@Etzagith

While Garland kept the boy's attention clearly and squarely focused on hi, Etzagith (as Liza) pried the boards off of the side door.  Slipping inside was easy--too easy to his mind.   But this place was a simple warehouse.

Etzagith let his eyes adjust.  There were rows upon rows of merchandise.  Barrels stacked to the roof in one side,  Shelves of baled grain piled in another.  And beyond those, boxes and chests, bolts of fabric, and folded cloths, sailcloth and sealing-wax and raw lumber, and oiled lumber, and so much more.

It was all clearly organized, many shelves had label and scrawled details.  Most of it was difficult to read in the poor light.  There were no windows in the warehouse, after all.  Only a couple air vents set in the upper-most reaches, among the cross-braced rafters.   But, overall, the entire place stank of mildew with an undercurrent of wood-rot.

To his right, somewhere beyond the labyrinth of passage-ways and shelves, was the front entrance, where the fight was going on, or had wound down.  It didn't matter to Etzagith.

To his left was a wall of flax and hay, baled and ready for shipment,  some wrapped in broadcloth, others not.  The warehousde extended for a long way off.  Ahead, were towers of lumber and some wooden chests.

Most warehouses tended to store more valuable items in an enclosed area somewhere.  Typically, it's usually an underground chamber or two...  This close to the docks, though... The Blue Sails might not even have an underground chamber.

As Etzagith went to take a further step in, he spied the slightest drift and twinkle of a magical circle, nd found he was standing on the lip of one.  Careful not to trigger it, he balanced on the balls of his feet to further assess.... It glowed dimly with a sort of gold-fire sparkle...  it's effect-whatever it might be--appeared to be primed and just waiting for a trigger.



Blue Sails Warehouse Main Storage Hall
Applicable Scene Aspects:

• Musty, Dank & Dark
• Over-stocked Labyrinth
• A Place for Everything and Everything in it's Place

Without moving, Etz studied the circle, making sure he knew exactly where its limits were and to estimate how difficult it would be to bypass.  Also, he looked for another circle, possibly a more subtle one.  Often the purpose of the obvious security measure was to get you to stop looking, but security always means something worth securing, and nothing he saw so far was worth such an effort.

His goal was to walk the perimeter of the building, looking for hidden places where two boys might be held, both underground and hidden in the upper levels.  Failing that, he planned to find the office where ledgers or other information might lead to the boys or their captors.

07:57, Today: Etzagith rolled 2 using 4 Fudge dice.  Lore +1 to evaluate the circle.
Sorry, it wasn't clear to me.  Am I inside the circle or could I move around it into the rest of the warehouse?

As Etzagith went to take a further step in, he spied the slightest drift and twinkle of a magical circle, and found he was standing on the lip of one. 

Neither outside nor inside, but actually on the line, which would mean pretty much right up against the wall...

It's a circle, and it doesn't extend outside the door.  So,there gotta be space outside the arc on either side.  the circles do not overlap.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 05:52, Sat 23 May 2020.

So, nothing from the Lore roll?

Etzagith very carefully stepped to the side, trying not to disturb the circle at all.  This is just another security system, like a dozen others.  Maybe a little more sophisticated than some others I've seen, but that just tells us that we're on the right track.  There's no way this warehouse would justify such a system if they were only what they pretend to be.  He continued with his plan to explore the warehouse, and was doubly careful with his next steps.

So, nothing from the Lore roll?
Okay, sure.  It's a magical circle.  The sigils look like the kind associated with making noise, a distant location, and some sort of mark or curse.

He continued with his plan to explore the warehouse, and was doubly careful with his next steps.

At this point, I would suggest creating an Aspect that would suggest that Etzagith either has a map or has a pre-existing familiarity with this facility.  We'd want to define precisely how this came to be, but that can be a metagame discussion.   I don't want to sideline this active thread to make that happen...   It's a big warehouse.  He could spend half an hour going up and down the corridors of stored goods, looking for a chamber where the boys might be kept to clues to their whereabouts.

Etzagith is at the north wall now.   The West wall has the main entrance and office.  The East wall is the rear of the building, where there is another doorway.  The South wall... unknown.  But it's about   Either way, he's going to have to thread his ways through corridors of stored items.

So, where does he go?
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:06, Wed 03 June 2020.

