Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Mask of Mask (updated 01/21/2023)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Salmakia" data-source="post: 8846970" data-attributes="member: 7038731"><p><strong><u>3. Forgery and Evidence</u></strong></p><p></p><p>I love my players so much. They decided that they needed to get the Baron out of Ekrido so they could have a look around his house and see if they could find evidence of what he was plotting. The plan they came up with was to forge a letter from Metis’s parents (the ruling nobles of the nearby town of Liport) urgently requesting the Baron’s presence. They got together during the week, <u>hand wrote</u> a letter on tea-stained paper, and delivered it to me as a scroll wrapped in twine at the start of the session. Also it turns out that my friend playing Metis has a wax seal set which she used to formally seal the letter.</p><p> </p><p>To provide some context for the success of this plan, Metis was brought up with formal noble training as her parents were preparing her to eventually take over their position, so she knew all the proper formalities and codes (she didn’t take much to the noble life and left on bad terms with her parents so wasn’t too scrupulous about forging a letter from them). The person playing Veu had also decided from the outset that Veu’s “special rogue skill” is forgery, and so between her skills and Metis’s knowledge I didn’t even make them roll to try and pass off the letter as legit. The letter read:</p><p> </p><p><em>Attn: Antonio Giuseppe, Lord Baron Third order of Ekrido,</em></p><p><em>It was marvelous to see you upon your last visit to us. Did we not have a wonderful time? We hope you and your endeavors have flourished in the time since.</em></p><p><em>We request your presence urgently in Liport as we have important business to discuss. A splendid feast will of course be provided in return for the inconvenience. We eagerly await your arrival at the week’s end.</em></p><p><em>Most sincerely,</em></p><p><em>Argus Delmar, Earl of Liport</em></p><p><em>Odele Delmar, Countess of Liport</em></p><p> </p><p>Unbeknownst to the players at this point, there were other factors at play in the relationship between the Baron and Metis’s parents that made it virtually guaranteed that he would accept the summons.</p><p> </p><p>The forged letter requested the Baron’s presence at the week’s end, meaning that they had about two days of downtime before they would even know if the plan had worked. They used this time to take care of some business in the city (as inconspicuously as possible since they still didn’t know what the Baron’s public reaction to their disappearance was), and also to pray, train, and study their spellbooks. In other words, they leveled up to level two.</p><p> </p><p>Burny returned the books he had checked out from the Laboratory X library under the severe glare of Randolph the librarian, who sniffed each book carefully to try and detect signs of burnt paper. He also retrieved the book on breaking codes for Metis that he’d been forced to abandon the day before. Metis spent the rest of the day puzzling through the book. Unfortunately it was highly technical and mathematical, and largely over her head. At the end of a very frustrating day she felt as though she had a basic understanding of common ciphers, but was no closer to deciphering the letter that she was so anxious to read.</p><p> </p><p>Veu, who was worried about her family back at The Labyrinth ever since learning about the famine, wrote a letter in Halfling, wrapped it around a feather token, and sent it off with a man named Wren, a contact of hers who made frequent journeys to The Labyrinth.</p><p></p><p>(Another reason my players are great: Veu’s player is currently in the process of creating a Halfling language for this world. The letter she wrote was disguised as a drawing, with the symbols of the actual message hidden cleverly within the picture. She also brought a hard copy of this and showed it to the group.)</p><p> </p><p>Ewan, meanwhile, set out into the woods near Callista’s camp to pray and meditate. He had a lot to think about between mourning the recent death of his father, the sudden reappearance of his mother, and the revelation that his past might not be as straightforward as he had been led to believe. He turned his thoughts to the gods and spirits of his woodland homestead in the north, trying to find them here in the ground and the trees and the air surrounding him in this foreign city. In his youth, his life had revolved around tending to the soil and caring for the graves of his ancestors. Now everything seemed so much more complicated.