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Junpei posted:>Show Hespera the Keystone. You show Hespera the keystone and explain its use. She's cagey as usual, but it's clear that it was unexpected. It also either demonstrates you are confident or at least overly trusting, and that seems to get her on side.  "So your goblins aren't entirely useless. If you're serious about this... Not all my contacts are burned. Bring me to a port and I might have shelter, or at least a better ship than some Rodkhoran dinghy."The offer of assistance is key for showing that something has changed. Hespera knows there's no such thing as free favors, but what's more than that, she's not a follower by nature. If she's going in, she wants a key role. welfarestateofmind fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Sep 6, 2023 |
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Sep 6, 2023 03:17
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>Show her the shiv, too.
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Sep 6, 2023 20:47
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Junpei posted:>Show her the shiv, too. "Is this supposed to be some kind of threat?" Said in good humor, but she's far less impressed with this than the keystone.
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Sep 7, 2023 01:05
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Ask Hespera what she knows about the other prisoners. Which ones would likely be willing to join in an escape effort, and what could they contribute? Would any of them be a liability?
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Sep 7, 2023 01:08
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HBar posted:Ask Hespera what she knows about the other prisoners. Which ones would likely be willing to join in an escape effort, and what could they contribute? Would any of them be a liability? "I tried to keep my nose clean while in here. I haven't been here much longer than you." Still, she thinks, and names what she knows as you list off the names you remember. "Armend... I recognize, unfortunately. Armend Kullmart. An ogre like you, actually. We were business partners once. A Cazzeri maestro, a ruthless capitalist, his 'academies' were no more than workhouses that used child labor. He tricked many families into signing away their children to him, thinking they had no other choice." "Lister and Rudd are on our floor. Lister is a fetch, a machine man. Like most fetches, he's difficult to understand. He'll spend hours... well, listing things. You'll see if you ever cross paths with him." "Rudd is a kobold from Hes', a dog man with a talent for explosives. They sometimes have him down in the depths below, working on the excavations. I think he's planning something." "Gerthrude's old woman act has the guards all fooled, but I know she's only biding her time. I have a rule gaainst working with necromancers; you're just as useful to them dead as alive, if not more so." "Mago is also a name I recognize. My birds told me he was working with the Commonwealth when I tried to track down who set me up. The Rosy Compass, their spy network, has been ramping up their operations, and the Countess Lysis has responded in kind."
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Sep 7, 2023 01:35
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A loose outline of a plan might be something like:
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Sep 7, 2023 02:22
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HBar posted:A loose outline of a plan might be something like: I'll go with this.
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Sep 7, 2023 02:26
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||= BOOK ONE: SYMPHONY OF SORROWS =|| || == == 26 Herushan, 2979 VII == == || > play conspiracy.wav  After a long and productive session plotting through the day, evading the attentions of the guards as you do so, you wait for the cover of Umbra to fall upon Branderscar. You go through the plan again and again in your head. The tension holds the skin taut and you can feel pins and needles as you realize this might be your only chance to escape. The plan is this: You will have the goblins open the cell an hour after shift change, so the guards will be well into their cups and games. You’ll send them down into the donjon to prepare to release the monstrous distraction after some time has passed, though it takes a few explanations before you are at least reasonably confident they understand not to do it immediately. After that, you’d take out the fusilier, the biggest threat on the board. So long as you can get up close, you are reasonably confident you can overpower and snuff out a gnomish sharpshooter, and you know she’ll be posted up on the roof or battlements. Evading the guards will be relatively easy - at first. The longer you are out and about, however, the more chance you have to get caught. Which is why the distraction might be key. After the fusilier is taken care of, you’ll return back to the cell block and release Hespera and this kobold, Rudd, and hope between them they can work together to gather a crew for the escape. You hope between the monster in the donjon and their work releasing the prisoners you’ll have enough time to explore the warden’s tower and find out if your starwheels are hidden there – as well as what “friend” Gerthrude alluded to. After that, it will be either delving into the tunnels below or scaling down the walls to make a break by sea. Neither is a perfect escape and smells of the risk of death, but you’re hungry to try it regardless. You’ve got little time left to spend.  