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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 3453871" data-attributes="member: 11">Session #5 – “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” (Part 1 of 3) (1)As evening approached the Signers of the Charter of Schiereiland gathered in the common area of the lower level of the citadel, down the hall from their cells.  Euleria had just dropped off the itemized list bill of how she had spent the fund she had been provided with, and it showed that only a very small amount was left.”Well, I think I have a partial solution to our money woes,” Telémahkos said to the others.  “I made contact with a merchant named Lowe, and in return for special consideration from me in the future, he has offered his son as a kind of hireling, and gave me two hundred and fifty silver pieces…”“Special considerations?” Victoria asked.Telémahkos Briareus explained about his meeting with Cornwallis Lowe, about the expansionist movement that foresees Thricia retaking all or part of the Disputed Territories, and how the merchant’s son was not only well-educated and versed in four languages, but also knew how to fight and had several engagements with bandits and <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/kobolds" target="_blank">kobolds</a> already while guarding his father’s caravan. (2)“I was thinking I would put one hundred of those silver pieces into the general fund for Euleria to continue to use, and then pay for the provisions of this extra hireling out of my own money,” Telémahkos explained.  “He would be my man…and thus would be my responsibility.”“So do you plan to use your own divine healing energies to close his wounds or save his life, if he should get wounded?” Bleys the Aubergine asked.  He was cleaned up for dinner, his face cleanly shaven.“What do you mean?  Is my devotion to Ra and Anhur in question here for some reason I cannot see?” Telémahkos asked. “I thought…”“What Bleys is trying to say…” Markos interjected rudely cutting Telie off.“I was speaking…” Telémahkos said.“Yeah, and I’m interrupting… What Bleys was trying to say was that while you may claim he will be solely your responsibility, responsibility for him will fall on us all none-the-less,” Markos said, heat already growing in his voice.“Is that not the case with the other people who have already been hired?” Telémahkos asked, sighing.  “We all share in some responsibility for them in the sense that they are our comrades-in-arms…”“No, I don’t see that at all!” Markos snapped.  “We all share equally from the benefits of those other hirelings, while in this case you get all the benefit…”“That is not the case, I have explained all his skills… Surely that is useful to all of us…”“And what about the benefit of the side deal you brokered with the merchant that you stand to make a profit off of?” Markos replied.“How come you to know this Lowe?” Bleys asked.  Telémahkos explained about meeting Amalda and her arranging the meeting, as her employer had heard of them and of the charter.“So you want to add this other hireling,” Victoria of Anhur said, working things out slowly and aloud in her usual way.“But instead of us paying him, he’s paying us!” Tim smiled.“He is not paying us…” Telémahkos objected.“His father is paying us…” Tim corrected.“He is not paying me, the money is more of an investment,” Telémahkos tried to explain.“Right! The money is being paid only to Telémahkos and not to the group, that is the difference right there!” Markos said.The argument exploded.  Markos and Telémahkos firing invectives at each other that echoed out of the common area and down the narrow stone corridor beneath the citadel somewhere.  The former harped on and on about how the latter would be benefiting off of the rest of the group’s effort while trying to make it sound like he was doing the group a favor by “taking responsibility”.  Telémahkos explained that he meant legal responsibility in terms of fines and restitution if the servant were to cause harm.“That just shows how much a weasel you are,” Markos said.  “You do not get to define the debate to some narrow definition of responsibility and then expect us to swallow it!”Telémahkos offered to put all the money he had gained into the group fund as long as everyone agreed to be equally responsible and honor the agreement with Cornwallis Lowe.  Markos refused.“I have no desire for monetary gain by this method,” he said.“Then why do you care?” Timotheus asked.“It is a matter of principle,” Markos replied.  “Why should he get to manipulate the group into abetting one his schemes so that he might make a profit?”Bleys the Aubergine had Markos explain his position again directly to him, and then the watch-mage tried to explain it in more neutral words to Telémahkos.  He then had Telémahkos explain to him his position, but as Bleys began to explain to Markos, the former captive of pirates made a comment that Telémahkos felt compelled to reply to directly, and the argument exploded again.Bleys sat back abandoning his attempt at mediation with only the slightest gradation in his typical indifference.  To those who knew him well, it might have indicated disgust…Timotheus Smith stood from the table looking for the page that had been there, as he wanted wine, but there were no servants around.  He remembered that they would all be due at the dinner soon, pressing his fine doublet smooth against his chest with the palm of his big hand.Markos stomped out of the room, throwing his hands in the air, and Timotheus went after him.  