</p><p> </p><p>Lost in thought, he almost didn’t see the bird’s nest that had tumbled out of a nearby tree. Although he knew the frequency of such occurrences, his heart nonetheless ached for the babies that would never learn the miracle of flight. However, kneeling down beside the nest, he discovered, not the shattered remains he was expecting, but three round and perfectly intact robin eggs. With all the tenderness and care in the world, he picked up the nest, placing it high in the crook of a nearby tree and praying, not for himself anymore, but that the mother bird might be granted the means to find her nest upon her return.</p><p> </p><p>Returning to the camp late that night he was startled to see the glow of fire emanating, not from the outdoor fire pit, but from inside the tent he shared with Burny. Yelling loudly enough to wake the rest of the party he dashed inside and saw the gnome wizard sitting and muttering with his spellbook on one side and an unfamiliar book burning brightly with flames on the other.</p><p> </p><p>Grabbing a blanket, Ewan quickly smothered the flames, breaking Burny from the trance of his studies and eliciting a series of curses and protests from the gnome.</p><p> </p><p>“What are you doing?!” Ewan exclaimed as Althea also burst into the tent. Metis and Veu stopped just outside to overhear what was happening.</p><p>Burny fidgeted. “It’s hard to explain.”</p><p>“We have all night.”</p><p> </p><p>Burny sighed and decided it would be best to come clean (Burny's player had spent the week between sessions coming up with this backstory, and I think he was quite excited to share it with the rest of the group). “Have any of you heard of August Firestorm?”</p><p> </p><p>Ewan and Althea both shook their heads. Of all of them, Veu was the only one who knew the name as she had come across it many times in her work at The Labyrinth.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, August Firestorm was a very powerful wizard. Some say he was the most powerful wizard ever to live. He was Azuth’s agent on the material plane in the age when the goddess was fighting for our rights as wizards and trying to prove the immorality of the <em>Counterspell</em>.” Burny cringed visibly upon saying the word that was anathema to most modern wizards. “When he died, his spell book was split into five copies, all of which were lost... until now.” He proudly held up the book he had been studying along with his own spellbook. “This is one of the most potent magical artifacts in our world. One fifth of August Firestorm’s spellbook”</p><p> </p><p>“And so how did you come by it?” Althea asked, still not entirely sold on Burny’s story (the gnome had, after all, been known to exaggerate his own prowess before).</p><p>“Remember how I owe 150gp to the librarian at Laboratory X?”</p><p>“They sold you this book for 150gp?!” exclaimed Ewan.</p><p> </p><p>“Of course not! They think it’s destroyed. And besides, they don’t even know that it contains the spellbook. You see, it’s disguised as a copy of Firestorm’s memoir <em>My History of Storms</em>. But, if you do this...” Burny kindled a small flame in his hand and touched it to the book. As Ewan and Althea looked on, the writing in the book seemed to melt, revealing a set of glowing blue runes. Burny snapped the book shut and the fire went out. “With this I could become the most powerful wizard of our age. I could create magic that no one has ever before seen. All I have to do is figure out how to read it. Wizards do love their damn codes.”</p><p> </p><p>With that they decided to call it a night, and awoke the next morning prepared to see whether their plan had worked and the Baron was gone. When monitoring the road to watch for his carriage yielded no results, they decided that they would have to sneak into his property and see if he had taken the bait.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s no problem,” Metis said. “I’ll just turn into a spider and check around his house.”</p><p>Burny’s jaw dropped. “You’ll do what?”</p><p>“I can turn into a spider.”</p><p>“I don’t believe you.”</p><p>“I’m... sorry?”</p><p>“Do it. Right now, I want to see you turn into a spider.”</p><p> </p><p>Metis shrugged and, before Burny’s eyes, morphed and shrunk until there was nothing left of her but a small spider scuttling along the ground. Then, just as quickly as she had shrunk, she was restored to her original form.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s AMAZING!” Burny turned to the other party members. “Did you all know that this was possible?”'</p><p> </p><p>They all nodded and muttered an affirmative as it began to dawn on them that, though Burny’s mind operated on a level that most of them couldn’t begin to comprehend, he had spent basically his entire life studying one topic in Laboratory X and was far and away the least worldly out of the party.