At the appointed time, you hear a little knocking sound. A clatter of a pot against the bars of the exterior door leading into the hallway that contains the entrance to both you and Hespera’s cell. You see peaking through the window slit the golden, glossy eye of Fee, waving with her little claw at you excitedly. Fee, Fie, and Foe stack upon each other to reach the requisite height to reach the door mechanism, and pull down the lever, releasing with a click the portcullis. The machinery is not exactly quiet, causing your whole body to tense with sudden anxiety that it would be heard. The doves perched in the rafters above you coo worriedly and flock around, all seeming to stare at you with their glossy eyes, but you heard no guards roused to investigate. The goblin tower disassembles itself and they make their way to the internal door, and once again stack up to release you, opening the internal portcullis. At last, you are free! It is an exhilarating feeling, as you tighten the cord around your waist and hempspun robe, palming the shiv behind you as you bend down and look out towards the rest of the cell block. Still nothing. You press your finger to your lip to hush the chattering goblins, who blink a bit at you, and then after you grimace at them they seem to remember what their next task is supposed to be. They clamber a bit, and then scurry off to make their way down into the belly of the prison, leaving you alone save for the doves and their glassy eyes, and Hespera who offers a word of encouragement. “Don’t die on me, partner.” > play escape.wav
As you make your way up the spiral staircase at the center of the tower, you find yourself pausing for a moment. You hear voices above, and the sound of… laughter? Light and kind. The light is dim and gentle as well, like that of candles. You slow and creep upwards, twisting your head to look sidelong rather than horns-forward, your nostrils flaring as you smell… wine and cheese? The glimpse you see is something out of a bard’s romance. A quilted blanket upon the stone ground, with picnic basket and all, lined and circled with candles. Upon the blanket, two love birds in a caressing embrace: a wild-haired Laithish gnome, the fusilier you are on the hunt for, in the arms of a tall Hesten woman who you would not recognize without her garish costume as the landsknecht if not for her bright red hair, much like your own. “I can’t believe you did all of this for me, Rieke. But, you know I’m on duty…” “You worry too much, sparrow hawk. Let the dogs lie, and we shall play.” Teasing and even seductive, the Hesten has spun her spell over the Laithish woman. But, this is a complication. While the two are… distracted, even vulnerable with their armor and weapons laid aside, you’re not sure you could so cleanly take out both of them as you would one. You could overpower the gnome with ease, you think, but while you have reach on the Hesten, her body is far more built on its compact frame than your own. She would not go down so easily. However, the plan is already set in motion. You don’t know when the dogsbodies will make good on their task, but you can’t linger for long. You must decide what to do next.
> You have them at a disadvantage, and might be able to leverage that. At the end of a blade make your THREAT and disarm them, and leave them to it. > Alternatively, they may make good HOSTAGES, though being outnumbered might make that dicey. > They should know better than to play with so much fire. With a little oil from below, you could BURN their little picnic, and the tower with it. > LEAVE them be. The fusilier is little threat to your escape like this, and will be late to respond to the alarm when the monster is released beside. > Something ELSE…
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Sep 8, 2023 17:07
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Smash the fusilier, use them as a weapon/distraction against their now-distraught/furious lover?  e: did consider a less-  option using the fusiliers weapon instead, but a: don't know if its loaded, b: probably too much noise just yet.
Arcanuse fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Sep 8, 2023 |
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Sep 8, 2023 17:58
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> Continue with the plan.
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Sep 8, 2023 18:25
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>Stay the course!
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Sep 8, 2023 19:07
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>BURN Oops, these silly drunkards dropped a match in the gunpowder and blew up themselves in the tower. How did that happen???
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Sep 8, 2023 23:28
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>Continue, the option to burn them is tempting but their weapons and keystones will be a big help if we can get them. Try to find an opportunity to take out the landsknecht first while we still have the element of surprise. Do we know what weapon she uses? If we can reach that first without being detected, it'd likely work better than a shiv. Once we have what we need from here, we might want to burn the tower anyway, it'd make another distraction and then the beacon can't be used against us, or the cannons if we escape by houseboat. Although that might make it harder to sneak in any areas illuminated by the fire. And Rudd might want the gunpowder. Maybe after the warden's tower we can make another stop here to burn the beacon tower if there's time.
