you out with Hiram." We need Bela or Garing's seal for that and deliver it appropriately. When we're done, we can safely say we've diverted enough supplies for chaos. (Will need to check through the rumor mill and such if we've succeeded, I think.) On Bela and Garing:
Bela and Garing are underlings of Denath. Bela handles a lot of the administrative paperwork for the guards in the dregs section of town, seeing to their pay and supplies, while Garing primarily oversees tax collection in that same neighborhood. Both are mid level bureaucrats. Bela is our target for getting the forgery of her signature on the document to move supplies to Tiny Town. To this end, Jake, Digger, and Kit have employed themselves in the guard of the dregs section. Double purpose here, to both sully the name of the guards and to get closer to Bela. Since then, a report that a wagon is set on fire in the slums with people in it sent Sergeant Hamil with our temp guards to the alleys. The wagon was filled with skeletons (dwarves most likely) and bricks. The bricks led us to the quarry. There we met Elia who is in charge of the operations who we suspect of being the cause of Jake's sudden weirdness (and may be connected to the Tower). Now we have to deal with Jake/Elia first since it puts our entire operation in jeopardy. We also find out that "The papers indicate a bill of sale for a large quantity of stone to be used in the construction of a new building in tiny town, to hold several administrative offices, a guard house, and several holding cells." and "The documents are signed by none other than Yabel, from tiny town, with his seal affixed." Yabel is our contact in Tiny Town and may be of aid to us here to confirm information and to find out anything more, though we need to use Digger for that since he's the face we're using for talking to him. Our main objective is to disrupt the movement of goods. Secondary objectives are to recruit to our cause, raise chaos in the city, and soil the name of the guards. So far we're doing good progress on redirecting supplies. We've sabotaged some wagons also. We need to work on the ships. Recruitment I'll leave to our face characters.
"Drewan," Dev messages after he talks to Kit. "Hand me the packet. I'll meet Hezek to identify what it is.
Dev remains near Elia and the group, ready to take action if needed.
Dev follows the group from a distance, keeping to the sides of the buildings.
Dev pulls his hood down low and hides himself in the shadows of the homes.
Before Drewan leaves, Dev casts Message on him, allowing communication. He stays at his current position, maintaining the distance of 100' and following only if they get out of range.
"Possibly an enchantment," Dev says after a moment of thought, "but it seems like a powerful one. I don't think we should act without further information. Can you make out what they're saying? I recommend we meet them at first opportunity, but keep an eye on Jake until then."
Dev makes wonderful progress with his wooden sculpture while he and Drewan keep a lookout, hiding in the nearby cluster of houses.
I'm assuming Drewan and I are still shadowing them. However, is there still enough cover for Drewan to hide behind? Dev may have to wait some distance away considering his lacking stealth bonus.
I can attest to Drewan's lurking capabilities. Just look at that stealth bonus.
I am! The story isn't focusing on me or Drewan at the moment, so we have to leave it up to you face people.
Dev clumsily follows Drewan on the rooftops.
We're kind of just being voyeurs at this point. We're just watching!
Glad to hear you did, GM!
Dev works on a newer sculpture while waiting with Drewan, trusting the catfolk to alert him if anything happens. His newest sculpture seems to be of a catfolk though one with horns, fangs, and other aberrant add-ons.
Good to hear, GM! Congratulations. And Dev won't be going with to the grounds, which is why I'm silent. Not exactly discreet or inconspicuous, him. Still thinking of anything else to do.
Dev closes the door after he enters and locks it. He peers out of the window, eyes blinking slowly as he stares into the haze of the night before putting down his hood. He steeples his hands in the air. His mouth forms familiar words, his tongue rasping alien syllables as a symbol on his forehead begins to glow.
Dev glances around and then checks for a window.
Dev takes the key and enters the specified third door on the right.
Dev inquires after a room after knowing that one of his group has confirmed his arrival.
Dev winds his way through alleys to lose any pursuers before walking to the Silver Spirits to wait for the others.
Dev continues to flee, not stopping for anything.
Dev begins to run to the right.
Dev discreetly climbs out the window, heading his own way into the alleys.
Dev looks uncertain on how to ac but hears the sudden change in weather. "It rains. I doubt the supplies will move, so we can rest for tonight."
Dev wraps up their discussion before Kit arrives. "So we're agreed on moving on from The Crow at the first sign of trouble. Bela is our target for getting the forgery of her signature on the document to move supplies to Tiny Town. We'll leave how to Digger and Jake." He gestures to them. "Drewan and I will assist in whatever manner required. And who is this . . . Kit?" Dev seems confused on her arrival.