</p><p> </p><p>It was decided that Veu and Althea (the stealthy ones) would accompany Metis on her infiltration mission, and would stay right outside the house as backup in case things went south. Having spent many weeks working on this farm as guards, they were all intimately acquainted with its layout and also with the schedule that the guards followed. They made it to the Baron’s house without incident, and Metis transformed and slipped under the crack in the door.</p><p> </p><p>Having been raised in a noble house herself, she was familiar with the general hustle and bustle of the servants. Therefore a cursory glance was enough to tell her that the Baron’s household was operating on a skeleton crew. After checking the Baron’s office and bedroom and finding him absent from both those locations, she contented herself with the fact that he had indeed fallen for their trick and left for the sham meeting in Liport.</p><p> </p><p>Upon emerging, those suspicions were confirmed by Veu who had gone to the Baron’s stables and found his carriage missing. The party had three more days before they were expecting the Baron’s return from Liport, and so they decided to wait until the following day to stage their heist as Metis had already expended an enormous amount of her natural energy turning into spiders (once as demonstration for Burny, and once to surveil). Upon consulting with Callista, the woman decided that she and her group would use that same time to raid the storehouses once more, thereby hopefully dividing any of the Baron’s security who might spot them.</p><p> </p><p>And then, of course, they decided to split the party. “Team Stealth” (Metis, Veu, and Althea) would sneak into the house and search for evidence while “Team Loud” (Burny and Ewan) would create a diversion outside to draw the Baron’s butler away from his office door and out of the house.</p><p> </p><p>The Butler, I should mention, was somewhat inspired by the character of Butler from the <em>Artemis Fowl </em>series, and is a very large man who seems like he would be more comfortable in a chain shirt than a tuxedo.</p><p> </p><p>The party rolled ridiculously well on stealth, and made it within spitting distance of the Baron’s house with no problems. Burny and Ewan staked out a spot in the fruit orchards about a hundred feet away.</p><p> </p><p>Burny looked at Ewan. “Cover your ears,” he said. And then proceeded to cast <em>Thunderwave</em>. A clap of thunder split the air, the kind that causes fine wine glasses to rattle on their shelf, and the Butler came dashing out of the house toward the sound... straight toward where Burny and Ewan were standing.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh sh*t” said Burny, and they ran off to find a place to hide (again, rolling absurd stealth checks, especially for Burny who has -2 DEX).</p><p></p><p>Team Stealth slipped easily into the house and into the Baron’s office. Metis remained a spider perched on Veu’s shoe while Althea riffled through the papers on the desk, finding nothing but the farming documents one might expect. Veu decided it might be wise to start tapping on the panels of the wall, and, when she got to the panel adjacent to the desk, realized with some certainty that there was a hollow space behind it. In quick order she found the hidden keyhole and picked the lock with ease, causing the entire panel to slide away and revealing a small room that seemed to be built into the very wall of the house itself.</p><p> </p><p>A steep ship’s ladder led up to a trapdoor in the ceiling, but what really got their attention was that the room was filled – literally <u>filled</u> – with filing cabinets. Metis quickly changed back into Triton form so that they could divide and conquer the immense reading task before them, and they began skimming through files as fast as they could. What they discovered was alarming. The cabinets contained the farming documents from <u>every</u> farm in <u>every </u>city on the plane, and there were notes in the Baron’s hand detailing which ones were doing particularly poorly.</p><p></p><p>The information network alone that he would need to gather all these documents was truly staggering to conceive of. It wasn’t long before Althea found one cabinet that was locked, and quickly summoned Veu over to work her magic. Whether Veu was distracted by their findings or whether this lock was particularly well-crafted they never found out, but Veu's lockpicks slipped and a small spike shot from the face of the cabinet and pricked her hand.