D&D 5E The Light of Civilization - A Renaissance Story

[KahlessNestor]

Fossice/Nicolo’s flat
Late morning
Round 0

Magdalena shook her head. “Romeo isn’t with the Guild Arcane,” she said. More like the thieves guild. But what interest would he have in this other girl? There was that jealousy again!

Magdalena listened to the girl’s story, her frown deepening. “Magical experimentation like that is against the law!” she erupted when Arcata had finished. “They should be brought before the Senate and the Church!” She studied the girl. Was she dangerous? Magdalena might have to put an end to the girl.

Her contemplations were interrupted by the foreigner with the man from the box. “Stop that heathen magic!” she snapped at Lucien.

[sblock=Actions]
Move:
Action:
Bonus Action:
Reaction:
Concentration: Detect Magic (6/10 minutes)
Conditions:
[/sblock]

[sblock=Ministats]
Inspirations: 1
AC: 16 (chainmail)
HP: 21/28 HD: 3/3d10
Divine Sense (3/LR)
Lay on Hands 15/15
Channel Divinity (1/R)
Abjure Enemy
Vow of Enmity
Prepared Spells:
1st: (Bane, Hunter’s Mark), Command, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Shield of Faith

Spell Slots Remaining/Total
1st: 1/4
[/sblock]

 

[Shayuri]

Arcata gave Magdelena a subdued look, somewhere between worry and reproof. "I'm not done yet. There's more."

"I stayed with the Guild for...a while. A long time. Months at least. I kind of lost track near the end."

"At first they were just trying to find out what had happened. They asked me a lot of questions and took my pulse and temperature and a little blood. But by the end of the first week...everything changed. Some of the old things they had in their workshops...things left over from before the Harrowing, that were broken and useless...they started to wake up. They lit up, and even the ones that were actually broken started at least trying to work again. A lot of them worked just fine."

She took a deep breath, steadying herself.

"The Guildsmen were...beside themselves. They took all these things and hid them away in this vault, and they moved me from my room to...another room, a hidden one. They got the ball from the library, the empty one now, and they tried doing that ritual again...but nothing happened. They started doing other rituals...they even had me try to do it a few times..." Arcata shrugged. "It didn't work. Whatever they put into me didn't budge."

"I could hear them arguing sometimes, outside the door, or down the hall. Sound...echoed a lot. Some of them thought they were wasting time trying to 'extract' it, and should just work with me. Others thought that they needed to work harder to find a way to get it back."

"At first though, they seemed to give up on that. A couple of the Guild sages started coming into my room every day to talk to me and try to figure something out. They'd bring in the old devices and see if I could operate them. They'd show me scrolls and spellbooks. I think they were trying to teach me how to cast spells...but..." Here Arcata shook her head with a rueful smile. "...it was all just gibberish. The diagrams and runes...even when they explained, I couldn't keep it all straight."

"One day, a new one came in, by himself. Younger than the others were. He was friendly and nice, I suppose. He said he wanted to try a new technique...and then he shot me with a crossbow." She holds up a hand quickly and adds, "The bolt was padded, but I didn't see that right away. In that...instant of panic, I did this..."

Arcata held up a hand and whispered a word. Something flickered in the air between her and the table. Something like a curved disc made of glass, that shimmered briefly and was gone again.

"It stopped the bolt in midair, and dropped it to the table. And that's how I truly began to learn how to use magic. I had to do it the opposite way they were trying to teach me. They were trying to teach me to learn this complicated step by step system to create a carefully planned effect? Start at the cause, create the effect, they said. But I start with the effect. The cause...the spell, the...hand waving and silly words...they just happen. I don't really know how. When I know what I want, I know what to do and what to say."

She turned to face the table again.

"Things were...good then. Exciting. A little scary, but in a good way. They wanted me to learn everything, so I could show them. Most of them can't cast spells, you know? The Guild Arcane. And the ones who can have to do it from these old books, where most of the spells are still too complicated for them to understand. They haven't even SEEN most of these in action before. So I tried more, and there were some scary moments because...at first...sometimes I'd accidentally cast spells. They taught me some things to help control that, and once I felt safer, we really started to get to work."

"We found out that casting spells wears me out pretty fast...but it's like running. The more you do, the more you CAN do. They brought me notes on spells to try, and scrolls, and all kinds of strange and amazing things...and it was...it was really fun!"

The brightness that animated Arcata's face, the sparkle that had come to her eyes and the smile that seemed to brighten the room, they all faltered.

"But it wasn't enough. There were still a lot of spells that needed more power than I could give them. I'd try...but it was too hard, they were too...heavy, kind of. Some of the men of the Guild, the ones with more authority, were getting impatient. As much as I was doing to help, I think they thought they could do still more if...if the thing inside me was free of me. I suppose getting what I could give was a little like a man dying in a desert getting just a sip of water, when a whole pool seemed just a little farther away."

She cleared her throat and was quiet for a second. "They, uh...well, after a while of trying again to get it out of me, I...overheard them talking. Some of them wanted to stop. But most of them thought that..." Arcata had to pause again, and take another drink from her refilled cup. Her skin felt cold and clammy...but she didn't want to tell them more details. She didn't want to have to relive it again.

