Something Strange is Happening in the South...

deadpool_qc Inactive for 1 months

Oma Salie listens to the king's worried words and looks a bit confused, eyes gliding over the assembled powerful women and men in the room. She clears her throat, and shoots a look at the king that is best described as "grandmother looking at a silly grandchild". Excuse me sire, I don't want to question your decisions but aren't we a bit powerful for a scouting group investigating a squad of knights missing for less than 12 hours? It might be the old age talking here but that doesn't seem very long. You've got an amazing spymaster and probably plenty of people to accompany her if she were to check it out, so why ask us all? She shrugs, then quickly adds Not that I don't want to go, now I know this mystery I want to know what's going on. But it almost seems like you're not telling everything you know...

Apr 12, 2018 5:34 pm

Kuz puts his hand on Ryestro's shoulder in a friendly manner, "If you here than King trust you, so I trust also. You ask bird and I ask bear spirit. See if info is same."

deadpool_qc sent a note to Arina

Last edited April 12, 2018 7:27 pm

Apr 12, 2018 6:00 pm

Rolana nods slightly, her expression thoughtful.

If there was no hint of anything wrong reported before this occurred, then it must mean that whatever happened was sudden and well-concealed. That suggests extraordinarily good planning and flawless execution. That takes a certain amount of wealth to fund, and power both political and magical, given what you've told us.

With a glance at Ryestro and Kuz, she folds her hands behind her back in what might pass for parade rest if she didn't look so relaxed. Certainly, the best first step is to gather any intelligence we can remotely, as Ryestro and Kuz have suggested. Before we do so, however, it would be helpful to narrow our field of possible perpetrators.

Who do we know that has the treasure, military might and political connections, the sheer audacity and cunning, and access to the kind of magical power and control to raise the kind of field your majesty has described?

Codega Inactive forever!

Apr 12, 2018 7:02 pm

I'm honoured to serve the kingdom as an emasary of Pelor, and as these two have said I believe that we need to know more of what is happening. This is very frightening, for this amount of planning to have everything just vanish its something or someone very powerful...

Anwin shivers

Tinwë

Araklusta

Apr 13, 2018 1:33 am

Dramasailor Inactive for 3 months

Tinwë finds herself smiling and laughing among friends old and new. For a moment she can forget the bitter memories of life as a dismissed cripple, and the terrible shock of her father's murder in this very building. Why have I stayed away so long?

Then the masked man enters the room, and Tinwë immediately stiffens. That mask... no, it's impossible. That man is dead. She unconsciously flexes and tenses her muscles as she watches the one called Ryestro speak with the spymaster. But... best to keep an eye on that one...

------------------------------------------------------------------

Tinwë watches her uncle's face while listening to the suggestions and musings tossed around by those in the room. The King had always been quite distant, even when not surrounded by dignitaries and courtiers. The weight of an entire kingdom rests on the man's shoulders, but he bears it with such... security.

Finally she steps forward to join the discussion. She approaches the King and bows deeply, holding her cloak out to one side. "Your Majesty, as promised in my missive, I am at your service. Please, allow me to make up for the time I have been away. I hope to serve in a manner that would have made my father proud." She rises and turns to the rest. "If this antimagic field disrupts scrying, I doubt a wizard's pet would fare any better. We may need to take a closer look with our own eyes."

Last edited April 13, 2018 1:34 am

Apr 13, 2018 2:23 am

OOC:

Out of curiosity, how far away is Southwatch? Not sure it's a thing that would be a "fly for three hours and get information". Additionally, would there be anything like a permanent teleportation circle anywhere near to Southwatch that Aetoris would know of?

Oma Salie raises a good point majesty. It is disconcerting, to be sure. Is it simply the strength of the anti-scrying magics that brings to mind a more powerful response than something as simple as Rolana and I, possibly, taking a few days to see what we can spot? Admittedly, Oma and I have a small shop in Southwatch, but I've not been in some time, otherwise getting to the outpost would be a simple task. he rubs his chin in thought. How large were both the trade caravan and the contingent of knights? Who was their cavalier? MacGuinn? To know which knights are missing could inform more of what could have caused the issue.

Ryestro Comino

HypCo Inactive forever!