</p><p> </p><p>She exclaimed in pain and grabbed her hand to check her injury, only to see that her hand was turning bright red. Then a wave of queasiness washed over her and she leaned against the wall as her whole body began shaking with violent chills.</p><p> </p><p>“What is it?” Metis asked, concerned.</p><p>“Some sort of poison,” Veu groaned. (in my world this is actually a fairly common type of poison used to forestall thievery. It doesn’t do any damage, but it leaves the thief literally red-handed and it lasts until cured so it’s easier to locate them if they wind up laying low for days or weeks)</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, outside, the Butler seemed satisfied that all was in order and began heading back toward the house. Still seeing no sign of the rest of their party, Burny proceeds to cast a number of <em>Fire Bolts </em>into the air, which worked about as well as yelling “Hey! Over here!” The Butler smelled the smoke, began booking it towards them, and once more they found themselves running for their lives.</p><p> </p><p>Only this time the Butler had seen them and so there was no easy way to hide.</p><p> </p><p>As Burny is a gnome with little legs, the Butler quickly began gaining on them. Burny mentally ran through every spell he knew, trying to think of something, anything that would slow down their pursuer. He cursed. He’d almost forgotten that he knew <em>Ray of Frost </em>(not being a fire spell, he was apt to pass over it). He paused, turned, and shot the <em>Ray</em>, connecting and slowing their pursuer. The Butler, in response, pulled a knife from the inside of his jacket. Burny laughed, knowing that he was 60 feet away and there was no way the Butler could possibly hit him. And then the knife buried itself in his shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>Team Stealth decided to leave the locked cabinet alone for a while and check out the trapdoor in the ceiling. Upon emerging into the room above, they saw an even more troubling sight than anything they’d been expecting: the room was pitch dark, but their torch revealed a massive seal of Tempus painted on the floor (in this world Tempus is the god of Law who assumes the aspect of War during wartime). Surrounding it were black and red candles that had burned themselves out, and written around and around the wall in a tiny cramped hand seemed to be the complete legal codes of Ekrido. One section of the room was divided by a set of steel bars, and within the cage they saw a humanoid figure hunched in the corner, entirely bald and with pale white skin.</p><p> </p><p>Althea approached the cage. “Hello?”</p><p>The figure responded, faintly. “You’re not my father.”</p><p>“We work for your father. He sent us to check on you.” (no need for a Deception check, the figure is in no mental state to bother doubting Althea’s statements)</p><p>“There’s still plenty of food.” Indeed there were sacks of food lying about the figure, mostly untouched.</p><p>“Remind me again... what’s your name?”</p><p>“Alaya.” Metis’s eyes widened. She knew Alaya. The girl was some seven years younger than her, and she had babysat and played with the child when the Baron attended her parents’ famous dinner functions in Liport. She had certainly been human then, but looked far different now.</p><p>“And why does your father keep you locked in here?”</p><p>“He’s ashamed of what I’ve become. I was to be his heir. But I suppose some things must be sacrificed.”</p><p>“How would you like to see the sun again?”</p><p>Alaya moaned at the thought, and they could barely detect her whispering “yes, oh yes, ohhhh yes.”</p><p> </p><p>Althea looked at Veu. Even with the rogue’s queasiness and shaking limbs, she was still able to break a simple lock like the one on the door the Alaya’s prison. Althea entered and helped Alaya to her feet, the girl’s hand clammy and cold in her own. As they began walking toward the exit, some of the girl’s strength seemed to return and Althea felt her grip growing stronger and her steps becoming steadier. She continued rambling as they walked, seeming almost to be talking to herself.</p><p> </p><p>“When the famines started, my father, always a devoted servant of Tempus, prayed that his farm be spared. But it wasn’t Tempus who answered. It was an angel from his host. The angel offered to protect my father’s farm from the blight in exchange for many things. I was part of the bargain. And, while my body was mutated, my spirit was cleansed, allowing me to perfectly serve his will here in this world.” Alaya released Althea’s grip entirely and took a few steps forward on her own, standing just on the tip of the seal of Tempus painted on the floor. As soon as she stepped on the seal a change overcame her – her muscles seemed to relax and she breathed deeply with the relief of one who has been holding their breath too long. “He cleansed my spirit, and left me to the task of cleansing others. His symbol restores my strength. Now, not even I know what I’m capable of.”