They returned a few moments later, and in the meantime, Telémahkos told the others a bit more about the merchant’s son.“But you have not met him?” Bleys asked.“No.”“Have you something to add now?” Bleys asked Markos as he came back in.  The young mage wore the prideful glare only a teenager can perfect.“No… It will come down to a vote, and I know most people here don’t care, and Telémahkos will be able to take advantage of the group for his own good,” Markos said.“So you object to this whole thing in principle?” Timotheus asked.“I have already made clear why I object to this,” Markos began.  He explained again how Telémahkos was manipulating them, but Telie took exception to how his position was being characterized.“I am doing you a favor!” Telie said.“You see! He takes us all for fools!” And the argument exploded yet again; Telémahkos trying to downplay the chances of his profiting greatly from the deal, and bringing up the possibility of his taking a loss, while Markos insisting that making deals that would net Telémahkos perhaps tens of thousands of silver pieces was not doing them a favor.A young servant boy stuck his head in the door and looked around.“Yes?” Markos asked brusquely.“Uh, um… I was told to come tell you that dinner will begin in thirty minutes time,” the servant said.Markos thanked him.“If I am going to be thought so low of by this whole group, I will not be able to stay in this charter,” Telémahkos said, looking to someone for some support.“I believe that is a topic that you would need to take up with your father,” Bleys said, and Telie scowled at the watch-mage. Laarus of Ra asked Telémahkos more details regarding the deal, but Markos interrupted, explaining again it was not the details he objected to, but rather how Telie presented it.  Before the argument could take off a fourth time, Timotheus insisted the group vote on it right away and move on.  But an actual vote turned out to be unnecessary.  No one was as adamant about the issue as Markos was, and aside from asking Telémahkos to show her the receipt he had gotten from the merchant and some clarification of what “special considerations” meant, the topic was dropped.“It makes most sense to decide if we are actually going to Tribunisport first before making such decisions anyway,” Bleys said.“I am getting to that,” Telémahkos said.  “It seems there might be some connection between the planned attack on House Wetherwax and the Disputed Territories after all…” Telémahkos explained how his source had revealed that <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Rubes" target="_blank">Rubes</a>, or ex-Rubes were among the smugglers, bringing goods out of the <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Kingdom+of+the+Red+God+of+the+West" target="_blank">Kingdom of the Red God of the West</a> for sale in Thricia.  He told them how Kraken’s Cove was the name of the place where smugglers met to trade the illicit goods and move them out.“And pirates?” Victoria asked.“I don’t know if they are pirates,” Telémahkos replied. “They are smugglers.  If once they get in their ships they start attacking other ships or raiding villages, then they are pirates, too…”“My point is,” He continued. “There is reason to think that this smuggling operation may be the source of the attack on Wetherwax, and the motive behind it may be a move on the part of the Kingdom of the Red God of the West to prepare for invasion. And… it seems the man I am looking for, the merchant’s son I mentioned… that is where he is headed…”“Explain what you mean by ex-Rubes,” Bleys asked,“People of the Kingdom of the Red God of the West who are no longer of the faith,” Telémahkos explained. “Or at least, they claim to be, but it may be that they funnel coin back to their kingdom for whatever plots they may have…”He went on to explain how a man named Crumb was recruiting crews for the smuggler ships in Tribunisport, and had drawn a good number of Herman-landers seeking to flee conscription for just this work.  He told them that his source had provided Crumb as a means to get into Kraken’s Cove.“Who is this source?” Bleys asked.“I cannot say,” Telémahkos replied.“Of course,” Victoria commented with a smirk.“I too have heard of this Kraken’s Cove and was told to seek employment there in Tribunisport,” Markos backed up Telie’s story. “And if people are being recruited for this attack, whether willingly or no, it makes sense to use both ex-Rubes and Herman-landers which cannot be traced back to the Kingdom of the Red God of the West.”“That makes sense to me,” Markos replied, slowly leaving the sullen state that had settled on him after the arguing.   “And if we are willing to take a cue from an old bard’s tale, perhaps we can arrange to get ourselves hired on if we were to properly disguise ourselves.”“I had considered that,” Telémahkos said, careful to keep his tone innocuous as to keep the discussion flowing smoothly, as he and Markos seemed to be on the same page. He turned to the others. “Look, you wanted more information about the attack, and it seems to me that this is the place to go to get that information.  All we need to do is get Euleria to announce that we are going somewhere else other than Tribunisport, and then while we are there Markos and I will make contact with this Crumb and we will take it from there…”There was a brief discussion about whether it was better to take the guise of merchants looking to buy goods or that of sailors, but Victoria interrupted it by expressing concern about the ruse and her honor as a militant of Anhur, and that of Laarus.“Keep in mind,” Telémahkos explained to her. “Kraken’s Cove is a meeting place for trade not a pirate war camp.  