Apr 13, 2018 2:27 am

"I think it will fare exceedingly. Scrying does not give you vision until you target what you are trying to view. I will have eyes on Southwatch long before the antimagic field disrupts it; in any case we will find out how far out this field extends. I do not like being in the dark when it comes to information and what we know is the city has gone silent and the guards sent gone unheard. The King is not stupid and requesting my presence means I wouldn't doubt this room is full of capable people...but going into the unknown is foolish and thoughtless. My plan removes the risk;" He reaches into a pouch and tosses 10 gold to the floor "That is what we lose following my plan. Is your life worth less than that?"

Arina Inactive forever!

Apr 13, 2018 3:03 am

OOC:

Southwatch is quite far from the capital. Maybe three weeks' travel on horseback. There is a teleportation circle in Southwatch. There next closest is in Celeria, a small city, about a week away from Southwatch. You also know that Southwatch is a fortress city and it guards a mountain path which invading orc parties traverse annually.

The king looks to his spymaster. Yes indeed. That is my fear too. That the massive scale and secrecy of this attack means that we are being invaded. My generals have come to the same conclusion and we have decided to call in our banners. But we need to know whom we face. We must know what is happening there!

He then looks to Aetoris. I don't have the exact details of the size of the caravan. However, I'm sure I can easily find out.

He gestures and a servant rises and leaves the room.
Also, I know that twelve knights were sent under the command of Sir Gerrard Septius.

Tinwë

Araklusta

Apr 13, 2018 3:53 am

Tinwë does her best to control a shiver that works its way down her spine as she listens to Ryestro speak. Why does he make me feel so... helpless? Who is this man?

She grits her teeth and turns away from the masked man, looking instead to Aetoris. "The lives of the people of Southwatch mean more to me than waiting here for weeks in comfort and safety. Aetoris, how close can you take us with that helmet?"

Codega Inactive forever!

Apr 13, 2018 4:02 am

Perhaps Celeria is our best choice, I do not wish to teleport straight into Southwatch before knowing what we are teleporting into. Oma what do you think?

Apr 13, 2018 5:39 am

Perhaps a very small scouting party - myself and one or two others - could teleport into Southwatch posing as traders. This would be strictly to take stock of the situation firsthand. The rest of the group could teleport into Celeria and await word from us before proceeding to Southwatch. We can set up a mundane method of sending simple, predefined signals that trigger certain protocols.

There is certainly no way to handle this situation without incurring risk, but we have enough experience and talent in this room to minimize it.

Last edited April 13, 2018 5:39 am

Ryestro Comino

HypCo Inactive forever!

Apr 13, 2018 5:55 am

"And how much help will you be to the people of Southwatch dead because you felt the need to rush into things? I agree that we should start this in Celeria to limit the time we are waiting but we should wait nonetheless. If you can't protect yourself, how do you expect to protect the people of Southwatch?" The raven vanishes once more as he calmly speaks.

Apr 13, 2018 6:40 am

Oma Salie Molly Greenfinger Klaver

Rolana receives Ryestro's rebuke calmly. I don't believe anyone said anything about rushing in, Ryestro. You can always send your raven to scout while we prepare things here. But I don't think we should just be waiting idly in the meantime. This situation demands immediate action.

ae_dd Inactive forever!

Apr 13, 2018 10:50 am

Oma Salie smiles at Anwin, then sighs, reaching into one of her pockets and taking out a small mint leaf, putting it in her mouth and chewing slowly, thinking about all that's being said. Rolana, think what you're saying dear. A teleportation circle is easily guarded and if you truly think it's an invasion, wouldn't they guard the circle first and best? They must expect troops coming in through there, at least for the time it takes for anyone to come from another direction. If 12 knights can't even send back a sign of life, not even one of them coming back immediately to give an update, what makes you think you could? If it's not something else distracting the knights, and I'm starting to think it isn't, I would say it is definitely a dumb idea to teleport to that circle.
It is indeed a shame we didn't get a chance to visit our store recently Aetoris, that would've made things a lot easier. For now I think Celeria is the best we can do. I suggest we start our journey there, when we get closer sending the raven and bear out to scout when we do our necessary resting. I don't see a better way. I suggest we leave for Celeria immediately once we've established how and how often we seek contact with you, sire. The longer we wait, the more time for the invaders to hurt innocent people. Anyone opposed to this plan? She raiser her eyebrows, giving a stern look to each person sitting at the table, lingering a bit on Rolana and Ryestro

Apr 13, 2018 2:02 pm

Dramasailor Inactive for 3 months

With a slight smile, Rolana returns Oma Salie's gaze. Knights possess a very different skill set that makes them ill-suited for scouting and espionage. They are likely dead, enthralled, or otherwise compromised.