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Sep 9, 2023 00:22
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||= BOOK ONE: SYMPHONY OF SORROWS =|| || == == 26 Herushan, 2979 VII == == || || == Beacon Tower, Branderscar Castle == ||  > play escape.wav
You hope to cruelly use the leverage of the gnome’s body to keep the Hesten pinned long enough for you to slip the knife into her gut as well, but you are shocked at the alacrity of her reaction. With a swift kick of her knee into your side, you feel the pain and seize up slightly, your breath nearly as ragged as the gnome’s. You tear out the blade and crimson spray extinguishes some of the candles, and stains the picnic blanket below. It isn’t over in a single red instant, as you planned.  “Now… Why did you have to ruin a perfectly good night as this one?”With almost galling confidence, and disregard for the mortally wounded life between the two of you, she is about one pace away. You could close the distance but she would her shot off before you did. Neither of you move, frozen in that moment, with only the howling of the wind through the tower, causing the candles to gutter, and the shallow breathing of the stabbed fusilier who desperately tries to crawl, grasping at her torso and side as blood pools around her.
> Time to BARGAIN. You no longer have the element of surprise, and the landsknecht has proven she is very capable. There’s a coldness and calculus to her that you might be able to reason with, such that both of you make it out of this alive. > You haven’t had access to a spellbook or components, but BLOOD can suffice in a pinch. The fusilier’s sacrifice will not be in vain: you could work an enchantment over the Hesten, and twist her mind to your own, at least for a time. It won’t last forever, and few have fond feelings after being put under such a hex, but it might work. > You have multiple forms of cover here. You can’t get the musket but you could grab the keystone from the gnome and use her body as a human shield, long enough to throw a fistful of burning candles down below into the tower, and escape under the cover of FIRE. > Something ELSE… welfarestateofmind fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Sep 9, 2023 |
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Sep 9, 2023 17:50
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>Blood. Our sorcery is good enough, and even if it only lasts a few moments that's all we need.
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Sep 9, 2023 18:29
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HBar posted:>Blood. Our sorcery is good enough, and even if it only lasts a few moments that's all we need.  >BLOOD
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Sep 9, 2023 18:34
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>Blood.
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Sep 9, 2023 18:55
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>Blood!
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Sep 9, 2023 19:36
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>Blood 
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Sep 9, 2023 19:50
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||= BOOK ONE: SYMPHONY OF SORROWS =|| || == 26 Herushan, 2979 VII, Nocturns == || || == Beacon Tower, Branderscar Castle == || 
 “Drop your weapon.”Unblinking, and without resistance, the Hesten mercenary lets the pistol clatter to the ground. However, you feel leave your body with a rasping breath some of your essence spent, the blood used in the sigil drying and blackening with wisps of smoke rising up from it, as if cooked under an open flame. She is yours. > BLOOD: +2 Sorcery, +1 Tyranny > Harm: +10 Soul > You have gained a new Pawn! RIEKE has joined you as your accomplice. code:Again, without hesitation, the Hesten moves over towards the mortally wounded woman at your feet, loosing the dirk from her belt, and places it against the chest, turning her hands for leverage with the palm directly upon the hilt. Holding your gaze the entire time, Rieke mercilessly drives the dagger straight into the heart of the Laithish gnome. The fusilier is no more. You avail yourself of the keystone. While the one you got from the guard was made out of a quartz-like substance, the one around the fusilier’s neck resembles closer an opal, as does the one on Rieke’s neck. You manage to get yourself a musket, a pistol, and a dirk to arm yourself with. There is also a great two-handed zweihander, which you can wield with ease as an ogre though you are not particularly trained in the use of.
“What next, Mistress?” There is no eagerness in the voice, but neither is it the hollowed out voice of an automaton, a puppeted body. It is simply cold like the reaches of Hes’, someone who already was a weapon in need of wielding. If you had more time, you could further bind her with blood, make her truly your pet, but you do not have that luxury. Indeed, almost on queue, you hear the tolling of a bell, like that of a church. It is the alarm being raised. What is to be done about this weapon?
