Isaac Dumont's page

Isaac found the room, shut the door and began to pull for some magic. All he needed was something simple, just a distortion of perception. He found it and sounds sprang to life.

ghost sounds

The room was filled with the sounds of himself having a rather rough time at the bathroom. Isaac shrugged, he never really did care what people thought of him.

He began to search the room for a way to slip out. He knew that the most secure area of the castle had to be up. Anything would do, a window or even just a crack in the wall.

Isaac followed the guard, dismayed by his encounter.

Isaac grabbed at his stomach "Damn your elven tea Himonim..." His pleading eyes scanned the guards."Do you have a... uh... somewhere were I can... eh, you know."

Isaac knew that men would be coming to escort them out soon.

"one last thing before we go. I witnessed Pathad's fall first hand. It started long before any Turany soldiers ever crossed the borders. A rot ate it from the inside out and made it weak and ripe for the picking."

"If you simply kill them all then another generation will rise in their place and learn from their mistakes. If you take them now, while the are stupid and imcompatent you may be able to tame them."

"I would never presume to tell you what to do, just food for thought."

"I have met with some of the resistance "Leadership" if you can call it that. They are loosely affiliated and hardly share any common bond or goal. They pose no real threat yet. Much scarier is what I herd from a Turgan priest hiding in the woods..."

Isaac made his way to the wall of the room, letting his had run along the wood.

"My family used to own a castle very similar to this. Do you have rat problems? because we did. My family tried for years to get rid of them all, they would try to kill them and starve them out. All it ever really did was drive them deeper into the keep and insure that only the strongest and smartest survived.

I on the other hand decided to pick a section of the castle they could do no harm and... and I fed them. Soon they had forgotten nearly all of their survival instincts and were fairly harmless."

In due time, first I want to make sure we can speak securely. As a proven non-citizen of Turandy you know I cannot be part of the inquisition and my compatriot is an elf which disqualifies him as well but I'm not so certain of your men.

Do you have somewhere secure to talk?

Indeed, compared to the Turandy's cities this must seem like a back-water. If I were you I would not want to stay here. Though if you manage to rid this city of the resistance it could mean a promotion which would mean a relocation, perhaps even to the capitol.

Isaac was careful not to play his hand until he knew the mesure of this man for sure.

Isaac waited patiently contemplating his next move. Perhaps he could end this needless bloodshed. He hoped he would not need to plant the contract, that the sheriff could be reasoned with.

Though Isaac was also a realist, and understood that at any moment it could all go horribly wrong. Each step had him planing an escape rout. His ability to bend space opened up paths that the guards might not think of. He noted all of the arrow slits in the wall, all he needed was to be able to see his destination.

The truth? Why not..

"I have information about the resistance that the sheriff need to know, I request an audience with him. My name is Isaac Dumont, proclaimed friend of the Turandy."

If he competent then he already has had reports that I am in the area.

Isaac remained resolute. He did not fear being detected, for he did not have much to hide. He looked back to the rest of the group, waiting for Joroth to get out of earshot.

"If they do have such magics then do one thing. Consider the option of negotiation. Have an open mind. Other then our plan, we have nothing to hide. We have not been initiated with the resistance nor do we even know if the person we met actually represents it. Our intentions should be neutral at this point."

Isaac wastes no time, making his way straight to the castle. He made no attempt to hide his face, why would he? Right now, them knowing who he was was his best asset.

Don't give him enough time to plot

"I'll get us in the castle, it's up to the rest of you beyond that."

I think this game kinda got dropped. I posed a sting of actions so my hands are tied on further posts.

The GM seems to be more hands off but perhaps we could have used a little more direction. I am willing to allow control of my character to be given away in order to advance the scene.

Perhaps now would be a great time to 'cut away' to the next scene.

I wish to play a gnomish intellectual wizzard that despises the intellectual elite. Kind of like Beatty from fahrenheit 451.

He is a very get-under-your-skin type guy who likes to corner his prey into helpless submission rather then confront head on.

I'll build this out soon. What is starting gold?