</p><p> </p><p>Behind them, the door to the prison slammed shut with a clang. Alaya turned and raised her head for the first time, revealing jet-black eyes. The symbol of Tempus on the floor began to pulse with a dull red light.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Salmakia, post: 8846970, member: 7038731"] [B][U]3. Forgery and Evidence[/U][/B] I love my players so much. They decided that they needed to get the Baron out of Ekrido so they could have a look around his house and see if they could find evidence of what he was plotting. The plan they came up with was to forge a letter from Metis’s parents (the ruling nobles of the nearby town of Liport) urgently requesting the Baron’s presence. They got together during the week, [U]hand wrote[/U] a letter on tea-stained paper, and delivered it to me as a scroll wrapped in twine at the start of the session. Also it turns out that my friend playing Metis has a wax seal set which she used to formally seal the letter. To provide some context for the success of this plan, Metis was brought up with formal noble training as her parents were preparing her to eventually take over their position, so she knew all the proper formalities and codes (she didn’t take much to the noble life and left on bad terms with her parents so wasn’t too scrupulous about forging a letter from them). The person playing Veu had also decided from the outset that Veu’s “special rogue skill” is forgery, and so between her skills and Metis’s knowledge I didn’t even make them roll to try and pass off the letter as legit. The letter read: [I]Attn: Antonio Giuseppe, Lord Baron Third order of Ekrido, It was marvelous to see you upon your last visit to us. Did we not have a wonderful time? We hope you and your endeavors have flourished in the time since. We request your presence urgently in Liport as we have important business to discuss. A splendid feast will of course be provided in return for the inconvenience. We eagerly await your arrival at the week’s end. Most sincerely, Argus Delmar, Earl of Liport Odele Delmar, Countess of Liport[/I] Unbeknownst to the players at this point, there were other factors at play in the relationship between the Baron and Metis’s parents that made it virtually guaranteed that he would accept the summons. The forged letter requested the Baron’s presence at the week’s end, meaning that they had about two days of downtime before they would even know if the plan had worked. They used this time to take care of some business in the city (as inconspicuously as possible since they still didn’t know what the Baron’s public reaction to their disappearance was), and also to pray, train, and study their spellbooks. In other words, they leveled up to level two. Burny returned the books he had checked out from the Laboratory X library under the severe glare of Randolph the librarian, who sniffed each book carefully to try and detect signs of burnt paper. He also retrieved the book on breaking codes for Metis that he’d been forced to abandon the day before. Metis spent the rest of the day puzzling through the book. Unfortunately it was highly technical and mathematical, and largely over her head. At the end of a very frustrating day she felt as though she had a basic understanding of common ciphers, but was no closer to deciphering the letter that she was so anxious to read. Veu, who was worried about her family back at The Labyrinth ever since learning about the famine, wrote a letter in Halfling, wrapped it around a feather token, and sent it off with a man named Wren, a contact of hers who made frequent journeys to The Labyrinth. (Another reason my players are great: Veu’s player is currently in the process of creating a Halfling language for this world. The letter she wrote was disguised as a drawing, with the symbols of the actual message hidden cleverly within the picture. She also brought a hard copy of this and showed it to the group.) Ewan, meanwhile, set out into the woods near Callista’s camp to pray and meditate. He had a lot to think about between mourning the recent death of his father, the sudden reappearance of his mother, and the revelation that his past might not be as straightforward as he had been led to believe. He turned his thoughts to the gods and spirits of his woodland homestead in the north, trying to find them here in the ground and the trees and the air surrounding him in this