Kulan: Knightfall's Crisis in Bluffside Game [IC]

[Knightfall]

When called for, Akos steps forward resplendent in his immaculate robes, holding the ornate walking staff and smiling warmly.
"Hello everyone. My name is Akos, Loremaster Akos. You may call me Loremaster or Akos as you prefer. I am ajoined brother at The Great Teachers library and have extensive knowledge of many topics. I am also a negotiator, peace maker and I would prefer if we solve our encounters with words rather than s-words."

He pauses after the s in swords and adds ever so subtly "w" sound - not that he expects and appreciation of this lot.

"The world is a place of wonder and we don't have to choose fight among ourselves. We can choose to enjoy the world and its wonders. And let others enjoy it in their way. If we just treat the sorcerers as bards, I don't expect wizards to accept anyone without book learning, we could avoid lots of this unnecessary anguish."

He pauses just long enough to gauge the reaction, mostly of Master Custodio and continues just as he opens his mouth to comment.
"However, this renegade caused suffering and destruction of valuable history. He doesn't let others enjoy life as they want. And as such, he needs to be brought to justice. While I don't condone street justice, I will abide by the councils decision should we be instructed to kill him."

”I am Tuck, and I do condone street justice,” he says deliberately, referring to the Loremaster’s speech. ”Some never get any other. And I am here because I want to help the city that is my home, and to help those in the city. And because us little folk can stand to get some respect. And,” a sparkle shows in his reptilian eyes while something resembling a smile appears on the scales around his mouth, ”And I suppose there are coins for those who help.”

The kobold looks at the others, one by one, locking eyes with each before nodding a greeting. Then, before he can start talking again, he is interrupted by a big brown dog, more than twice his size and wagging its tail furiously as it runs up to Tuck apparently out of nowhere and with its sheer weight dropping the kobold to the floor. The riding dog proceeds to lick the kobold’s face for a full minute before Tuck finally manages to get the dog off him and sit somewhat calmly, still panting and wagging its tail.

”Ahem,” Tuck continues at last. ”This is Mutt. Seems to think I’m a dog. Fierce, that one. Anyway, I know some people, and I know the word out on the streets. That may help.”

Big Tim eyes Tuck with curiosity, and then speaks, in a regal, formal tone: "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Tuck. I cannot say that I agree with your desire to seek justice outside the law, as I am sworn to uphold it and defend it, no matter the cost. However, I can, at the very least, state that I sympathize with you, and understand completely whereof you speak, having myself been the target of prejudice and intolerance many times, despite the fact that I serve with honor, and hold the title of Knight. We are kindred spirits, you and I, therefore, do not hesitate to ask for my help, or my guidance, as I will gladly offer you either."

Big Tim pauses, then continues, "The arcane matters, I leave to you, my good sirs, I merely ask that when the time comes, you will use your arcane skills to bless my aim, and strengthen my armor, so that I might better perform my duty upon the bodies of mine enemies."

The lord commander rolls up the message from Lady Pomander and then takes a seat at the table. He listens intently to you all before speaking.

"There are some in Bluffside who think Del Cannitha should be put to the sword the moment he is found, and I doubt he'll surrender to you." He pauses for effect. "However, I will not condone street justice if he or his Loyalists choose to surrender."

"Unlikely," Custodio notes quietly.

"Yes, when it comes to these Loyalists of his, I doubt they will drop their weapons and surrender. But they should be given the chance, at first. Once it becomes clear that they won't surrender, you are free to defend yourselves."

"Also, his enclave isn't actually in Bluffside," Custodio says. "If I understand my planar lore, his lair stands apart from the world."

"That's true," Oakfirst agrees. "Once you go through the portal, you won't be beholden to Bluffside laws, but you will still be acting as agents of the city. I expect you to act accordingly." He looks at Tuck. "You will be paid for your work, and your first largess is the use of this manor, my old childhood home. While I don't live here anymore, it has been used by adventurers I knew in the past — relatives and old friends who are gone now. Some retired, some lost in the field."

He looks around the room with some nostalgia before continuing. "You are free to stay here and use anything that isn't bolted to the floors or the walls. The one exception is my father's old room. I insist you not disturb it, as I was quite fond of him and lost him very young. Sir Tymbeck has already graciously accepted my invitation to stay in my old room, and I believe Relgar has set up in one of the guest rooms. I believe he chose not to sleep in Ayden's old room due to the wards placed there, but he did borrow some of my dead cousin's mundane clothes and gear from storage."