I would be interested. I would love to play a bag-of-tricks wizzard type, who despises the straight-forward approach

If you need an example of my play style you can check out this thread I play in. http://www.againsttheshadow.org/index.php?topic=2306.new;topicseen (My character is Clouse and user name is Gabboge)

Can I get a bit more time to set up a character? I just spotted this thread.

Oh and if I totally gimp out my characters stats can I get a Immovable rod? Like give up an amount of points from my buy in?

Isaac took the news with a wince. More raiding would hurt any chance of stabilization but that issue could wait for later. First he needed rest.

He pulled out his favorite book of poems from his backpack and opened it up. In the margins he wrote his spells, letting them be effected by the writing and the poems themselves serving as a device for memorization.

He slept well and woke early. He eyed the rest of the group, everyone was using everyone else. A web of people who saw each other as a means to an end. Most of them made it abundantly clear why.

Isaac turned a suspicious eye to Zuket. He was all too welcoming and needed little persuasion to let them stay, and plot. There was little to corroborate his story. Daras friend still hadn't shown up.

His suspicion reached out to his familiar who, as a cat,translated suspicion to curiosity and left the cave to investigate.

My cat is going to stealthily go check the perimeter. Check for anything or anyone unusual

Turandian Inquisition:

The Turandian inquisition is perhaps one of the most feared. While most countries have a form of it most use clerics and powerful divination magics to hunt down spys but the Turandians have opted for a more insidious force using social pressure and fear to drive out potential spys or enemies of the state.

Agents of the inquisition take up lives in the town they are investigating; they integrate themselves in under a cover. From there they root out threats. This is no secret, in fact, the government boasts about its agents. Letting the fear of knowing that anyone could be one drive people to turn others in. Not only do they try to weed out potential enemies of the state but they also play a second roll as tester of faith. They pretend to represent a threat to the state in order to find out who may be tempted by such a person, if a person is tempted or does not report the testers then they are executed as well.

Though these agents are not as feared as the minions of the inquisition known as “The Relentless” They stand head to toe covered in leather armor, their faces covered by an obsidian mask. The only think you can see in their face is the slight reflection of your own. Due to a subtle but powerful magic people soon forget any detail about the relentless soon after them leaving their presence.
They do not eat, they do not sleep, they do not rest. They have but one goal, to track their target. Within the kingdom they are above all laws, they are judge, jury, and executioner. Rarely they have been known to take prisoners but few people believe that is a better fate.
Rumor is that they are former enemies of the state. Killed and then reanimated as undead, with their souls bound within and an irresistible compulsion to follow order placed on them by powerful necromancers. They are then turned to hunt down the very friend they fought for using everything they knew in life to undo the enemies of Turandy.

OK, I’ll add in an idea for lore I had. This gets really elf centric and then very quickly ramps up to epic. I feel lore is best when it has layers. Early on you get a certain impression but as you dig deeper it changed and rewards people for following the story. So I’ll write this out as a player would encounter it.

The Whisper in the Wood
Some elves worship the forest spirit. Though they do not receive responses like the traditional gods they do often hear whispers back. Sometimes guiding them and sometimes telling them harsh truths about themselves. Some elves have formed cults around the whispers and reject the gods or any of their followers.

Some ancient elves can recall second hand accounts of a forest god who watched over all fey kind. She was the guardian of all feykind and rejected the gods domain. No single god could hope to fight her and she was seen as unkillable and unassailable. Though even these elder fey do not know what happened to the forest god. Did she leave, or was she killed? Not many know.

Paladins of the Whisper.
Creatures in the shape of naked elves composed of unnaturally tough wood that roam the deepest parts of the forest. They seek out and kill any paladin or cleric that enters the heart of the forest, though some have been seen roaming deeper into civilization. The pilidins are stats wise just a reskinned chain demon, instead of coldsteal they are weak to fire and instead of chains they use thorned vines that have a poison.

Uppon a player killing one of the palidins he will be blessed with a vision, unless he is a follower of a god then it will pass to the next closest person that isn’t. They will see how the palidins are gathering holy essence at a volcano located in the heart of the forest, hoping to revive a slumbering forest god.