Etzagith slapped his forehead.  Of course, just a standard remote alarm.  I can't believe I didn't recognize it just because the runes are upside-down to me.  I've probably already triggered it, so the big thing is not to be here when they check.

He looked up at the inner structure of the warehouse, and realized that it is the same sort of construction as that Trylor-Duun warehouse where, almost a year ago, he took that chest full of pearls.  It was only 5 or 6 blocks away and was probably built by the same crew.  He had spent four days casing that joint, and could still recall the entire layout.  The front entrance is there, and the weird, off-center pitched roof goes that way, so this must be a mirror of that one.  That would put the secure storage ... there.  He headed directly toward the point, avoiding the security circles if possible.  If not, he limited himself to re-triggering the one he has already set off.  He stuck to the shadows and moved noiselessly -- precautions which were second nature and didn't even require thought.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:41, Sat 23 May 2020.

09:26, Today: Etzagith rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Burglary (+3) to intuit the layout of Blue Sails
Success with Style!
10:06, Today: Etzagith rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Burglary (+3) plus infiltrator stunt to unlock secure area.
a total of +6.  I suspect that will succeed, as well.

Etz crept towards the center of the building, moving mostly south but jagging west, towards the front.  If I'm right about the building, that plaster form for making anchors will be right ... hmm ... oh, it was here, but it's broken up.  Etz grabbed a fist-sized chunk of plaster and climbed a tall stack of lumber to check for guards.  There's one, headed towards the boarded up door.  If I were just a thief, I'd be headed along the wall, so let's give him the target he expects.  He threw the hunk of plaster to the east, sailing it over the wall of flax and hay to crash against something beyond it.

The rogue crossed the center point of the warehouse to the secured area he was expecting.  It was a large iron structure with ceramic inside, and Etzagith realized that it must have been a forge at one time.  It's not big enough to hold the boys, but surely the books will be here, or maybe some clue.  The lock was better than most, but still not a challenge for the thief.

The center of the warehouse was cleared around the forge-casing.  Corridors led off in all directions, but from this vantage point, they all seemed to originate from here.  There were lanterns posted--not raw torches.  These ones gave off a faint plume that suggested coal oil or leviathan blood.*

The inner vault had a stack of boxes--perhaps two dozen in total.  Some were boxes of extremely ornate carvings, others plain and unobtrusive.  The kind that didn't warrant any further attention.  If one weren't actually a thief!

At the rear of the little chamber, a set of diagonally canted slats allowed the storage of several scrolls, each tied off with a a colored ribbon, indicating the sigil of ownership and some protective wards.  Many were ancient vellum, and no few were wrapped in oiled skins.  Below that a low shelf with books--with real paper.  Leather-bound covers for most.  Some were obviously magical in nature, others...  hard to tell.

At the top of the shelves, above the scrolls, were a handful of additional items.  A brass and copper item with a curved angle on one side and a movable slide on the other.  There was a pale, porcelain-like apple with two copperish leaves.  There was a figurine of a cat carved of what appeared to be a jagged black glass, it's eyes two tiny inset jewels.

But the level of dust on the shelves indicated that the scrolls and books had not been disturbed for a very long time.  And there was a sheaf of vellum with what appeared to be the sigil of the College of Magic.   It was the only thing that wasn't covered in dust.

As Etzagith looked over the contents of the forge chamber, the guards' echoing footsteps could be heard getting closer. Then,

"Oi!"  a male voice called out, thick and slurred with drink.   "Keep yer boys in line.   "It wasn't the rats this time.  If I have to come back one more time, I'm turfing the sodding lot of you!  You're not worth the coin.  A couple hours til sundown, then it's free sailing.  So, don't fuck it up!"  And even as he spoke, the steps were coming closer and closer...



Blue Sails Warehouse Special Storage Area
Applicable Scene Aspects:

• Cleared Space, Lit with Levaithan's Blood
• The Center of the Labyrinth
• A Place for Everything and Everything in it's Place
  

Also:
Leviathan Blood - not really blood.  it's a colloquial term basically meaning oil derived from some of the giant sea creatures (whales?) It burns a little cleaner than coal oil...


This message was last edited by the player at 10:44, Wed 03 June 2020.

Etzagith grabbed the sheaf of vellum, hoping it contained the information they needed.  On an impulse, he also grabbed the cat figurine because it spoke to him and slipped it gently into his belt pouch.  He closed the safe quietly, wincing at the slight metallic click.  He slipped away from the voices, generally heading for the front of the warehouse but staying in the darker areas.