A few moments after the knock, Dev rises and unlocks the door, peering out just in time to see the catfolk disappear back into the bar. He turns to the others. "It seems your catfolk friend is here."
Apologies! Thought someone else would answer. Dev isn't the best person to first come face-to-face with.
"Good point. We should organize other hideouts as well as methods of communicating with each other. The Crow may become too dangerous in the near future."
We are at the Crow. At least as far as I know. We haven't organized moving to other taverns, but when Kit is with us, we can ask the barkeep for other places we can stay. That's probably what we're discussing now anyway. Our two main objectives that I can recall:
Our only plan at the moment is disrupting the supply lines. So far we're working on making a contract to redirect the supplies to Tiny Town. We now just need the appropriate seal, which is the next step. We're supposed to lie low a day or two until everyone's eyes are on Gumlat (with the war). This is the end of the first day and we haven't stirred anything up as of yet. When the time comes and everyone's panicked about the war, that's when we'll cause chaos. Coincidentally, that means we'll have to keep our ears out for rumors about the war. For those of you who mislike this covert stuff, you can always go for starting to create chaos in town. You can do that by destroying things, freeing political prisoners (seriously, that elf!), or whatever thing you would like to do, preferably against the Tower, that creates sufficient alarm among citizens. Said chaos being caused by another faction is win-win.
Dev isn't planning on going anywhere and he doesn't know you. He's planning to wait.
"If perhaps Bela or Garing's seal was affixed?" ^ Someone roll a Local for who these are? Depending on their position then: The normal bureaucrats that handle the minor day to day affairs of the running of the city don't use any special materials or markings to denote documents. Higher ranking government officials frequently use a ring of arcane signets to on official documents. These can be duplicated if the mark or signet to be duplicated is available. Though if it is not duplicated using magical means a detect magic spell would reveal it as a forgery. Documents directly from the tower always contain a unique seal from one of the ranking council members. Like the arcane signets these can also be duplicated, but are much harder to do so because of intricate details and the individual council members change their signets from time to time. Such documents are typically only passed from the tower to the high ranking bureaucrats, and do not reach the hands of the common bureaucrat. The lower the rank of the official, the easier it will be. "You'll need to fill in the exact cargo manifest numbers here and deliver it the originating office." <-- That'll be with the linguistics check, but we'll get a plus if we find the documents and numbers, I suppose. Digger can find it with social skills or Drewan can sneak to gather what's needed.
We just need to find a said person's seal and either make them do the seal or lift a copy of their seal (which might provide enough bonuses to hold under scrutiny). Threatening them or trying to appeal to them would be good. Though killing them aftewards and disposing of evidence is right up our alley too. We can also try to ask Rebellion contacts to see if there's an expert forger about.
"Whose seal do we need?"
"I don't know anyone named Kit," Dev says.
Dev puts away his current sculpture before standing from the bench. "If we're done here, let's go," he whispers, unobtrusively casting Message again if it expired. "You can tell us what happened when we're in a safe location."
Tell him you've secretly loved him from afar. I mean, just tell him you'll get it done, no questions asked. Or make a leading statement to inquire about who Bela or Garing are.
I say make whatever character you'd like! We're a flexible bunch and we're currently more suited to espionage and strategic fighting than direct combat. That means we're we're weaker on the combat front (especially if we get caught off-guard), so you may be interested in such a role (though we're currently avoiding outright fights as much as possible, so keep that in mind). A melee tank or a divine caster/healer would fill up some roles (specifically Hazan's who you're replacing). Not being horrible at Stealth or Bluff is also recommended, but it's up to you as to what character you think would fit in. Also, nice ta meetcha.
Dev stays on the bench, listening from underneath the window. He continues his sculpting, gougeing another detail into his current figurine. It steadily becomes more and more lifelike, though the current creature he's sculpting the wood into seems like something out of a nightmare than life. He addresses Drewan and Hazan. "All calm here. Any trouble?"
"I think sabotage is enough for now. We can escalate if it proves necessary." Dev carves a detail into his current sculpture. "Conflict between the workers might work as well. If he can incite them to fight against one another, that would be beneficial."
Dev starts working on some unfinished sculptures again while waiting.
"Digger," Dev whispers. "Try to see if you can find an official whose signature we can impersonate to redirect the supplies. Possibly someone who would ideally have a reason for wanting the supplies to be redirected to Tiny Town."
Dev waits around, minding his own business and trying to look unintrusive.
Everyone about? Jake, you take the lead for the warehouses. Dev will act as back-up, whether you want to try for subtlety or go all-out and burn it down.
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