foreign city. In his youth, his life had revolved around tending to the soil and caring for the graves of his ancestors. Now everything seemed so much more complicated. Lost in thought, he almost didn’t see the bird’s nest that had tumbled out of a nearby tree. Although he knew the frequency of such occurrences, his heart nonetheless ached for the babies that would never learn the miracle of flight. However, kneeling down beside the nest, he discovered, not the shattered remains he was expecting, but three round and perfectly intact robin eggs. With all the tenderness and care in the world, he picked up the nest, placing it high in the crook of a nearby tree and praying, not for himself anymore, but that the mother bird might be granted the means to find her nest upon her return. Returning to the camp late that night he was startled to see the glow of fire emanating, not from the outdoor fire pit, but from inside the tent he shared with Burny. Yelling loudly enough to wake the rest of the party he dashed inside and saw the gnome wizard sitting and muttering with his spellbook on one side and an unfamiliar book burning brightly with flames on the other. Grabbing a blanket, Ewan quickly smothered the flames, breaking Burny from the trance of his studies and eliciting a series of curses and protests from the gnome. “What are you doing?!” Ewan exclaimed as Althea also burst into the tent. Metis and Veu stopped just outside to overhear what was happening. Burny fidgeted. “It’s hard to explain.” “We have all night.” Burny sighed and decided it would be best to come clean (Burny's player had spent the week between sessions coming up with this backstory, and I think he was quite excited to share it with the rest of the group). “Have any of you heard of August Firestorm?” Ewan and Althea both shook their heads. Of all of them, Veu was the only one who knew the name as she had come across it many times in her work at The Labyrinth. “Well, August Firestorm was a very powerful wizard. Some say he was the most powerful wizard ever to live. He was Azuth’s agent on the material plane in the age when the goddess was fighting for our rights as wizards and trying to prove the immorality of the [I]Counterspell[/I].” Burny cringed visibly upon saying the word that was anathema to most modern wizards. “When he died, his spell book was split into five copies, all of which were lost... until now.” He proudly held up the book he had been studying along with his own spellbook. “This is one of the most potent magical artifacts in our world. One fifth of August Firestorm’s spellbook” “And so how did you come by it?” Althea asked, still not entirely sold on Burny’s story (the gnome had, after all, been known to exaggerate his own prowess before). “Remember how I owe 150gp to the librarian at Laboratory X?” “They sold you this book for 150gp?!” exclaimed Ewan. “Of course not! They think it’s destroyed. And besides, they don’t even know that it contains the spellbook. You see, it’s disguised as a copy of Firestorm’s memoir [I]My History of Storms[/I]. But, if you do this...” Burny kindled a small flame in his hand and touched it to the book. As Ewan and Althea looked on, the writing in the book seemed to melt, revealing a set of glowing blue runes. Burny snapped the book shut and the fire went out. “With this I could become the most powerful wizard of our age. I could create magic that no one has ever before seen. All I have to do is figure out how to read it. Wizards do love their damn codes.” With that they decided to call it a night, and awoke the next morning prepared to see whether their plan had worked and the Baron was gone. When monitoring the road to watch for his carriage yielded no results, they decided that they would have to sneak into his property and see if he had taken the bait. “That’s no problem,” Metis said. “I’ll just turn into a spider and check around his house.” Burny’s jaw dropped. “You’ll do what?” “I can turn into a spider.” “I don’t believe you.” “I’m... sorry?” “Do it. Right now, I want to see you turn into a spider.” Metis shrugged and, before Burny’s eyes, morphed and shrunk until there was nothing left of her but a small spider scuttling along the ground. Then, just as quickly as she had shrunk, she was restored to her original form.” “That’s AMAZING!” Burny turned to the other party members. “Did you all know that this was possible?”' They all nodded and muttered an affirmative as it began to dawn on them that, though Burny’s mind operated on a level that most of them couldn’t begin to comprehend, he had spent basically his entire life studying one topic in Laboratory X and was far and away the least worldly out of the party. It was