Long story short, the volcano is not really a volcano, but the tree stump of a massive tree that the forest god lived in. The gods form a coalition in order to defeat the forest god and bend her power to their will. They cracked her tree in half and bound her power but they were not able to kill her, as much as they tried. So they shattered her mind, sending fragments through the forest causing the whispers. After they drained much of her power they buried what was left in the stump and filled it with magical lava that burns anything.
They lava ignores heat resistance. Though it can be drained. Though if anyone did they would not find a grateful goddess, rather they would find a near mindless one who’s body and souls has been twisted by eons of suffering, burning and regeneration until she became a cruel mockery of her former power. She became the Tarrasque. A mindless creature bent total consumption of all things living. Perhaps by recovering some of the power stolen from her her mind may be partially restored.

are we still going? maybe we should do a roll call.

Ready to move on

Isaac make enough tea for Elrith to partake. It is bitter, but it brings a clarity. It suppresses any anger an anxiety.

Isaac becomes cheerful, sharing stories and his favorite poems. Some of which most of the group has never herd of because they are Turandy poems. His favorite being:

"No man is an island,
entire of itself;

every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Turandy is the less,
as well as if a castle were,
as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were:

any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind,
and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls;
it tolls for thee."

Isaac smiled

All right, let's get to work

Inside he grimaced. He knew Joroth was planing something, but this was no game.

Isaac looked around the room, he could see how they were all connected and brought together. He knew that the loss of anyone was a detriment to the whole, even Joroth.

How many enemy soldiers would stand with their comrades and think the same thing? How many peoples lives, with their complexities and depth, would be snuffed out because they got in our way.

There was a better way, there had to be. Isaac would find it.

Isaac sat down by the fire as Joroth made his forgery, making a thick brew of tea. It was dark and smelled repugnant but he was used to it by now.

He did

I could see how recruiting could be difficult there. Usually high populations of Trollkin and Orcborn mean that the areas have been subject to lots of raiding by orcs and trolls. The security the local militia provides would be hard to give up even if the people are being mistreated.

Zuket, I have to ask. How big is your network of resistance and are you the only ones around?"

I like the stuff you have set up so far but I feel like the various countries could use a little more flavor. We know about their leaders and what they have been doing but get very little idea culturally how they operate. Perhaps even giving us an idea using real world analogs.

Can we make suggestions to add to what you have started?

Also I think the mercenary groups was the best part of the read for me.

Did everyone else just drop off? If some have, this would be a great place to split up the group. Two missions, one of them the still active players go out on and everyone else who has abandoned their character can go do the other. That way if they come back later there is an easy way to reintroduce them and if they don't come back then the mission went bad and some people died.

Maybe the gm could push things forward, we seem to have stalled

What do the magic paths do mechanically and how are the represented story wise?

As I have always played it magic was using ambient energy. Wizzardy was like having the key to a locked door and sorcery was like kicking in the door with your personality.

I want to make sure I'm flavoring everything OK.

Yes, back story and details would be great. I love homebrew settings but can can feel constricting for players.

I had thrown out some stuff about an inquisition and felt confident in it because of the fantasy troupe. So it would be nice to have same names for things.

Do we have any cultural analogs for both Pathad and Turandian societies? Is it an eastern meet western culture thing? Kinda like the crusades or is it more of German occupation were the cultural differences are minimal?

Now that the war is over is there immigration between the two nations?

Is Pathad a slave state to Turandy? Is its resources being harvested, or is it being being reinforced to build a stronger united nation?

Getting through the door is easy. I could do that. All I would have to say is that I have leads on the resistance, and I do, and they would let me and my companions in.

This is what I did, I have a reputation with these people, in fact they may be aware that I am in town. That guard probably passed on the information to his higher up.

Isaac listen to the two exchange. Then he turned away from them and faced Elrith and Dara.

Fantastic, welcome to the productive side of the group. Though I have to warn you that your normal brand of deviation will not be tolerated.

Having had his final word with Joroth he turned his back and walked away, sure that Joroth was probably continuing on to talk to him but ignoring the words as they had become noise to him long ago.