> On the other hand, she could cause a lot of damage. ARM HER with the zweihander and set her loose upon the guards. drat her by further bloodying her hands. > There is something of a middle ground here. You could take her as a HOSTAGE, unarmed but at hand in case a use comes up, though you’d have to divide your attentions to maintain the spell. > Something ELSE … The next phase in your plan was to release your would-be co-conspirators, both your cell-mate Hespera as well as the kobold demolitionist Rudd. You decide to use the cover of the beacon tower and go back down the stairwell, rather than exposing yourself upon the roof. However, very quickly it becomes apparent that things have gone awry.
You see near yours and Hespera’s cell the responsible parties: Simulba Ghilcante, the warden’s apprentice, and Lt. Blackbriar himself. She holds a bronze wand at her side and with her other hand grasps a dove that she holds rather unkindly, whispering words to it and then listening, before turning to confer with the blue-haired gnome at her flank.  “She is making her way back here. Soon she will be in our grasp… All thanks to me, of course.” “Aye, ye’ve said your piece, but ye coulda warned us sooner. Didn’t need to lose a good soldier over this.”There is a seething rage under the gnome’s voice. Simulba is taken a little aback, and you realize now that she misplayed her hand: she wanted to lure you into a trap and take the glory for doing so, but the fact you managed to cause some damage in the meantime reflects poorly on the both of them in the Warden’s absence. She opens her mouth, but says nothing, sneering a bit as the lieutenant ignores her and turns to the guards, who have keythong hounds with their bristling feathers, wicked talons, and sharp beaks ready to seek you out. “Find her, and bring her to me. Alive.”Alive? That is almost a surprise. You would expect at this given moment, with everything else, that the gloves would come off. You are to be executed tomorrow. What purpose would they have for keeping you alive? You have little chance to consider the question, as you hear the footsteps of guards coming down the stairwell behind you. It’s now or never. Escape may no longer be an option, and certainly the plan has mostly been scuttled, but you might still be able to leverage something out of this mess.
> You may yet get another chance after this. You can find a CACHE to store your items in to recover them afterwards, and turn yourself in. Maybe you can bargain your way through this, and this certainly will risk the least amount of harm to yourself. > You may be able to take a HOSTAGE, either one of the guards, one of the two VIPs, or if you kept her around, Rieke could suffice. Their hearts are soft enough that you might be able to negotiate a way out. > You could make a break for the WIZARD TOWER on the rooftop, where the Lord Warden’s library is kept and Gerthrude intimated a spectral ally might be. > You could leap down into the DONJON and the darkness therein, and seek to release the monster there yourself to cover your escape. You may come out of it with some broken bones, but it would not be the first time in your previous line of work you’d taken such a leap of faith. > Something ELSE … welfarestateofmind fucked around with this message at 20:39 on Sep 11, 2023 |
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Sep 11, 2023 18:46
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We could try and twist the birds to our advantage? Linking them all up like this, why that's a downright unsafe thing to do without proper protections put in place. Our magic might suffice to poison, corrupt, or otherwise trap the surveillance so its actively dangerous to its user(s)? And after/during that our new associate could go berserk to make a distraction while any observers are still reeling from backlash. After that... Perhaps set off the gargoyles, somehow? We don't need them to be friendly, so long as they go after the guards more than us. Not exactly a plan so much as 'maximize chaos so everyone else is flailing too', but its a start.
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Sep 11, 2023 19:18
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Arcanuse posted:We could try and twist the birds to our advantage? code:
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Sep 11, 2023 20:42
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>FIRE the gunpowder stores >WIZARD TOWER
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Sep 11, 2023 22:19
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Slaan posted:>FIRE the gunpowder stores
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Sep 11, 2023 23:07
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> FIRE the gunpowder stores, take out Rieke in the process. > WIZARD TOWER
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Sep 12, 2023 03:22
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BraveLittleToaster posted:> FIRE the gunpowder stores, take out Rieke in the process.
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Sep 12, 2023 03:26
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How’s Sarah doing? Did we vote wrong and get her shot and then blown up and then splattered in a fall?
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Sep 26, 2023 21:43
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