decided that Veu and Althea (the stealthy ones) would accompany Metis on her infiltration mission, and would stay right outside the house as backup in case things went south. Having spent many weeks working on this farm as guards, they were all intimately acquainted with its layout and also with the schedule that the guards followed. They made it to the Baron’s house without incident, and Metis transformed and slipped under the crack in the door. Having been raised in a noble house herself, she was familiar with the general hustle and bustle of the servants. Therefore a cursory glance was enough to tell her that the Baron’s household was operating on a skeleton crew. After checking the Baron’s office and bedroom and finding him absent from both those locations, she contented herself with the fact that he had indeed fallen for their trick and left for the sham meeting in Liport. Upon emerging, those suspicions were confirmed by Veu who had gone to the Baron’s stables and found his carriage missing. The party had three more days before they were expecting the Baron’s return from Liport, and so they decided to wait until the following day to stage their heist as Metis had already expended an enormous amount of her natural energy turning into spiders (once as demonstration for Burny, and once to surveil). Upon consulting with Callista, the woman decided that she and her group would use that same time to raid the storehouses once more, thereby hopefully dividing any of the Baron’s security who might spot them. And then, of course, they decided to split the party. “Team Stealth” (Metis, Veu, and Althea) would sneak into the house and search for evidence while “Team Loud” (Burny and Ewan) would create a diversion outside to draw the Baron’s butler away from his office door and out of the house. The Butler, I should mention, was somewhat inspired by the character of Butler from the [I]Artemis Fowl [/I]series, and is a very large man who seems like he would be more comfortable in a chain shirt than a tuxedo. The party rolled ridiculously well on stealth, and made it within spitting distance of the Baron’s house with no problems. Burny and Ewan staked out a spot in the fruit orchards about a hundred feet away. Burny looked at Ewan. “Cover your ears,” he said. And then proceeded to cast [I]Thunderwave[/I]. A clap of thunder split the air, the kind that causes fine wine glasses to rattle on their shelf, and the Butler came dashing out of the house toward the sound... straight toward where Burny and Ewan were standing. “Oh sh*t” said Burny, and they ran off to find a place to hide (again, rolling absurd stealth checks, especially for Burny who has -2 DEX). Team Stealth slipped easily into the house and into the Baron’s office. Metis remained a spider perched on Veu’s shoe while Althea riffled through the papers on the desk, finding nothing but the farming documents one might expect. Veu decided it might be wise to start tapping on the panels of the wall, and, when she got to the panel adjacent to the desk, realized with some certainty that there was a hollow space behind it. In quick order she found the hidden keyhole and picked the lock with ease, causing the entire panel to slide away and revealing a small room that seemed to be built into the very wall of the house itself. A steep ship’s ladder led up to a trapdoor in the ceiling, but what really got their attention was that the room was filled – literally [U]filled[/U] – with filing cabinets. Metis quickly changed back into Triton form so that they could divide and conquer the immense reading task before them, and they began skimming through files as fast as they could. What they discovered was alarming. The cabinets contained the farming documents from [U]every[/U] farm in [U]every [/U]city on the plane, and there were notes in the Baron’s hand detailing which ones were doing particularly poorly. The information network alone that he would need to gather all these documents was truly staggering to conceive of. It wasn’t long before Althea found one cabinet that was locked, and quickly summoned Veu over to work her magic. Whether Veu was distracted by their findings or whether this lock was particularly well-crafted they never found out, but Veu's lockpicks slipped and a small spike shot from the face of the cabinet and pricked her hand. She exclaimed in pain and grabbed her hand to check her injury, only to see that her hand was turning bright red. Then a wave of queasiness washed over her and she leaned against the wall as her whole body began shaking with violent chills. “What is it?” Metis asked, concerned. “Some sort of poison,” Veu groaned. (in my world this is actually a fairly common type of