Zuket, I know we must all seem pushy and risky. As for myself I cannot say that I will be exactly giving myself to your cause but what I will say is that while I reside within your home or your organization I will abide by your rule and if they come in to an impasse with my morality I will let you know and leave.

I am not here to hijack your resistance, I simply wanted to see it for myself and offer my advice in order to make sure your group doesn't go down the very road that led us all here

What do you advise? Must we meet with someone higher ranking to get approval?

I like the idea of tipping the balance. It would cause one of them to get ambitious. The more they work against each other the less time they have to focus on what we can do to help the people.

Perhaps me and Dara should sneak in under cover of night. While I am not as good at stealth I can move between spans of space with relative ease. No more then a few yards but this does allow me to pass through anywhere I can see to within that few yards, like behind a gate or through a keyhole. Handy, wouldn't you say?

I don't think anyone here is willing to make a pact with devils.

My stratigy is simple we get him to work with us. we will appeal to something he wants, bring him stability and peace, while we buy time and resources for a greater push. of course, he wont work directly with resistance, but who says we even are? I have the credentials and background to gain their trust and ultimately undermine their efforts in exchange for short term peace for everyone.

Nothing is hopeless, just use your brain.

If I was willing to allow any killing you would be first Joroth, I see your evil as the worst. The kind that corrupts those around you.

The reason I learned spells was to be able to cast them. They are to be used as a tool for progress. Not what you would have in mind

Say we kill this man and his guards, then what? Do you honestly think the resistance then takes over this town? I can tell you what will happen, first the Turandian army rolls in, killing anyone slightly suspicious. After they feel like they are secure then the inquisition comes and uses their spells to discern what happened, then everyone involved gets tracked down and possibly the entire resistance if they feel through. A new, and possibly worse regent is installed and things go back to the way they were or worse before we showed up.

I refuse to work with a short sighted fool who would get us killed unless I have some assurances that you will follow orders. A man for whom would bring tyranny in the name of justice. Justice for you isn't a reason, it's an excuse for your own evil.

Isaac stared at Joroth as if he were the dumbest of the dumbest town’s fool he had ever seen. It was a looked filled with pity to the point of disgust.

Can you hear yourself? Because sometimes I don’t feel like you can't. Did you suffer head trauma as a child or did you choose such a fate for yourself?

What you describe is not only stupid but something that a juvenile troll would dream up. What do you hope to accomplish? Debilitate him? Oh yes, that would make it much easier to come to an understanding with him. In fact-

Isaac stopped. Coming to a sudden realization.

We can’t afford to have you come along with us. At every turn you have tried to derail us into utter chaos. Right from the beginning you antagonized everyone here. Then you threatened the priest into attacking us, then you yelled at the guard and almost got us captured or killed.

I can’t see how we can trust you to handle this task Joroth…. Isaac smiled wickedly. That is, unless we could be assured that you would obey our wishes. I say that you must sign one of your own contracts, but the rest of us get to dictate its terms. You have been so quick to force them on others, perhaps we would all like to see it. Can you not as they say ‘take your own medicine’?

I already know where this is going but I warn all of you, killing him will only make things worse. What we have is a pressure cooker. We attack them; they get suspicious of everyone and have to raise taxes in order to pay for more security. All that is happening is reactionary. They are people who really don’t want to be here, they are being attacked, and their friends are dying.

What kind of man is this Tuy? A pragmatist? Is he self-interested?

Isaac kindly smiles at the gnome.

Feeling out to his cat he sends a feeling of curiosity. The cat could not resist and it began to explore, silently.

Isaac crept out of the cart, cat right by his side. He strode confidently a bit past the wagon.

Hmmm, just as I thought.

He turned and faced the rest of the crew.

So let's just say we are all bandits or resistance members and we got a nice hideout just like this one. Do you think we would just leave it open to where anyone could ambush us if they found it? Would we not place scouts far ahead? If we did see someone coming would we just stand around waiting for them?... Or would we hide to ambush them?

are we just waiting on Elrith? or are we just slowing down for a holiday weekend, though this does seem to be a con heavy weekend, I know Paizo con is going on in Seattle.