As he circled around, he came within sight of where the earlier altercation had been, though it seems quiet now.  Oooh, a fair amount of blood on the ground.  I hope they reach a healer soon.   A youth approached with a bucket and dumped it on the pool of blood.  There was too much for this to clean it effectively, but at least it thinned it out and kept it from being a sticky puddle.

Etzagith started to move around to the large opening where freight is brought in, when a man stepped around the growing pile of blood and started to threaten the Blue Sails shop-keeper.  "So, we make this simple."  the large man said, in a falsely pleasant tone.  "Give it over to my keeping, and I'll make sure it gets where it's got to go.  You won't need to fret about it any more."  Etz felt sympathy for the man, knowing full well the helplessness one feels with bullies too strong to fight.

"Dangerous piece of work that," the thug continued.  "I've heard that men died to find it, rode others and leapt bodies just to keep it out of the wrong hands.  You wouldn't want that to happen to you, would you?  Let me take that weight off your shoulders.  I mean, we have an understanding, right?  I'm only thinking of your safety, Migram.  You've had a lot of attention today..."

Etzagith remained motionless.  He knew he was in the man's peripheral vision and any movement could be picked up, even here in the darker corner.  Finally, the warehouse manager, Migram, moved a bit to one side, causing the larger man to turn a bit more away.  This is where this Migram fellow would be reaching for a weapon if he were going to, and I'm sure the thug knows it.  He'll have no attention left over.  Etz took the opportunity to slide silently out the edge of the freight opening.  Replacing the earring for the third time that day, he transformed once again into Liza Gallim and turned to walk along the front of the opening as if just emerging from the alley.

Liza spotted Cara and Monaolana, and strutted in their direction, but not directly towards them.  I don't want to mess up anything they might have going on.  She sauntered past them, keeping her head straight ahead but meeting their eyes, and continued into the pub that they had just left.  Finding an empty table, she sat down, asked the serving girl for some strong tea, and pulled out the vellum to see what she had.

Oh, that's lovely!

Etzagith took the vellum sheets with the royal seal & the cat figurine.

That will give me all sorts of things to play with...

@Brollox
"Dangerous piece of work that. I've heard that men died to find it, rode others and leapt bodies just to keep it out of the wrong hands.  You wouldn't want that to happen to you, would you?  Let me take that weight off your shoulders.  I mean, we have an understanding, right?  I'm only thinking of your safety, Migram.  You've had a lot of attention today..."

A firm voice from behind Brollox--a deep tone, resonant--speaks about ten feet from the man. "Or she could not, and you could listen to a better idea."

Brollox turns to fins Manaolana standing there, his somber eyes burning like sunlight through a forest. His chiseled form is less now like a statue and more like a coiled spring, taut, save for his face, which is a curious kind of calm.

"I would have a word, Brollox." There is nothing insincere or sarcastic at all about his tone, indicating that either the Khadidi did not quite understand what he interrupted or simply didn't care.

A firm voice from behind Brollox--a deep tone, resonant--speaks about ten feet from the man. "Or she could not, and you could listen to a better idea.  I would have a word, Brollox."


Brollox rolled his eyes in a swaggering show of exasperation.  Of course he'd been expecting to be followed.  With what he'd just overheard, it sounded like a bunch of people might be after this Seversi thing.

Brollox grabbed his belt and adjusted it over his impressive girth.  "Okay.  What?"  he said impatiently.  "What's so important that you need to interrupt me and the shopkeeper, here?  He and I have business.  Don't we Migram?  And you're interrupting.  So, I'm thinking it's going to be pretty damned important.  Or maybe you don't want your Khunic bitch to overhear, hm?"

Migram, for his part, took a step backwards, nearly slipping on the puddle of blood and water in the doorway.   This wasn't his day.  Three fights--now probably four--in one day.


Yeah, this is an outright Provoke attempt.
Brollox rolled 1dF(+2) + 2 for Provoke(+4)

You may defend with whatever you think is appropriate.  Will is typically used as a defense against Provoke, but if the narrative supports it, I'm easy.

Aspects in the Front Room:
Brightly Lit Front Room
Wood Countertop
A Pool of Blood & Water

More than happy to take suggestions on additional or alternate Aspects!