Your plan is fine, but it seems to me that it would be much more likely to succeed if we had people already in Southwatch with insight into what is taking place there. Perhaps this seems "dumb" to you, but it's the kind of mission that I have run many times. It's what spies do, after all.

OOC:

It would be helpful to know who uses the teleportation circles normally. If they are reserved for government and military personnel, Rolana's idea of course won't work, but if ordinary folk can use them, there are many possibilities.

Apr 13, 2018 2:31 pm

OOC:

It would possibly be helpful for us to have some background information on the world like Rolana suggests here before we continue building our plan. I would assume that we, as high level characters, have a level of understanding. I as Dramasailor don't know how the circles are used, where they'd be located, knowledge of them, etc. Aetoris certainly would. Same with things like the relevant geography of the world. Would it make sense for us to put together some OOC questions in one batch that would possibly clear up our player understanding of the world so our characters can behave and plan they way they truly would with their knowledge?

For example:
How far from capital to Southwatch: 3 weeks by horse
Teleportation circles:
Do they exist? Yes. There is one in Southwatch and one in Celeria.
Who commonly uses them?
Where in the cities are they located? In controlled protected areas, in hidden basements?
What is the typical security protocol around the circles? Are they commonly guarded?
Would we know if there's any interaction from the anti-magic field?

Without that knowledge that I assume Aetoris WOULD definitely have, it's a bit rough for me to properly get in his head for planning. I see where all current character choices could be good valid plans, depending on how this world works. Can we clear this up and then attack the "planning the assault of the place"?

Apr 13, 2018 3:28 pm

OOC:

Agree on all counts with Dramasailor

Araklusta

Apr 13, 2018 3:35 pm

Dramasailor Inactive for 3 months

OOC:

I second Drama's motion. Moonbeam beat me to it!

By the way, really enjoying the game so far. Fun stuff all around!

Last edited April 13, 2018 3:36 pm

Apr 13, 2018 3:38 pm

OOC:

Additionally, I think I'm missing a bit of something in the order of events here, so let me put out the timeline as I understand it:
-> A caravan was supposed to reach Fort Naleth (not sure where this is in comparison to Southwatch, the Capital, and Celeria) 12 hours ago.
-> When they didn't show, knights were dispatched (where were the knights dispatched from, how long did it take them to get to their point of investigation, how did they travel. I just assumed this was information that Aetoris would know in terms of being familiar with the tactics used).
-> Some time after they were set to investigate, they didn't return. When the lack of return was noted, they tried to scry on the location of the knights and found that some magical force was preventing the scrying. Givenn that, a mage sent General Bradford a magical message (is Bradford here in the capital or is Bradford in Southwatch).
-> A war council was convened and we were summoned.

The timing flows weird for me. If the caravan was supposed to get to the fort 12 hours ago, how is it that they were missing long enough to constitute concern. If they were an hour late or 2, that could be weird "hey, I have to pee" stops or a broken wheel, or something. Assume that after an hour of no show, concern is raised. That puts us at now - 11 hours. Was the caravan headed to Naleth from Southwatch?

Someone somewhere asks 12 knights to go investigate. Are these knights headed out from the fort? Meant to go check in at Southwatch? Assuming they are knights from Naleth, they set out towards Southwatch. Not knowing how far a ride the fort is from the city, it's hard to say when we would expect a report from the knights. Say it's a 2 hour ride at the pace they'd set. That puts us at now - 9 hours for when the knights would have made the journey to Southwatch. Assume they have 30 minutes to figure out the issue and they send a rider back at a gallop to inform the fort. This puts us 6.5 hours ago that the Fort was informed that everything was under control, also they could say "it's been 4.5 hours, we expected a rider back, now we raise the alarm to the general". The mage then messages the general and the war council starts and now here we are.

I don't wanna be pushy or argumentative, just trying to figure out what actually happened as a player and figuring out what Aetoris knows of the world so I can have him do his planning thing.

EDITED:
I definitely enjoy the game and the interplay between characters. I look forward to how we will frolic through the piles of dead orcish invaders once we get the world cleared up. :)

Last edited April 13, 2018 3:39 pm

Arina Inactive forever!

Apr 13, 2018 3:57 pm