"Indeed, you sound under the weather, as it were. Let me see if I can do something about that."

Zuriel walks up to Baldwin and places a hand on his forehead. White light swirls around his hand before seeping into the bard.

[Casting: Remove Disease]

"There we go. Feel any better?" he asks. I wonder if it will do anything for his rampant alcoholism...

He turns to Lyriel. "Do you think you might be able to conjure a hot breakfast?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:05, Tue 14 Oct 2014.

In reply to Zuriel Silendril (msg # 41):

"Somewhat," Baldwin says after a moment. He looks no less weak, but sounds a bit less sniffly. "Thank you. Shall we go inside?"

The group enters the tent, where Baldwin removes his fur-lined gloves and pulls back his hood before sitting by a small, well-contained fire within the canvas walls.

The healers among you notice a spiderweb of pale red veins on his cheeks, a yellowish, jaundiced hue in the whites of his eyes, and a raw redness in his palms. All told, he does not look well.

"Just soup for me, I fear. I doubt I can tolerate much else," the bard continues, spreading the holy symbols out on a blanket rolled nearby with considerable effort. "Come, sit. We can eat and work at the same time. Were you able to procure the missing symbol?"

[Private to Keef: These symptoms remind you slightly of your father -- particularly the jaundiced eyes -- as they are the symptoms of cirrhosis of the liver.]
This message was last edited by the player at 20:32, Tue 14 Oct 2014.

Zuriel nods, and holds out the holy symbol of Le'lothriel. "We did indeed. And knocked down the Fey'driel tower in the process."

Lyriel looks Baldwin over with concern, and nods. Of course.

The priestess extends her hand towards a sheltered portion of the clearing, and with an emerald flash of light, the banquet table appears. The conjured wooden table creaks under the weight of steaming hot cider, oatmeal, cinnamon porridge, and a mound of syrup-slathered pancakes. Before Baldwin's setting is an enormous terrine of piping hot chicken soup, with carrots and fluffy dumplings bobbing in the broth.

The PARTY, having grown quite used to this, seems about as impressed as Chubbs. Lyriel suppresses a smile, eager to see Rachel's reaction.

In reply to Lyriel Vesper (msg # 44):

"That explains a great deal," Baldwin murmurs, nodding thoughtfully at the tale as it is told and fumbling to put the symbol of Le'lothriel into its appropriate analyzer. The numbers whirl and spin, then lock onto a figure that Baldwin jots down on a notebook. "And now to tabulate the results."

Rachel, Karl, and Oliver whistle appreciatively at the summoned feast, and dig in with gusto along with the others.

"We've had adventures of our own," Rachel says around a mouthful of porridge. "Dodging Wardens, sticking to the back roads, tearing down wanted posters depicting our brave, handsome bard... there's been plenty to do."

"Rotten, lousy mercs," Oliver nods, tucking into a tower of pancakes with vigor. "A couple groups have been tailing us ever since we left Ikuabai. There's two trios in particular we've yet to shake entirely, though I haven't seen 'em yet around here. Hopefully the snow's done 'em in or tossed them off the trail for good."

Maeve helps herself to a large cup of cider and some of the porridge, still rather full from the biscuits from the inn.

"I don't suppose that one of those trios consisted of some fellows that looked like. . . ."  Here she proceeds to describe the dice players from the inn.

In reply to DM (msg # 45):

"That's one of the sets," Oliver nods, scowling. "I knew it was too much to hope for. The other group looks a lot different."

He then proceeds to describe Bill, Derek, and Flint -- the group who once attempted to return Lyriel to her family at swordpoint (back in Chapter 9).

"That settles it," Baldwin interrupts, looking up from his notebook. "Just look at these numbers..."

He slides the parchment to the P.A.R.T.Y. for perusal.



"As you can see, there are some notable outliers, particularly when it comes to Kazul and Tassada," he says wearily. "Any ideas about what these mean? I'll share my hypothesis after everyone weighs in, so as not to taint the value of having fresh eyes on my work."

[Crossroads]
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:06, Tue 14 Oct 2014.

Boreas scratches his beard, scribbling numbers on a piece of paper.

Looks like Tyblin, Le'lothriel, and Darilen have it worst.  What kind of common thread connects those three?  Also, there's no positive gain anywhere, which makes me think it's all being diverted to some outside source.

"It's hard to tell what with the varying numbers, but that seems correct.  Why just the one for Kazul?"

In reply to Maeve Hassan (msg # 49):

The Gods are fading... I mean,,,, maybe... moving out of alignment... the part of the wheel that doesn't touch ground...

Keef, who has been more intent on studying Baldwin himself than the holy symbols or measurements, mutters something along the lines of an excuse to leave and ducks out of the tent.

Lyriel likewise takes the opportunity to study Baldwin more closely, and what she sees concerns her deeply.