Isaac thoughtfully looked towards Himonim

A soul is a tricky thing, it's complex and hard to understand. In order to get all of the hate and misery I had to take out other things with it.

Along with the worst of me I also had to let go of something else. I don't remember what but I know it was something powerful, the thing that drove so much passion within me. It's buried deep within the hate, surrounded by it. Something in me won't let me give up whatever it is, somehow it is intrinsically important to who I am. I need to work this out, prove the hate wrong, and unravel it. The arrangement as it stands now is a temporary fix

Isaac seemed to gain a better handle on his senses. He now realized that he had Gaven too much information away. Did he really tell them he had betrayed the Pathadi? Luckily the masked man seemed to be tied up arguing with Joroth, for once his rambling came in handy

As the cart pulled away Isaac’s spirits began to rise. It worked, everyone got to go home. Isaacs cat seemed to become disinterested and curled up behind the bench seat of the wagon to sleep. A smile spread across Isaac’s face. Even Joroth’s rantings were less pungent or perhaps just harmless now. It wasn’t the words or the feelings but rather what they would do to other that made Isaac angry but now they were harmless, untoothed.

Himonim, humans can’t have balance. We can’t even be happy, the one thing we obsess over. We have to do extreme external actions to force ourselves to feel how we want to. I simply realized this too late.

You want to know how I got those papers? Well to tell you the truth it’s a bit hazy. I remember having something inside of me that I couldn’t control. I think someone betrayed me and took everything that I cared about. All I can remember is a memory of a memory. kind of like when you dream and try to remember it, you remember saying to yourself what you saw and felt but you can’t actually remember the thing itself it slips from you.

Anyway, this thing inside of me drove me to desperate measures to get back what I lost, but the more I fed into the more I realized I wasn’t getting back anything, I was just loosing myself in revenge. I made concessions, did horrible things, forsook my identity and destroyed so many lives. By the end of it all Isaac was standing at the royal palace where he had just let in Turandian soldiers to kill those that had betrayed him, framed him, tortured him. The soldiers killed his enemies, and then their families… and then all the children. I can’t seem to remember what happened next to Isaa-… I mean me.

Isaac pauses thoughtfully, but then the smile comes back.

Cats are amazing creatures. They have so much emotional depth you wouldn’t believe it. I took that part of me I couldn’t control and all the cancer of my soul and I found a vessel for it. Though it makes some things hazy sometimes. Long story short, I was rewarded with amnesty and I think some land but I forget where exactly.

Isaac assessed his situation. He decided disclosure and truth were his best options. He peeked his head back into the wagon and whispered to everyone.

OK, look. I should be honest with you guys so you don’t do anything rash. The documents are very real. I did get pardoned, and I am cleared for free travel. We can talk about it later.

He looked coldly at Joroth

And I swear to your gods that if you screw this up I will turn you into them without a second thought. You should know better. Use your head and know when not to use your mouth. This is the time for subtlety and finesse.

Isaac turned back to the guard

So, how long have you been stationed here? You must miss Turandy, I hear the beaches in the south are beautiful this time of year.

The cat hissed loudly at Joroth. Isaac tried to bottle up his rage, lest he let too much of it bleed into his familiar.

What my... associate means to say is that my papers are signed by the Spymasters first lieutenant, giving me amnesty and permission to freely travel for my services rendered. If you want to we can take my papers to the local inquisitions office, but I hear that once they start an investigation they don't stop until they find something.

bluff: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

"Don't worry I'm a pro at this. I got some forged documents that should do the trick."

Masked men tend to drive suspicion. Ether take that ridiculous thing off or get in the back. If you not good at lying then don't, just say your here to guard this delivery. Lets try to do this without simply killing anything that moves.

Isaac's ears perked up at the question, caught off guard he let his mask slip. A laugh escaped his mouth.

It's the people you step on along the way to power, it's the wreckage you leave in your wake... it's people like I was. People who don't care that the very thing they seek will lead to their self-destruction like an ouroboros. We cause the downfall of kingdoms because you can only push people so far.