'Ola's eyes blaze. A few muscles on his right arm twitch. However, his stance holds and his tone remains steady. "It is, in fact, my companion who would like to speak further with you. And perhaps we might have a business proposition for you that would be worth more to you than what you have here."

He watches the man's face carefully...

Invoke Warrior Raised by Monks Seeking a Mission in Life; Control, you get a FATE point. Total of 5 to beat your 4 to resist the Provocation.

Rolling a Rapport check, getting a total of 3. I might consider invoking some other aspects if he rolls better than that.

17:03, Today: Manaolana rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Persuasion: Rapport adds +2.
16:54, Today: Manaolana rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice.  Defending vs. Provoke: Will adds +3.

Cara walked up behind Manaolana, whispering lightly so that only he could hear.

"The bigger a scene this makes, the better.  Make it clear we don't appreciate poachers."

When she had said her piece, she tried to step into an alcove and out of the limelight, leaving things somewhat awkwardly to the warrior monk who had just declared that this was her business.

---

Describe the Action: Slip away while everyone is distracted

Roll the Dice: 23:34, Today: Cara rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice ((1, 0, -1, 1)).

Determine Approach: Stealth, brings the total to +2

Choose an Action: Is that Overcome?
This message was last edited by the player at 00:12, Sat 20 June 2020.

Etzagith looked at Cara walking away and started to wonder.  Maybe she only hears one third of the words I say.  Why does she think I have a contact in there?  He quickly followed after, but stayed off to the side and then slipped in the through the freight entrance and stepped into the darker side.  I need to find the man attached to the voice I heard, the one who said "A couple hours til sundown, then it's free sailing.  So, don't fuck it up!"  He's the one who knows what's going on.

Etzagith reached into the inner pocket of his pouch and pulled out a set of small spell chits.  He unrolled the cloth and looked through the markings on the finger-sized pieces of bamboo until he found the one he wanted.  He fixed an image in his mind of Duke Churthen's livery, the color and the markings the designated his inner guard.  Etz's cloak shimmered until it matched his mental image, when it locked into place.  He walked obliquely towards the edge of the office area, where 'Ola and Cara both stood, the big man confronting the bully Etz saw earlier.  Etzagith was not trying to remain hidden, but was not drawing attention to himself, either, just walking as if he had a perfect right to be there.  He listened intently for the voice of the man he heard earlier.

"It is, in fact, my companion who would like to speak further with you. And perhaps we might have a business proposition for you that would be worth more to you than what you have here."

Brollox offered a toothy grin a little too wide and a little too fat.  "Get you in good with that swift little bastard, eh?"  He said but he didn't put much weight or inflection behind the words.  "Whats Khunic coin worth now, anyway?"




--
Manaolama -1 Fate Point (+2 to defend vs Brollox provoke)

"swift little bastard" probably refers to Zaichus the Swift (you introduced in Message #4 of this thread).

You've apparently got Brollox' interest.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 12:01, Thu 18 June 2020.

As Etzagith strode into the first room of the Blue Sails Warehouse, Migram didn't give him much of a look.      But when Etza crossed the room with nary a word and strode right on into the storage area, Migram suddenly became agitated.   Everyone had to check in!

Then it dawned on him.   The fight that took Mikel and Yvon out of the picture, Brollox sauntering in and throwing his weight around.  The whole thing was a set-up.

"Hey!" Migram shouted. "You can't just stroll in!  Give us a moment and we'll get you to sign the registry.    What's your Lord after, eh?"  There was something off about the cloaked man..  Something Migram couldn't quite place.

I'm going to hold off a little on the cost of failure.  Figure something'll go down momentarily...
This message was last edited by the player at 14:50, Wed 17 June 2020.

Etzagith listened to the man's voice, hoping it was the one he had heard before, but it was not.  Of course, it seemed he recognized the cloak, so perhaps he is also knows what's going on, but for right now, Etz wanted to find the one source he knew had some information.

Etz barely gave the man a glance, scowling as though towards an insect that is not worth the time to step on.  He made a dismissive gesture and continued into the warehouse proper, striding quickly and purposefully.  The man would have to run to catch him, now.  Reaching into a pocket, Etzagith pulled out a smoke bomb, just in case.  If he could make it around this aisle of carpets stacked almost to the rafters, he would make a couple of quick turns and get lost in the warehouse once again.