"They were going to kill me," she said softly. "The source is eternal, but I'm not. If I die, they thought it would be freed of me. Then they could put it back in the ball and use it."

"So...I ran away."

Arcata looked over at Nicolo, then the other strangers in the room. "I never meant to involve anyone else. I was just trying to get out of the city. It's just been a mess."

 

[Jago]

"Thank you for the help. I am in your debt."

" Not a worry, amicco," Rossa waved off, knowing that it was indeed her that owed the favor here, but she was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

" But I'll definitely keep tabs on that favor," the half-elf flashed a grin, settling herself against a nearby wall, " Might need to call on it sooner rather than later considering how today went ..."

Rossa Violeppe shook her coppery hair out while taking the cloth-wrapped cup-shaped ice ... cup. She blinked at it inquisitively, taking only a tentative sip of water after watching others do so, then smiled at the pleasant chill.

" Maker On High, is everyone here filled with magia?" she asked, more delighted than nervous.

As she watched Lucien speak his blessing and the damage on Giovanni lessen, she drained the ice water in one gulp.

" Apparently you actually all are ..."

Inquisitive, she turned her attention to the story between The Magdalena and Arcata as Lucien spoke to his goal.





"Giovanni you had better be worth my trouble or you'll wish I'd left you in that box. You know what I want can you get it for me?"

As if roused from a pleasant dream instead of a near-death scenario, Giovanni da Messina slowly opened his nutmeg-brown eyes and took in his new surroundings. He ignored Lucien for a moment, moving to massage his eyes while pointing around the room at the assembled.

" Uno, due, tre, quattro ... and a Gnoma too, that'll be new for me ..."

He grinned lazily, still sluggish as the magic restored his vitality, flexing his fingers open and closed before finally giving his attention to Lucien himself.

" Last thing I remember was a well-dressed half-orc with manners like ... Like this place looks, Maker, this is definitely not Paulina's place. Where am I ..?"

Giovanni settled himself back in his chair, finally aware that he was certainly out of his element.

" I ... Have to assume that since you healed me, you're on my si- ... Wait, you, you're the sailor!"

Realization leapt into his features with elation, and then suddenly a mass of disappointment.

" Bastardo, now I owe you, don't I?"

" And me!" Rossa piped up, overhearing the chance for more profit out of the day.

" Well, madonna, we shall certainly arrange my payment right after business here," the rake winked, leaving the half-elf looking back towards Arcata with a blush to her cheeks.

" So. Lucien, was it?" Giovanni began, the foreigner's name heavily accented on the man's tongue, " You need a ship, and I think I have a way for you to do so. There's an ... acquaintance of mine, within The Senate, that has some pulls with the local Commerce Guild. A ship, Loro Sono, has been at drydock for quite some time after a, well, 'incident' with the previous captain. This Senator may want a favor for it, but I can certainly get you in the door to try and negotiate for the ship."

He clapped his hands together cheerfully, rubbing them together.

" Then it's just a matter of grabbing a few louts from the docks here and getting her out to sea. You'll be out of Fossice in no time."

" Not ... entirely," Rossa said slowly, " The city is currently under quarantine per The Senate. Supposedly someone actually nicked something from The Tower."

Giovanni froze in place. Lowered his hands to his knees. Pondered.

" That ... may complicate matters. But, but!" he quickly spoke before he could be interrupted, " If I can get you in with my Senate friend, you may even be able to get a way around the quarantine! You're a resourceful sort, si?"


"Do you think Iacopo will be useful as a bargaining chip with the Guild or should we just kill him now?"

" Hm ..."

Rossa looked over at the crate, now filled with the most unlucky Half-Orc she knew.

" That ... depends. Bernardo diBellama is not a very forgiving man," she confessed, dropping the name of the head of The Thieves' Guild in Fossice.

" While I've heard Giovanni was doing the honorable thing in defending that woman -"

" I most certainly was!"

" The fact remains that he killed the son of the most powerful crime lord in the city. Iacopo may not have been acting under orders from Bernardo, but he, too, was trying to avenge his friend and the son of his boss."

Rossa sighed, biting off a bit of her cup in the way Arcata had and crunching the ice pleasantly between her teeth before continuing.

" Federigo," she addressed the Dwarf, " I know you left the Guild, but we could certainly use your help soothing this over. Maybe if we hand back Iacopo, they'll let the matter go ..? But I doubt it. Bernardo is a ... very controlling man."

The Half-Elf looked consolingly towards Lucien.

" I am glad you got what you wanted, but I'm afraid you may have put a price on your head in Fossice over this."

 

[tglassy]

Nicolo stood in the back, sipping his water, listening to both conversations. Arcata had to get out of the city. She had apparently enlisted Lucian to help her, but now Lucian had his own issues in getting out. The Paladin was here to help, but didn't know why. And he still hadn't talked to the gnome. Then there was the half orc...

"No one is dying in my house," Nicolo said, "And I will not let you simply take him elsewhere to do the deed. The half orc is under my protection."

