After New Year's Court

[Haltherrion]

BTW, I agree that going for the flying fortresses would be a good use of our talents. I also think they may be the one thing we can best do that will have the most strategic impact on Eidos and the current war.

 

[suchet]

As we are a small party, and things are a bit chaotic, I think that attacking directly any undead armies seems to have low chance of success and is wasting time and energies that could be better spent on something more strategic. I agree that going after the flying fortresses in a sneaky manner would be the most strategic thing to do, and the best use of our talents. We should not split the party if at all possible.

Is it clear who the next heir apparent is? Or is the kingdom up for grabs? I know their is some positioning going on, but is there a specific person who should require our loyalty?

I would be willing to acquire the crystal ball from Ikon.

 

[sivousplay]

There is no easy way to Jorguard ... the best we could do via portals is get to the edge of Segestos and cross to Lucan via our winged friends travel across Lucan and once again fly to Jorguard. If we can not carry the group across the channels between Segestos-Lucan and Lucan-Kol then it is not reasonable to think we could make it to Jorguard.

Princep

 

[sivousplay]

The heir (and he is alive) is Steen (he is the son of King Ferresh). He is currently held up in Jorguard, a flying fortress near Lyko that the king would normally retreat to in a time of crisis, thus my reason for wanting to get to Jorguard; however, if the channels are too substantial an obstacle, then we should focus on the other fortresses.

Princep

 

[sivousplay]

Two of the four flying fortresses are on islands serviced by active portals but are not served by active portals themselves. They are: Mithguard (on Attalene which is connected via active portals) and Abilyx (on Psyllos which is also connected by active portals). Attalene is also an place of interest as that is where Gorek (head of house Caniad has a secondary estate). The Caniad are hound archons and have never held the thrown. They are extremely reliable and could be a strong ally in any fight against the Mottul. Visiting with Gorek would be a good idea and setting out for Attalene could be done quite easily via portals. I think we should suggest to Fina that she send someone trustworthy to Psyllos ... but I believe that is a task for another party.

Depending on what we find in Attalene, I would also like to visit Castellleon to make sure that all is well there. Having figured out how to fly the fortresses, the Mottul taking Castelleon would be quite a blow to Eidos.

Princep

 

[Haltherrion]

There is no easy way to Jorguard ... the best we could do via portals is get to the edge of Segestos and cross to Lucan via our winged friends travel across Lucan and once again fly to Jorguard. If we can not carry the group across the channels between Segestos-Lucan and Lucan-Kol then it is not reasonable to think we could make it to Jorguard.

Princep

Gel can fly short distances (<10 miles) but I think the distances are longer for tis journey. Draeca has air walk (which is a permitted spell). It lasts for 2 hours and we could go about 6 miles in that time (3 miles per hour walking). However, wind increases the speed. A 40 mph wind doubles the speed. If we got a control weather spell for Draeca (on a scroll), we could go up to 24 miles or so with a good hurricaine at our backs. Extend would also increase the range.

We could also look for a friendly dragon who could help ferry folks. (Fina isn't the only dragon in the land. She has good dragon lore so might be able to locate one and either Draeca or Azz might convince once to help.)

Anyway, we can definitely manage to fly over 10 mile gaps and can do longer in a pinch. For real mobility, might need to find a willing dragon.

 

[Haltherrion]

Two of the four flying fortresses are on islands serviced by active portals but are not served by active portals themselves. They are: Mithguard (on Attalene which is connected via active portals) and Abilyx (on Psyllos which is also connected by active portals). Attalene is also an place of interest as that is where Gorek (head of house Caniad has a secondary estate). The Caniad are hound archons and have never held the thrown. They are extremely reliable and could be a strong ally in any fight against the Mottul. Visiting with Gorek would be a good idea and setting out for Attalene could be done quite easily via portals. I think we should suggest to Fina that she send someone trustworthy to Psyllos ... but I believe that is a task for another party.

Depending on what we find in Attalene, I would also like to visit Castellleon to make sure that all is well there. Having figured out how to fly the fortresses, the Mottul taking Castelleon would be quite a blow to Eidos.

Princep

Draeca has sending which you can use to send 25 word messages and get a similar response. It's 4th level so Draeca could do quite a number of these if desired.

In fact, if anyone has a sending for someone important (like Merin or Lord Galina), let me know and she'll do it for you.

I like Princep's suggestion of get Fina to deal with Psyllos (using Sending to communicate) and for us to head to Attalene. We can call on Gorek and check out Mithguard. And then try to head north from there. Checking on Castelleon sounds like a good idea as well.

 

[Haltherrion]

I think Suchet, Princep and Draeca are starting to converge on a plan.

Any of the other PCs have a comment?

 

[Haltherrion]

I would be willing to acquire the crystal ball from Ikon.

Crystal balls are pricier than I had remembered: 42,000 GP. Suchet could afford this by giving up many of her wands and scrolls. Or the party could pool resources.

Draeca is kind of poor but she'd chip in a 4000 GP +2 cloak.

...on the otherhand, I just checked Draeca's spell list (doh! ) and she has Scrying as a 5th level spell. I need a holy water font to use it. I'm not sure such a font could be portable but it only need be 100 GP. This is a lot cheaper than the crystal ball so unless someone really, really wants it, let's pass on Ikon's offer.

I guess the one who should be contacting everyone else is Draeca, not Ikon. Need to get more familiar with her spell list. it's a long one.

 

[Haltherrion]

As we are a small party, and things are a bit chaotic, I think that attacking directly any undead armies seems to have low chance of success and is wasting time and energies that could be better spent on something more strategic. I agree that going after the flying fortresses in a sneaky manner would be the most strategic thing to do, and the best use of our talents. We should not split the party if at all possible.

While Draeca likes to blow up undead (she is rather good at it), she agrees it wouldn't be the best use of our talents. She's all for going after the castles.

Is it clear who the next heir apparent is? Or is the kingdom up for grabs? I know their is some positioning going on, but is there a specific person who should require our loyalty?

Sounds like if we don't go quickly to Steen's aid on Jorgund, then he will be out of the inheritance equation and it will go to Gorek or the other senior House (name escapes me). All the PCs know Steen and there is little reason to believe he'd make a great king. Draeca wouldn't mind if he was out of the equation.

However, note that if Steen is captured rather than killed, it could complicate things. Technically, other royals could still take the crown but it would make it harder, especially without the regalia to confirm the other king.

Marquilla speaks through the regalia to confirm the king and would likely accept someone like Gorek over a captured Steen if we could get the regalia but most likely they are in Mottul's hands.

BTW, one other spell Draeca has is commune. This let's her ask a question directly to Marquilla with a decent chance of success. We should use it sparingly but it might be worth using it for matters of succession at some point (probably not now, though).