If it is a place that otherwise legitimate merchants go to then it is doubtful it will be a place of wanton evil that will force you to drop your guise and endanger us…”“If we are to go, I much prefer we go as merchants,” Laarus of Ra said.  “As pirates we may be tempted to act poorly, as merchants, we may remain within the law…”“Kraken’s Cove strikes me as a lawless place altogether…” Bleys said.“But not so lawless or else it could never be maintained as a place to trade,” Telémahkos said.  “And as long as we look like we can handle ourselves we are less likely to draw unwanted attention.”“It seems this course of action is a lot more to go on to help people than to wander aimlessly in the Disputed Territories looking for dervishes, or raiding some tombs,” Markos said.“And, technically, Kraken’s Cove is in the Disputed Territories, so we can always go on from there if we want to,” Telémahkos added.It was agreed that they would see about heading to Tribunisport the next day, but once that was agreed upon, Bleys Winter brought up the subject of the expense of the hirelings, and how they were of less use in going to Kraken’s Cove than to the King Stones.Another servant came to remind them that dinner would be starting in a few minutes.  Telémahkos thanked him and flipped him a copper piece.  They continued their discussion.“I think we should get rid of the two hirelings were paying and keep the one we’re not paying,” Telémahkos suggested.“And the porter?” Bleys asked.“Dismiss him, too… I don’t know whose crazy idea that was,” Markos said.Timotheus was against it, feeling it’d be rude to dismiss them after their having done nothing, and wanting more warm fighting bodies around whether the party went to the Disputed Territories or to Kraken’s Cove.“They have been more than amply compensated for their time,” Bleys said.“And I will throw them some extra coin to keep them in our good graces in case we ever need to re-hire them,” Telémahkos offered.  “We don’t want to have to pay them for sitting around while we do our investigations, and the less people we have to sneak into Kraken’s Cove, the easier it will be to pull off…”“I have been of the mind that we were too hastily hiring these men since the idea was first brought up,” Bleys added.“If this cove is in the Disputed Territories, why not go there overland?” Timotheus asked.“It can only be reached by the sea,” Telémahkos said.The suggestion was made by Laarus to send Falco and Dunlevey to the <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Border+Shires" target="_blank">Border Shires</a> to gather information and scout out the area, surveying for possible danger and perhaps making contacts.  The boy hired as porter would be dismissed and a lower fee could be negotiated for times when the hirelings would not be involved in combat.Markos heartily supported his cousin’s idea, and Timotheus was in favor of it as well, but Telémahkos and Bleys were against it, and Victoria was unsure they would agree to it.  So, it was decided to let the hirelings decide for themselves.  If they accepted the terms they would be sent off, if not, they would be dismissed, but everyone agreed on dismissing the porter either way.Wanting for everyone to be fully informed in case the information became important at dinner, Bleys went on to tell the group what he had learned about the area of the King Stones from Oroleniel the Salmon.A brief discussion on the differences between the <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Beast+Gods" target="_blank">Beast Gods</a> and the gods of <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Ra%27s+Pantheon" target="_blank">Ra’s Pantheon</a>, and whether violating tombs consecrated to one might violate the sacred laws of the other, was interrupted by Bleys explaining that most of these places had been violated by the <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Goblins" target="_blank">goblins</a> and other creatures living there centuries ago.  He went on to point to the map they had gained from Joezyn Barhyte (3) showing where the words “Ray-Ree” were written in charcoal along one side.“That is the barbarian tribe that once defended those tombs,” the watch-mage said. “They long ago either failed at or abandoned that duty, but their descendents still consider this their lands. So my thinking was, we should endeavor to ally ourselves with these people if possible, and rather than plunder these tombs, we can help them to clean them out their goblin vermin, and thus gain something more valuable, a potential powerful ally… That is, if can convince their barbarian minds of the value of such an alliance.”“That is a good idea,” Telémahkos said.  “If they can be taught to be more effective warriors they can be an effective defense against the forces of the Kingdom the Red God of West…”“Um… Sirs?” There was a young voice at the doorway.  “Dinner has begun…”The young nobles all leaped out of their seats and hurried out into the hall and up to the dining room, led by the servant.. . .to be continued. . .------------------------------------------------------Notes:(1)    This session was played on March 18th, 2007.  Experience points were awarded at the beginning of the session, but no one gained enough to advance in level.(2)    See InterSession #4.3(3)    Joezyn Barhyte was met in Session #1.  You can see the map by clicking <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Map+-+The+King+Stones+%28Old+Adventurer%27s+Map%29" target="_blank">here</a></blockquote>

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