Mάla's page

So, DM, what would it take to work out a way to tap into Book of Whispers communication? Are we in "research a new spell" territory? Craft Wondrous Item? Some kind of skill challenge?

It would be neat flavor to invent some kind of magical device that has to be physically added to the book. If Bannerhold uses case-bound books like those that became common starting in the early 19th century, then it could be a slip of rune-covered paper inserted into the spine of the book where it's unlikely to be detected. But if they're still using medieval codices where the binding is adhered to the spine and the boards, well, that would be more difficult. Those suckers are built like tanks. There's no really good space to slip things in without plenty of time and access to a well equipped bindery.

Or more magic, of course.

"That would be most gracious of you," Mala says. "So long as we can enter Bannerhold discreetly and without bringing undue attentions on either ourselves or you."

Before leaving, Mala takes a moment to pen a missive to the Bishop of Helm:

Your Eminence:

We have been busy in Bannerhold. The full tale is too long for this missive. The parts most germane to Helm are as follows:

Van Beem was a catspaw. She was hired by one Tyron Alabaster, who was himself an agent of Lord Brendan Harcourt. Her assignment was to attack Iustian ships in Helm's waters, in order to manufacture a situation under which Iustia could annex Helm, as it did the Feld Islands under Charles II.

What makes it worse is that Harcourt's motive for all this was pure, selfish greed -- he owns several large stands of darkwood in Helm. Engineering Helm's annexation was solely intended to nullify Helm's laws on darkwood harvests, so that he could clearcut those stands and realize the profit all at once.

We uncovered Harcourt's plot; by the time you receive this message he will most likely have been executed for his treachery to Iustia.

We continue our investigations. As part of those, we met with one "Isabella", the leader of the Friends, a group resisting the current oppressive laws in Iustia regarding non-humans. Their leader is interested in establishing a safe haven for non-human refugees, and would like to find out whether Helm might be open to such an arrangement. We made no promises, but agreed to inform Your Eminence of her interest. Should you wish to contact her, here is a dead-drop your agents can leave messages at ...

Isabella -- surely not her true name -- is a dangerous and crafty woman. I believe, however, that she is genuine in her interest in sending non-human refugees to Helm. Tread cautiously if you decide to engage with her, and take care to make your own assessment of her intentions.

Written in haste, M

She shares the contents of this letter with Count Aral and asks if he could please see it sent to the Bishop.

I mean, I guess we gather information. The most obvious way is to go collect these plans for the Duke's manor from Count Aral's people in Bannerhold.

"That would be lovely."

Mala nods as he speaks. "I can confirm all of that is accurate. Our friend here has a deeply vested interest in maintaining a low, low profile."

Leaving those two checks for Hal and Túrion. Also, happy holidays all!

"There were no sewers where I grew up," Mala offers. "It was a comparatively small town, and pretty spread out. We just didn't have the density for sewers to make sense."

"I have since become all too familiar," she adds wryly, thinking of "Daisy" and her pet snake in the sewers beneath Helm.

"Potentially even with their pants down," Mala quips.

Mel passes that Knowledge (local) even on a nat 1.

She nods thoughtfully at the plans for Faedi. "Faedi has a longstanding rivalry with the Magister Universalis, as I suspect you know," she says. "I imagine he would be most interested to learn things to her disadvantage."

I'm not sure I follow the last sentence. Is Count Aral suggesting that we need to obtain the book first, after which he and Turick can get Beaumont put into a Zone of Truth or similar? Or is he suggesting that he and Turick could swear out a magical search warrant on Beaumont in pursuit of the book?

"I would be grateful if young Master Harcourt could be put on a good path in life," Mala says. "He seems a good lad, but neglected by his parents. And I played cruelly on his trust in the course of bringing his father to justice."

She thinks a moment, and adds "He seems much taken with ships and seafaring. For what it's worth."

"Yes, Baron Cust was indeed prepared to escape magically. But he also had defenses against incoming teleportation spells, and we contrived to reverse those. In essence, we trapped him in his own trap. That was a group effort, but Sir Chalest here deserves the lion's share of the credit." She nods gracefully at the bearded knight.

"As for Beaumont and Faedi, we're not entirely sure how to proceed on that front. If we could lay hands on his book of whispers that alone would be evidence enough to see him hanged for high treason. But he keeps it on his person at all times, and he's exceptionally difficult to trick or bamboozle. What little intelligence we've gathered suggests that his estate is highly secure and patrolled by accomplished mages and soldiers. There are certain to be locks and alarms to contend with, and possibly traps or magical defenses in some key locations, but we don't know where or what or even what the layout is like."

She sighs. "I would give a great deal to be in possession of Faedi's Book of Whispers. I imagine we could contrive to feed Beamont some false information that way -- trick him into doing something unwise. At the very least, her book would be sufficient evidence that the King might see fit to order a search of Beaumont's person and estate to find its other half. But we know even less of her than we do of him, no good way to quickly reach the Concordat, and I imagine planning acquiring her book would be even harder. She is a diviner, after all. I imagine that means she's good at seeing things coming."

"So we were hoping you might have some suggestions on possible approaches to getting that book from Beaumont."

Sorry. I've been on a two-day long road trip for work.

During the walk to the Count's estate, Mel used her Hat of Disguise to take on a new, previously unseen persona: Mala, formerly a diplomatic aide to a now-retired ambassador from Helm. The hat takes on the appearance of a headband taming a mane of black hair -- tinged here and there with a strand of silver. Grey eyes twinkle out from skin a few shades darker than her usual preference.

Mala laughs lightly. "Oh, yes. We have been exceptionally busy."

She quickly recaps their adventures in Bannerhold to date, including the recovery of most of the treasury, their dealings with Turick, the investigations into and downfall of Cust and Harcourt.

I'm curious as to what questions, if any, Count Aral has regarding those phases. I think we kept him tolerably well informed, but you never know.

"... and finally, we made contact with the 'Friends' -- a resistance group. Due to a series of misunderstandings, the circumstances of that meeting were highly unpleasant for Robin. I don't think the details are relevant here. Suffice it to say we made an uneasy accord with them. We're going to send a message to the Bishop of Helm on their behalf; beyond that, all we agreed to do is stay largely out of their way. They want to see Beaumont taken down just as much as we do. In exchange, their leader gave us some information about Beaumont."

She smiles slyly. "It's bad. Brace yourself. Pretend I'm telling a really funny joke."

After giving him a moment to ready a reaction, she leans forward, cups her hands around her mouth and whispers to him: "Duke Beaumont has been swapping state secrets with Amrynn Faedi, the Concordat's Magister of Divination, using a Book of Whispers."