He looks at Relgar who is busy writing in an old ledger. The lord commander smiles and nods to the others. "You can claim any other room in the house. There are lots of options, but try not to break anything. This is still an Oakfirst residence, after all. Carter, Lavia, and Olhouser are all at your disposal. Carter is an old friend and one of the best smiths I know. Lavia runs the house and the two maids answer to her alone. Don't forget that. Olhouser was my father's steward, so he's not as spry as he once was, so go easy on him."

He pauses again and digs out a small pouch from his breast pocket. "That reminds me Tim, Terger wanted you to look after this for him, if you feel up to it." He hands Tim the pouch, which feels quite light in the big man's hand. "If you don't want the responsibility, I'll make sure it gets to someone else in his family."

He sighs and drums his fingers on the table. "Of course, I would like you to go through the portal and deal with the renegade as quickly as possible, but I doubt it will be as simple as walking up to it with the bloom and passing through without some sort of price to be paid. The one incentive I can give you, besides payment, is that anything magical you find on the other side is yours to keep, within reason, of course. Any coins, gems, and art you gather will be taxes by The Five after you return, but they will only take 1% of the value. The main except will be anything of archaeological value. Those you may have to surrender."

 

[Neurotic]

Akos rejoins at the last part "I can think of several phrases that could help. But. Some are probably harmless, some could mean some pain. But several will kill if said wrongly. This would require several castings of various divinations, simple augury would do, but it would require several castings. Analyzing the portal would help, with the flower in the vicinity. If we can work with the wizards guild and temple district, I am sure we can find the right one. In the meantime, while you organize city casters, I'd like to look into the gardeners case."

 

[Envisioner]

(Finally caught up with all the reading; now we'll see how long it takes me to find the time to write something.)

 

[Tellerian Hawke]

Tim opens the bag, and peers inside, curious as to what he has just been given...

Tim muses silently to himself, ~Responsibility? Responsibility for what? What is this...?~

 

[Knightfall]

Akos rejoins at the last part "I can think of several phrases that could help. But. Some are probably harmless, some could mean some pain. But several will kill if said wrongly. This would require several castings of various divinations, simple augury would do, but it would require several castings. Analyzing the portal would help, with the flower in the vicinity. If we can work with the wizards guild and temple district, I am sure we can find the right one. In the meantime, while you organize city casters, I'd like to look into the gardeners case."

"The Wizard Council already has the Sectarian Guard watching over the Growers' Tower and the portal. The priests of Asokar have also taken an interest in the portal, but we're trying to keep them from claiming it as a new holy site to their god. Master Pennant Hassenforth has provided several skilled hieratic sages and historians of the Great Teacher to examine the magical runes in the tower. I could try to bring in more clerics from the temple district, but I'd rather not. The site is already in danger of turning into a sideshow."

Oakfirst pauses to lock eyes with Akos. "As for Sylemis, if you want to look into his illness, I have no objections. Personally I don't think his condition is related to Del Cannitha in any way, but if you think you can help him, it would be looked upon favorably by the citizens. He's quite admired."

Tim opens the bag, and peers inside, curious as to what he has just been given...

Tim muses silently to himself, ~Responsibility? Responsibility for what? What is this...?~

The bag contains three items and a short hand-written note. The first item is a key with the noble crest of the Stormgrove family on it. The second is a signet ring with the same symbol. The third is a map of immediate area outside of Bluffside with an 'X' on it.

The note reads, 'Please look after my old home. I entrust its contents to you. Use the manor as a safe house if things go badly. There is also a small country house outside of Bluffside where you can find shelter, if the city becomes entrenched in war. We are hoping to stop a plot that doesn't involve 'Waldo'. Good luck and hopefully we'll meet again. Tell Relgar he can use the library at Stormgrove if he wants. -T'.

 

[Neurotic]

Akos shakes his head.
"They are watching. I'm assuming they looked it over. They gained knowledge. But did they apply that knowledge? Did they gain wisdom from it?"
Looking around and focusing on the wizard in the room. The one that still didn't introduce himself.
"What say you, master Relgar, should we apply some logic to the knowledge we have and distill some wisdom? As they say 'Knowledge is power. And knowledge unused is useless. I know, I've been there."
He positions himself so that he can see everyone clearly.
"Between all of us, we should be able to narrow down the phrases that could potentially unlock the portal. With castings of augury, we get simple, but unequivocal answers. The trick is to ask different questions each time. For example, if we pair the phrases and ask which is better we eliminate half of them. If we put together pairs of dangerous ones we eliminate those and we can simply try simpler ones. And we're not sure which one is better of two of the equally supported between us, we put those two together. I'm sure with some optimization we could cut the number of castings even more."