Isaac followed Dara, his cat followed Taliesin.

We should also all be aware that the resistance might not be everything we have all thought it up to be. The old Pathad royalty wasn’t a great group to begin with. Many of them had just as much blood on their hands as the Turandians.

Isaac crawled back into the wagon and began writing his letters, carefully sealing them and sorting them into his satchel. He made a quick muffled prayer and then opened up a small book and began reading, marking some note into the columns as he read.

To a devil their rules are like gravity, constantly effecting them but circumvented by the clever. Some are incredibly smart, far more so then I. It would be foolish to make bargains and deals with them, it would be like a dog trying to bargain with you.

I agree with moving. We all have our differences, but we do share a similar goal. Get to the resistance. What we do from there is none of each other concerns, none of us have ill intent for the heir...well...

Isaac looked over Joroth with a questioning eye.

So we might as well stick together as we go along. In truth it will be the best way to prove my point and you all as well can try to prove yours. This is not a war of armies but one of ideas and conviction.

Authority is an illusion, it is power that people give away freely and can take back just as easily. The point is not to insert our own figurehead to run a similar campaign of terror but to empower people and take away roadblocks for them to rise up. We let the people know they have power and they will rise. Our enemy is already overstretched and having to deal with the possibility of war from yet another side, they cannot be everywhere at once.

Murders are a petty matter for now. The kind of people I am talking about are the leadership that orders such things. The provisional governship that sucks the wealth from people and leaves them less empowered.

Also, I did no harm, my spells do not cause damage but rather incapacitate. If I had pushed harder he would have fallen unconscious and woken up with a bad headache and nothing more. No more force then was necessary.

Don't mistake my feelings as sympathy for the enemy. I fear for what we will become if we keep going down this path. I have seen what happens when men with no conscious are backed into a corner. Justify it all you like but every time you decide to kill a man for convenience you will loose another part of yourself, and eventually you will look in the mirror and hate what you see. There is no going back, there is no wiping the blood off your hands. You will have to live with what you become and the ugliness of your soul.

Isaac's faced turned profoundly sad, and he turned away to feed his cat, who was currently rubbing against his leg, kneading his ankles so hard it was bleeding. Isaac didn't seem to notice or care.

Yes, because men of faith bend to the laws of men. These are the first kind of people driven underground and I'm guessing that the resistance ranks are full of them.

Isaac frowns Zone of truth? That's what you call it here, such an over-simplification for a complex bending of magic and will.

If death is a sentence for a crime that has been committed then I permit that. It's is revenge, slaughter, and rage that I am against. We must be fair and it must be our last resort. There are other means that we are afforded, such as curses, bindings, and more gruesome but less lethal punishments.

While we are at this it would be interesting to hear what your plans are "beast", besides simply murdering anyone who stands in your way. I don't think your in a position to question our methods

Spells of truth are easily cast. They shouldn't take any time at all, the government isn't everywhere at all times. We don't need to be the jury, in fact it is better that we aren't. It's about showing people that we are right, and not just forcing it down their throats or we are no better then they are.

We must elevate the people, only when the entire populous is against them and resistance rips apart their corrupt infrastructure will they really be beaten. Every man we kill is a martyr, and 10 more will rise to avenge him.

We call them on their crimes. We capture the worst offenders and use fair public trials, a few spells make this easy and quick. When they steal money from our people we steal it back for the people, not ourselves. We bring the people justice, not just our people but theirs as well.

Most of these invaders did not make the choice that led to them coming out here and no man yearns to leave his homeland. If we simply kill them then we will only be giving them a reason to want to stay and fight. We give them reason to leave without giving them reasons for staying.

I'm hoping to end this bloody occupation, but the right way. I fear the never ending cycle of revenge, it is rot that will eat this entire nation away if we let it go. The guest last night was proof enough. I planed to do my best to stop the killing... I figured I was bound to find resistance members. Now I hear talk of an heir, perhaps someone I can talk to.

Isaac tried to picture in his head the line of succession. He had never cared much but he tried to remember who exactly he had seen killed and who he had just been told was killed. There were too many gaps in knowledge to make a guess.