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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Plane Sailing" data-source="post: 1271024" data-attributes="member: 114">Intermission/IntroductionA wizard in a darkened room turns to his friend.“Well Taran, you know what the results of my divinations have been showing for some time now.  Increasing instability in Singh at the hands of their new world order could wipe out your investments there, and your local man is having to keep his head down in the light of the recent upsurge of activity by the inquisition”“The refugee problem that has been developing over the last year is starting to badly affect the Southlander nations too. Your holdings here in Morannon are secure, but the network is reporting a widespread reduction in trade due to the local uncertainties. Of course, there are also the criminal elements hiding amongst the refugees who are attempting to set up their own new thieves guilds and so forth, causing conflict with the established order.“All in all, it’s bad for business and I project that we will need a substantial cash injection if we are to continue the growth which we had planned for our little enterprise. It’s back to adventuring again for us, Taran…”“No, old friend” the slight figure by his side replies. “Not us. Me. You’re getting rather too old for risking your life in the dark places of this world, Dominic. AND” he forestalls the complaint forming on his friends lips.“and you can work best with me in your laboratory here. You can keep in contact by scrying me twice a day through yon crystal ball and we can communicate via your Message spells. I can call upon your divinatory and research skills and you can report back to me your findings – and anything else that the network brings up that I need to know about.”“Plus, you can be my ace in the hole, if things get really tough. After all, we bought that bunch of teleport scrolls for a reason, no?” Dominic the diviner laughs. “I’d swear that you’ve been planning this whole thing for months, Taran. I really would. One day you’ll be too cunning for your own good” He wags his finger at his lightly built friend.“Ah, Dominic. And that is the day when I’ll be glad for you being here, ready to pull my fat out of the fire”.The two friends raise their glasses in a toast.“Back to business” says Dominic. “I need a party of adventurers to work with. Have you found any good ones”“Well, as you know I’ve been tracking such activity as I can through my divinations recently and there are three good candidate groups.  One of them is not far from here – I last scried them over in Rastor, just the other side of the Seven Sisters range. Almost on our doorstep in fact. I believe they are intent on investigating the old crater ridge mines for some reason. That place has been a bit of a divination black spot for many years now and I can’t give you any decent background information on it I’m afraid”“What are they like, this group?” Taran inquires.“You’ll be able to see for yourself in a moment, when I fire up the crystal ball. Basically there is a big Jazumai of some kind – but unusually he is a Southlander, so history alone knows how he earned the white headband. He stands side by side with a big swordcoaster woman. Don’t be fooled by her size though – she is as quick as you are, and extraordinarily canny in combat with her rapier which she appears to have thoroughly mastered. The next woman is from the desert city of Mendonna, well known for its assassins although she doesn’t appear to tread that path. Indeed, it appears she is a wizard of power that probably exceeds my own, and she has recently unearthed the secrets of Arkon the Stormlord – I’d love to know what is in those documents!”“Finally, and perhaps most strangely of all, they have recently been joined by – I kid you not Taran – an elf”Taran raises an eyebrow.“”No, really, I’m certain it is an elf” Dominic continues. “I know that nobody has actually seen elves for centuries, and their race was almost considered mythical, but for some reason I’ve not yet determined there is an elf adventuring with this group.”Dominic makes mystic passes over his crystal ball and it goes cloudy and then clears, revealing the adventurers battered but breathing, standing over the corpse of a juvenile greed dragon.“Dragon slayers too, I see” Taran whispers even though he knows they cannot hear him. “Send them a message, I’d like to meet these guys.”DMsnote: For those who have been around since the early days, this is the player of Lysander returning to the gaming group. Taran is a charismatic, intelligent and dextrous rogue 8 (with relatively feeble strength, consitution and wisdom). He has the leadership feat, and Dominic is his cohort. The followers are his spy network scattered across the world. Half of them have been already allocated, and some are left unallocated to enable the player to say, in any human locale, "I'll contact my man here". I think the idea is working out quite cool at the moment Cheers</blockquote>

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