OOC: Here Relgar could invent a binary tree in which we search through a group of solutions with only log2 N tries instead of N/2 - pure math, right in his ballpark

 

[Envisioner]

"I'm afraid I do not have much experience with querying extradimensional beings," Relgar says noncommittally.

 

[JustinCase]

Tuck nods respectfully as two people object to his condonement of street justice.

"Of course we should always strive for legal justice," the kobold says carefully in his odd yapping way. "I merely meant to point out that sometimes it is impossible, and.. other ways.. will have to do. Those Loyalists are unlikely to surrender, but I will give them that opportunity if I can."

Stroking his dog, Tuck listens to some of the talk about magical portals and how to open them.

"Unfortunately I have no talent with the Art, so I'm not sure how to help with that. We could ask one of those Loyalists; they must know something about opening the portal. Have you tried asking?"

The urban ranger seems sincere; perhaps his seeming harmlessness makes it a viable tactic for the small reptilian to just ask questions like that.

He seems a bit uneasy about exploring the mansion, feeling exposed without the traps that Tuck has riddled his own lair with, and he does not feel free to place his own boobytraps around this place. So Tuck stays close to the others and stays alert, not sleeping here for the time being.

OOC: There is a lot of information Tuck knows, and that is being communicated among the party. Tuck is a bit overwhelmed, and so am I.

 

[Neurotic]

"I'm afraid I do not have much experience with querying extradimensional beings," Relgar says noncommittally.

"You don't need any. I know the questions, I'd like to reduce number of needed castings, the gods and supreme beings don't like mortals asking the same questions again and again. But if you can't, we'll do what we can."

Ooc: @Envisioner, even if you don't know such math, Relgar could

Spoiler: math

Short version: you don't take 15 questions and ask for the pairs which is better or safest or which contains the correct phrase (7 castings, then 4, 2 and 1). Instead you take two groups half and half and ask that. You get 7 or 8. Repeat and get 3 or 4. Then you ask for the best (5 castings total plus some to find out if the discarded group contains the best over all).

 

[Knightfall]

Akos shakes his head.
"They are watching. I'm assuming they looked it over. They gained knowledge. But did they apply that knowledge? Did they gain wisdom from it."

"The Sectarian Guard are about containment more than anything else," Oakfirst replies. "Master Hassenforth sages are delving as deep as they can into the tower without succumbing to the wards placed there. They suspect that Del Cannitha placed the wards himself, but I think it's more likely he summoned a being more powerful than himself to do it. If it was another being, they were unable to divine any sort of name for it, and they scoffed at the idea. They did divine that the renegade chose to have the wards placed there and that he wrote the scribblings and runes on the walls."

"We were already certain that he had," Custodio adds.

"No one was 100% certain," the lord commander notes. "But its been confirmed. The writings in the Growers' Tower are his work. He was using it as a lair, or least a workshop."

Tuck nods respectfully as two people object to his condonement of street justice.

"Of course we should always strive for legal justice," the kobold says carefully in his odd yapping way. "I merely meant to point out that sometimes it is impossible, and.. other ways.. will have to do. Those Loyalists are unlikely to surrender, but I will give them that opportunity if I can."

"We'll give them a chance," Custodio agrees. "It is what any honorable foe deserves. We'll see how honorable they act when confronted."

Stroking his dog, Tuck listens to some of the talk about magical portals and how to open them.

"Unfortunately I have no talent with the Art, so I'm not sure how to help with that. We could ask one of those Loyalists; they must know something about opening the portal. Have you tried asking?"

The urban ranger seems sincere; perhaps his seeming harmlessness makes it a viable tactic for the small reptilian to just ask questions like that.

"All of them I've faced have fought to the death. They are his Loyalists after all," Custodio replies. "We did capture a few members of the Rising Swords who were acting as mercenaries for," he pauses and takes breath. "Del Cannitha. The Five had them questioned before they were put on trial. One of the leaders was executed for his part in the New City disaster. One was banished from the city with only the clothes on his back; he was quite young and naive about the Swords, so the Tribunal gave him a pass. Another man, who helped lead some old friends of mine to a Rising Swords hideout in the Undercity, was given a five year sentence instead of execution."

"Yes, he's in the Dungeon in New City, I believe," Oakfirst adds. "He's sworn all along that he has no idea how to open the portal or even its location. We tried to trick him up on that, but he passed. Discern lies was used on him and the others. We don't condone torture in Bluffside, so no one was stretched or beaten. Torture rarely works; magic is more reliable." He pauses, "Well, most of the time."