"Do you really want to do this here, while the pool of blood from the previous fight is still wet on the floor?"  Manaolama asked in a low, but clearly threatening voice.

Cara froze, waiting to see how Migram reacted to Etzagith.

"You!" Migram cried, "You cannot go back there!   Hollis!  You've got an intruder!"

There were rows upon rows of merchandise.  Barrels stacked to the roof in one side,  Shelves of baled grain piled in another.  And beyond those, boxes and chests, bolts of fabric, and folded cloths, sailcloth and sealing-wax and raw lumber, and oiled lumber, and so much more.

The warehousde extended for a long way off.   And from the long corridors came two men from the left and another from the right side.

"Oi!"  one of the big guys from the left side called out.  "You got no business here.  Turn around now or you won't be leaving on two legs."  Now, that was a voice Etzagith recognized.

• Foe #1 (left side): "Oi" is wearing stiff leather armor, and carries a sword
• Foe #2 (Left side): A wiry little man in loose cloth.  He carries two daggers.
• Foe #3 (right side): A guy in a loose fitting leather jerkin a size too big.   He does not appear to be carrying any weapons.

• Zone 1: The Clearing
  A small area cleared immediatey beyond the door leading into the warehouse.   To the left are three stalls with various accumulated goods, a Leviathans' Blood torch on the far wall.   Right ahead, a corridor leading off into the distance.  Perhaps fifteen feet across.   One torch on a central shelving unit that runs immediate y away from them. (they're looking at it sraight on, not horizontally).   One Leviathan' Blood torch illuminates the area there.   TO the Right, a stack of barrels four barrels high.  Each barrel is about four feet tall and as thick as a man.  Each level of barrels is held in place by a thick braided cord.  There are two torches, on on either side of the doorway.
  
  • Barrels Stacked Four High
  • Cramped Quarters
  • Cleared Space, Lit with Levaithan's Blood
• Zone 2: The Front Room
  
  • Brightly Lit Front Room
  • Wood Countertop
  • A Pool of Blood & Water
• Zone 3: Closed Room (Undefined)
• Zone 4: Deeper into the Warehouse
  • Musty, Dank & Dark
  • Pools of Leviathan's Light
  • Over-stocked Labyrinth

This message was last edited by the GM at 15:22, Mon 22 June 2020.

"You!  There you are.  Wait right there," Etzagith shouted, pointing directly at Oi.  "The Duke has another task for you, and there's ..." he puts a little sing-song into his voice, "a substantial bonus involved."  Etz turned back towards the office, "'Ola, Cara, here he is, the one we need to talk to.  Forget THAT fool.  The Duke is DONE with him and his screw-ups."  Etzagith stood on the balls of his feet, ready to dart into the labyrinth of goods if his ruse didn't work.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:00, Mon 22 June 2020.

The lead man (oi) cocked his head to one side and rubbed his stubbled chin with his hand.  "What the'ell are you goin' on about?"

The one without weapons raised an eyebrow.  "Pennryn's Insignia.  Hollis."  he said.  "No, something's not right..."  and he narrowed his eyes, then laughed, a high, reedy sound.

"This one," he pointed at Etzagith, "must have been lookin' in a mirror when he got his crest sewn.  It's bloody backwards!"

Oi let out an exagerrated sigh.  "We ain't gonna tell you again.  'm sure the Pennryn duk'll pay good coin to figure who's been pretendin' to be one of his.  Maybe we caught our thief, boyz.  Brazen little screw-up, ain't he?  GET 'IM!"


--
OOC:
Failure to deceive was based on failed roll from creating the crest.

Initiative Ranking (based on Notice)
+3 Etzagith, Unarmed (Right Side)
+2 Cara (when she gets there--not there yet)
+1 Hollis (Sword), Daggers (left side)

As we are in combat, if you want Etzagith it is particularly important to me that you phrase your actions in OOC comments in game terms:  Attack, defend, overcome or create advantage.   If you don't, I'll make my best interpretation of what you intended.





This message was last edited by the player at 15:18, Mon 22 June 2020.

Where'd the map go?  I love maps.  (It's the hobbit in me.)

Also, don't forget that Etz's initiative is not based on notice, but on instinct from years of being ambushed by cruel older brothers.  It worked out the same this time, but remember that I ALWAYS go first.  (Here's Karen again. :-)  Also, my Reflexes stunt.)