He turned to the Paladin, "I have invited you all into my home. While you are my guest, I will ask you not to make demands of my other guests. If the act offends you, you may leave, and wait for the offender to leave my house of his own accord."

He then turned to Arcata, "Perhaps your father can help us. He needs to know what has been happening."

 

[VLAD the Destroyer]

Lucien turns to the Paladin at her comment. This one would be a joy to be around.

"Girl If I wanted your opinion I'd have asked for it."

With that he ignores her turning back to Rossa and Giovanni.

"Yes you owe me. If not for us you'd probably be at the bottom of a canal by now. Or having much worse being done to you." Lucien listens to Giovanni about the ship. "Yes this contact I would like to speak with him. We can discuss terms for the ship. How long would it take you to setup a meeting?"

He looks to the monk. He man obviously had never dealt with the darker side of society. The man was bringing another to his boss to kill or worse and this monk was giving him protection. The same would not be given to Nicolo if Iacopo was the one free and the monk in the chest.

"He would not be so kind if things were reversed."

Lucien sighs and turns back to Rossa, Federigo, and Giovanni he already regrets meeting this girl.

"If Bernardo is such a unforgiving man perhaps Iacopo would be more willing to assist us. His boss might just kill him for us what with his failure." Lucien looks at the half-orc. "And girl I've already had prices on my head one more won't make much of a difference."

 

[Shayuri]

Arcata nods at Nicolo. "I have to warn him, at least. But first I have to get out of the city."

She turned to look at Lucien and Giovanni and the rest of them over there.

"I don't know any of you...I just talked to Lucien about leaving the city. But if you can help...I'm sure my family can make it up to you once I'm safe."

 

[tglassy]

"The supposed actions of another in one's position have no baring to the course of action one should take," the monk said. His tone was more matter of fact than confrontational, despite his words. "I care not for his crimes, he will not be harmed in my house."


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[pathfinderq1]

The tiny gnome sat in one corner of the room, using her oversized satchel as a temporary perch. For a long time she simply listened, her eyes growing even wider at parts of the young woman's story. The other interplay in the room seemed to be ignored.

From time to time she scribbled a note in some kind of shorthand on the small tablet she had pulled out of the satchel, but for the most part she seemed content to be ignored, absorbed in taking in as much information as she could.

Finally, though, she spoke, when the conversation had paused for a bit. "This is all quite fascinating. I'm not sure what it means, beyond one thing, but it is fascinating. Oh, that one thing... Perhaps you have realized it? It seems more than likely- I can't say certain without direct empirical evidence, but certainly highly likely... These wizards, the ones who were involved in this heresy, this foolish so-called experiment- they, or others in their faction, must have been behind the break-in."

"There are, after all, significant resources in the tower- ones they couldn't obtain legitimately... But if their research was at an impasse, they might have tried to obtain them illegally. And given that they were willing to indulge in that kind of behavior in public shows they have no respect for the laws, or the Maker's well-considered restriction on magical information. I think I will need to draft a complaint... It seems imperative that the Order be notified, and those miscreants be remanded to them. But we will need to be careful- I don't want to draw their attention our way. And of course, it is only relevant if they are still alive- they WERE still alive, right?"

 

[KahlessNestor]

Fossice/Nicolo’s flat
Late morning
Round 0

"I have invited you all into my home. While you are my guest, I will ask you not to make demands of my other guests. If the act offends you, you may leave, and wait for the offender to leave my house of his own accord," Nicolo said.

“I cannot leave,” Magdalena said. “I promised her sanctuary. If I leave, she forfeits that,” the paladin said, nodding to Arcata. “Foolish as that may have been to do,” she acknowledged to herself quietly.

Magdalena looked back to Arcata. “You said you ran away. How did you escape? And do you know where you were held, since you got away?” Perhaps this was the Sanctuary mentioned in the letter. “Did you overhear any names being used among the men that worked with you?”

And then the gnome suggested that those behind these hideous experiments might be the ones responsible for the break-in at the Tower. Magdalena looked appalled. “They would do that?” she asked. “How would they breach its defenses?” It was a conundrum, and the theft might likely be something she would eventually be called upon to investigate. “I suppose I could inquire in the Church about the break in,” she mused.

[sblock=OOC]Is this considered a short rest to spend Hit Dice?[/sblock]

[sblock=Actions]
Move:
Action:
Bonus Action:
Reaction:
Concentration: Detect Magic (5/10 minutes)
Conditions:
[/sblock]

[sblock=Ministats]
Inspirations: 1
AC: 16 (chainmail)
HP: 21/28 HD: 3/3d10
Divine Sense (3/LR)
Lay on Hands 15/15
Channel Divinity (1/R)
Abjure Enemy
Vow of Enmity
Prepared Spells:
1st: (Bane, Hunter’s Mark), Command, Cure Wounds, Detect Magic, Shield of Faith

Spell Slots Remaining/Total
1st: 1/4
[/sblock]

 

[Jago]

GM: Yes, the scene here is considered a Short Rest for spending Hit Dice and recovery of abilities that rely on that.