[Heal: 29]

Liver failure. I'm sure of it. No wonder Zuriel's magic didn't work...this is bad. He doesn't have much time left. We need to get him to Lo'driel immediately. I don't have the magic to cure something like this.

Setting that subject aside, she considers the revelation that Derek and Bill were on Baldwin's tail. Sent by my mother, I'd wager. Though how she managed to convince House Mason to chase criminals I have no idea. Derek and Bill aren't bounty hunters...

Lyriel's face darkens as she considers her would-be abductors, and their family. She had quite a few questions she would just love to ask the Masons...

That too was a problem for another time, however. She could only focus on so much at once.

That's true Boreas, Tyblin does have the fastest decrease. But there's more too it than that...You have to also look at the decrease as a ratio to the starting amount...

Lyriel grabs a piece of parchment, a quill, and an inkwell, and begins furiously scribbling. Anybody looking over her shoulder would see a disconcerting amount of mathematics. She references Baldwin's numbers, making several lists and columns as she does to, dividing, sorting, and ranking the Churches by various criteria.

At one point she looks up at Baldwin, blowing a stray strand of hair from her face, not wanting to smear her forehead with her ink-smudged fingers. Do we have any idea what these units even mean? Are these worshipers? Overall strength of the faith? What?

Over the course of the breakfast, Lyriel creates several lists of rankings. She clears her throat, drawing the PARTY's attention to her findings.

I've added two more columns to Baldwin's list. The first is the weekly decline, expressed as a percentage of each faith's current total number. Keep in mind that these rates may not be fixed, and we don't know what the base numbers were initially. Kazul I've left out entirely. I don't know what to make of it.

The second column is how many weeks it will take for the numbers to reach zero, if the rate of decline stays constant.

Church           Number Decrease         % decrease      Weeks to null
Tassada           50,874 50            0.10%           1017
Hort           37,197 55            0.15%           676
Rachelle          19,564 33            0.17%           593
Tyblin           21,998 67            0.30%           328
Cenadora          19,231 24            0.12%           801
Ignati           23,355 29            0.12%           805
Le'lothriel       16,933 41            0.24%           413
Darilen           17,229 37            0.21%           466
Vora           13,983 12            0.09%           1165
Bevenglode        11,632 14            0.12%           831

As you can see, the decline is quite alarming, especially for Tyblin and Le'lothriel. Tyblin is across the board the worst off. At the current rate, his numbers will hit zero in just over six years.

Lyriel points to a different sheaf of parchment. I've also compiled some rankings, to make things easier to read.

Church by number:

Tassada
Hort
Ignati
Tyblin
Rachelle
Cenadora
Darilen
Le'lothriel
Vora
Bevenglode

Church by decrease (highest decrease to lowest)

Tyblin
Hort
Tassada
Le'lothriel
Darilen
Rachelle
Ignati
Cenadora
Bevenglode
Vora

Church by % decrease / soonest to zero

Tyblin
Le'lothriel
Darilen
Rachelle
Hort
Cenadora
Ignati
Bevenglode
Tassada
Vora

Lyriel points to each ranking in turn. As you can see, the evil churches appear to be affected less significantly. Also, take a look at Tassada. She is an interesting example, as her church boasts the third highest decrease by number, but second lowest by percentage.

She sits back in her chair, wiping her ink-stained hands on a napkin.

The bottom line is, I don't know what's going on, but it doesn't look good. I don't know what happens if a faith zeros out, but I can't imagine it would be good for planar stability...
This message was last edited by the player at 03:26, Wed 15 Oct 2014.

"That's...quite comprehensive, Lyriel," Zuriel says appreciatively, mulling over the priestess' findings.

Zuriel glances over to Baldwin. "What of Cedrick's symbol. Has it been fluctuating at all? Have the rates of change been stable lately?"

"I can't make much rhyme or reason of it, except that it seems that in general, the good deities are worse off and the evil deities better off. Not sure why Tyblin is suffering so much. I also have no idea what to think of Kazul's symbol. Could the numbers possibly be skewed because the symbol was blessed by High Priest Balaur himself?"

Zuriel frowns, deep in thought. "I wonder..." He takes his symbol of Tassada from around his neck, and hands it to Baldwin, and beckons Lyriel to do the same with hers. "I wonder if there are differences between symbols of the same faith. Baldwin, could you compare ours with that third symbol of Tassada you had already?"

In reply to Zuriel Silendril (msg # 52):

Baldwin scans Zuriel's holy symbol, but does not get a different result. Cedrick's symbol, however, does provide numbers that get added into the mix:

Cedrick | 48 | no change
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:06, Wed 15 Oct 2014.

In reply to DM (msg # 53):

"I had been working on the assumption that these values were associated either with the total number of empowered followers or the total number of spells each immortal's followers could cast, as a reflection of the church's overall power level," Baldwin says, heaving a sigh and setting the quill aside.