Using stealth to Create an advantage to be used next round.
10:46, Today: Etzagith rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Stealth (+4) to create an advantage.
Good gravy.  What's it like when the die roller gives you a positive number?  I wouldn't know.  Still, +3 is probably enough.

Rules question:  The "Hello Darkness, My Old Friend" stunt I get from my mantle, I assume that can be used just once per scene?  If so, I'll wait and use it in an attack.


Etzagith ducked into an aisle between a stack of some small barrels, maybe booze of some sort? and a tall mound of burlap sacks holding grain.  Near the end of the collection of barrels he was able to climb up over the edge of the pyramid and ease himself down in the next aisle, closer to Oi.  One of the barrels shifted and threatened to fall, but he was able to catch it with just a small bump as he eased it back into place.  Once that was secured, he quietly slid his dagger out of its sheath.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:04, Mon 22 June 2020.

Where'd the map go?  I love maps.  (It's the hobbit in me.)
The very first response to the post with the map on it was to say that you wanted your character to go beyond the mapped area--thus rendering the posted map useless.  So... it looks like we don't need it.

Also, don't forget that Etz's initiative is not based on notice, but on instinct from years of being ambushed by cruel older brothers.  It worked out the same this time, but remember that I ALWAYS go first.  (Here's Karen again. :-)  Also, my Reflexes stunt.)
Moot point.   He's ALREADY going first.


More later.

Cara watched in disbelief as Etzagith tried to brazenly walk through the door and into the warehouse, without even making an attempt at stealth.  He'd mentioned something about subterfuge, so she figured that he must be trying whatever ace he had up his sleeve.  Then she heard the shouting, and she rolled her eyes in exasperation.  Whatever it was the man was trying, it wasn't working.

"What now?"

She growled, stalking deeper into the warehouse to investigate the source of the commotion.  She kept her hands on the hilts of her blades, but didn't yet drawn.

"What in the Three's Unspoken names is happening?"

She barked as she entered, her voice harsh and cold.

Etzagith: +6

• Dove into barrel-stacks, scurried over the row...
• Created Advantage How'd he get there? with 1 free invoke

Unarmed Man +5
The unarmed man immediately went into a crouch.   Etzagith had dove into the barrels.  There weren't that many ways in or around the pile of secured barrels, but a small enough man could worm his way through.   If Migram was smart, he'd send one of the boys to run for the city guard.  They'd had enough intruders in the warehouse.

The unarmed man drew out a piece of chalk and began to draw  circle around himself...

• Unarmed Man rolled a Superb(+5) result
• Created Advantage Chalk Circle with 2 free invokes.

Of course, the fact that he's inside the chalk circle can always be compelled by any of you.  If he breaks the circle, he loses his invokes.  So, essentially, he's pinned in place.


Cara +2
She growled, stalking deeper into the warehouse to investigate the source of the commotion.  She kept her hands on the hilts of her blades, but didn't yet drawn.   "What in the Three's Unspoken names is happening?"  She barked as she entered, her voice harsh and cold.

• Cara moves from Zone 2 to Zone 1, past Migram and Brollox

--
Hollis (Oi!) +1
Hollis squares his stance, puts one hand on his hips and points his wicked looking sword at Cara as he enters into the scene.   "You,are not authorized to be here!  Stand back or suffer the consequences!"

• Hollis rolled Provoke(+2) to try to keep Cara back.
• @Cara -Please defend against Hollis Provoke(+2)
• Note: that's not the roll, that's the total adjusted attack value.</b>

Daggers +1

• Daggers rolled Athletics(+2) to box Etzagith in behind the barrels.
• Etzagith isn't there - no success.
• I'll give him an a fragile Scene Aspect Not Where I need To be because it just kinda makes sense.   It comes with one free invoke to whoever can use it.   This fragile scene Aspect will disappear next round.

While he might well have been successful in blockign Etzagith in had Etzagith actually been there, sadly, Etzagith wasn't there.  Etzagith had scurried over the edge of the pile of barrels and eased himself into one of the tiny, cramped little aisles between barrels.    The whole place reeked of wine and Leviathan's Blood!

Daggers, However, successfully boxed in the nothing that was in the aisle Etzagith was once in. And that's why initiative is important...

Also, Scene Aspect: Stinks of Wine & Leviathan' Blood.