poison used to forestall thievery. It doesn’t do any damage, but it leaves the thief literally red-handed and it lasts until cured so it’s easier to locate them if they wind up laying low for days or weeks) Meanwhile, outside, the Butler seemed satisfied that all was in order and began heading back toward the house. Still seeing no sign of the rest of their party, Burny proceeds to cast a number of [I]Fire Bolts [/I]into the air, which worked about as well as yelling “Hey! Over here!” The Butler smelled the smoke, began booking it towards them, and once more they found themselves running for their lives. Only this time the Butler had seen them and so there was no easy way to hide. As Burny is a gnome with little legs, the Butler quickly began gaining on them. Burny mentally ran through every spell he knew, trying to think of something, anything that would slow down their pursuer. He cursed. He’d almost forgotten that he knew [I]Ray of Frost [/I](not being a fire spell, he was apt to pass over it). He paused, turned, and shot the [I]Ray[/I], connecting and slowing their pursuer. The Butler, in response, pulled a knife from the inside of his jacket. Burny laughed, knowing that he was 60 feet away and there was no way the Butler could possibly hit him. And then the knife buried itself in his shoulder. Team Stealth decided to leave the locked cabinet alone for a while and check out the trapdoor in the ceiling. Upon emerging into the room above, they saw an even more troubling sight than anything they’d been expecting: the room was pitch dark, but their torch revealed a massive seal of Tempus painted on the floor (in this world Tempus is the god of Law who assumes the aspect of War during wartime). Surrounding it were black and red candles that had burned themselves out, and written around and around the wall in a tiny cramped hand seemed to be the complete legal codes of Ekrido. One section of the room was divided by a set of steel bars, and within the cage they saw a humanoid figure hunched in the corner, entirely bald and with pale white skin. Althea approached the cage. “Hello?” The figure responded, faintly. “You’re not my father.” “We work for your father. He sent us to check on you.” (no need for a Deception check, the figure is in no mental state to bother doubting Althea’s statements) “There’s still plenty of food.” Indeed there were sacks of food lying about the figure, mostly untouched. “Remind me again... what’s your name?” “Alaya.” Metis’s eyes widened. She knew Alaya. The girl was some seven years younger than her, and she had babysat and played with the child when the Baron attended her parents’ famous dinner functions in Liport. She had certainly been human then, but looked far different now. “And why does your father keep you locked in here?” “He’s ashamed of what I’ve become. I was to be his heir. But I suppose some things must be sacrificed.” “How would you like to see the sun again?” Alaya moaned at the thought, and they could barely detect her whispering “yes, oh yes, ohhhh yes.” Althea looked at Veu. Even with the rogue’s queasiness and shaking limbs, she was still able to break a simple lock like the one on the door the Alaya’s prison. Althea entered and helped Alaya to her feet, the girl’s hand clammy and cold in her own. As they began walking toward the exit, some of the girl’s strength seemed to return and Althea felt her grip growing stronger and her steps becoming steadier. She continued rambling as they walked, seeming almost to be talking to herself. “When the famines started, my father, always a devoted servant of Tempus, prayed that his farm be spared. But it wasn’t Tempus who answered. It was an angel from his host. The angel offered to protect my father’s farm from the blight in exchange for many things. I was part of the bargain. And, while my body was mutated, my spirit was cleansed, allowing me to perfectly serve his will here in this world.” Alaya released Althea’s grip entirely and took a few steps forward on her own, standing just on the tip of the seal of Tempus painted on the floor. As soon as she stepped on the seal a change overcame her – her muscles seemed to relax and she breathed deeply with the relief of one who has been holding their breath too long. “He cleansed my spirit, and left me to the task of cleansing others. His symbol restores my strength. Now, not even I know what I’m capable of.” Behind them, the door to the prison slammed shut with a clang. Alaya turned and raised her head for the first time, revealing jet-black eyes. The symbol of Tempus on the floor began to pulse with a dull red light. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
The Mask of Mask (updated 01/21/2023)
Top