"But Kazul's numbers just don't make sense in any capacity. And neither do Cedrick's. It is worth noting that those rates of change are not absolute -- they are an average of how much it has changed on a daily basis."

Seeing that some of the P.A.R.T.Y. members are still confused, Baldwin tries to explain it again.


"For every church, what we're seeing is a large number that ticks down throughout the day at seemingly random intervals, then resets at dawn or dusk to a large number once again. The rate of change I've noted represents how much lower the large number is compared to the previous day's, on average. Does that make sense?"

"That's why I thought it was related to empowered spell capacity... clerics would cast spells throughout the day, and then be restored at dusk or dawn. But if that's the case, why would the total number of available spells be steadily dwindling? And how do we mesh that with our observations of Kazul and Cedrick?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:08, Wed 15 Oct 2014.

"I'm going to go and find Keef," Maeve says.  "He should be here to hear this also.  He has a mind for this sort of thing."

With that, she too ducks out of the tent and scans the snowy surroundings for the young mage.

"I suppose we could ask the Book of Answers tonight," we'll have to spend at least one night here. "In the morning, I think the plan is to teleport to the lake tower and take the portal to Lo'driel."

In reply to Zuriel Silendril (msg # 56):

Outside

Maeve exits the tent to find Keef staring into the fire, upon which the cauldron of melting snow has transformed into a cauldron of boiling water. The boy looks distracted and self-conscious.

Inside

"I'd hate to be followed to the tower," Baldwin says. "It would leave a gaping hole in Choso's defenses."
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:40, Wed 15 Oct 2014.

Maeve joins Keef next to the cauldron.

"It's cold out here.  Come back inside and we can have some coffee."

When not even the mention of Keef's beloved "koffee" fails to perk him up, Maeve sighs and decides to stop beating around the bush.

"What's wrong, Keef?"

"It would, if we were followed. Do you have a reason to think that you're being tracked magically? Otherwise, nobody should be able to follow us vanishing into thin air and teleporting."

In reply to Maeve Hassan (msg # 58):

Keef doesn't break eye contact with the cauldron.

Baldwin he... I've seen that look before.  And now HE knows what I'm doing so... I mean I always assumed he knew where I went, that's why I had to keep moving... good thing Baldwin found all of YOU because it means I can keep moving so...

Keef turns to Maeve.

What if HE's coming... I mean he never liked to leave home if he could help it but... now he can find me again... the Gods turning out of alignment like that is a bad sign too... and without Baldwin how can we face what's to come?  HE'd tell me it's my fault, but a tower was destroyed and it's still happening... we don't even know if the towers are helping us or hurting us.

Keef sighs.

It used to be so much easier... we knew who we were and who we were up against.  Now we're a... group of soldiers, avengers, saviors and messiahs... what does that mean for what we stand for?

Keef's eyes suddenly sparkle.

Maybe that's it!  Maybe what we have to do is save HIM!  I mean... and Baldwin... maybe we need to save him and everything will be... I mean from there we'll have a path and we'll be able to keep moving forward, not going back.

In reply to Zuriel Silendril (msg # 59):

Inside

"I'm not sure I'm willing to take the chance," Baldwin says, more forcefully than before. "We have been quite unable to evade even the stupider of the groups following us for long. And you forget that the Masons, at least, have a hired mage from the Order with them."

He sighs.

"It might be best for me to remain here while you go on ahead. They will not be tracking you, after all."

"" "He?"  Keef, who are you talking about?  Is it your father?"


I suppose it only makes sense.  From the little I know of Keef's father, it sounds as though he enjoyed the bottle a little too much also.  And he wasn't a jovial drunk.

"Keef, you know he can't hurt you or even tell you what to do anymore. Not only do you have powers that I sometimes can't even believe, but, well, you've grown up.  You can make your own decisions and protect yourself too if need be."

In reply to Maeve Hassan (msg # 62):

I... well, HE doesn't know that and... now he DOES know where we are.

Keef waves that away with a flick of his wrist, either forgetting or burying the concern totally.

But Baldwin, we should find some way to help him... maybe Lyriel knows who can help us?

Keef bounces back toward the tent and throws open the flap.

WE ARE GOING TO RESCUE YOU! he proclaims loudly and points both pointer fingers squarely at Baldwin.

In reply to Keef (msg # 63):

"Er, yes. What a charming sentiment," Baldwin says, after recovering from the shock of the situation. "What will we be saving me from, Keef?"

"Keef, if your father wishes to harm you he is going to have to get past one angry paladin, the Fairtheora, Lyriel's death cookies, and also me.  That's not going to happen," Maeve says.

Or would have said.

What she actually manages to say is "Keef--" before the boy races back into the tent.

Maeve stands in the snow momentarily, wondering what the hell just happened. With a resigned sigh, she sets to making use of the cauldron to prepare tea.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:27, Wed 15 Oct 2014.