Note: Leviathan's Blood is basically kerosene lamp oil.  It's lamp-oil because while it's flammable if a lamp were to shatter on the flagstones, it's way more likely to just fizzle out than to light up in flames...  But, like with kerosene oil... not everybody knows how it'll react...
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:24, Mon 29 June 2020.

After spending a fate point to reroll to account for the die roller hating me.
Applying How'd he get there? advantage
23:13, Today: Etzagith rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice.  Blackjack on Hollis caster (Blades +1) plus advantage - reroll.
For +3 attack. 

Etzagith drew his blackjack as he slipped up towards Hollis from a different aisle of stacked freight than the one down which he ran.  He saw that the drunkard was spouting off at Cara, but then he saw the other man, the one casting some sort of ritual.  Etz had no idea what the ritual was for, but he felt confidant it couldn't be good, not for them nor for the twins.  Perhaps I can use whatever backlash there is as more cover, assuming I survive it.  Standing outside the circle that the man had drawn to contain the magic, the rogue pelted the spellcaster with the blackjack.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:54, Tue 07 July 2020.

"No one wants yet another brawl, you fools want the Blue Cloaks coming down on all our heads?"

Cara said incredulously, raising her hands off of her knives as she tried to make sense of what was going on.  She thought she knew how Etzagith worker, but that had gone to shit about three seconds after she'd tried to improvise, and following up she'd found that she'd Barged In Without a Plan.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:09, Tue 30 June 2020.

Writing up the next round... What's your action, Cara?

@ARUI

The boy led them Directly to the Blue Sails, where--already--Yvon was pushing some big guy (Brollox) against the wall, and the shopkeeper, Migram was yabberign away about intruders and pointing at the public door to the rear warehouse.  There was shouting coming from back there, and the boy stood wide-eyed staring at Yvon and Brollox.

Migram caught his breath.  "Well don't just stand there!  Do your damned job!  Get in there.  Someone--one of Duke CHurthan's men, and the Khune noble.  They just walked right on by!   if they steal anything, it'll be on your head!"  It wasn't real clear who Migram was talking to, Nathan or Yvon...

It'll take you a combat-round to get across the room and down the little corridor to the main warehouse room.  A huge open space stacked with all sorts of boxes and shelves and barrels...   Cara is currently standing in the entrance to the big room.

"Now he worries about theft," Arui sighed as she walked into the room, and cautiously down the corridor.  A woman stood at the far end facing into the next room. She took her hands away from her sheathed blades and said to those within, "No one wants yet another brawl, you fools want the Blue Cloaks coming down on all our heads?"  Beyond her she saw a large man with a sword, another smaller man in some kind of ritual circle, and a third outside the circle.  The men were unfamiliar, but she was certain the woman was the same one she saw at the castle that day with Tabeta.  Her red and black coat stood out among the fashions of the court.

Based on Daggers's position by the barrels, I'm assuming he's out of view.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:02, Tue 07 July 2020.

+6 Etzagith

• Etz Blackjack(+1) vs Caster + How'd He get There(+2) - Attack with Blades(+3)
• There is no shield component to this circle, so the circle is breached.
  
  • In previous turn, the Caster had called forth +3 shifts of power which now get released as Backlash
  • Introduce a Scene aspects A Mighty Dusty Wind
• Caster Rolled Athletics(+3) to dodge - Tie (Etz succeeds with minor cost)

I'll give you a +1 Stress on the Caster for the tie..., but you need to take a minor cost.   What do you envision might be appropriate here?  Dust in His Eyes, maybe?   Whatever it is, it's a minor cost, so bad guys get 1 free invoke and it will only last as long the Mighty dusty wind which is for two combat rounds.  After that, the minor cost is gone, used or not.
+4 Arui

• Arrived on-scene.

+3 Caster

• Circle Backlashed and he barely dodged the blackjack attack.
• Primary action was interrupted.

It was always a risky maneuver triggering a backlash.  With the sheer amount of Leviathan's Blood lying around if it were a fire-spell, the entire place would go up in flames.  It wasn't a fire-spell (thankfully).  And there was no shield component to the Caster's spell.  So, Etzagith's thrown blackjack came up against no magical barrier...  But it was enough to breach it and unleash the energy stored within it with a sudden woosh as a veritable wind erupted from the Caster...

Etzagith had a moment to meet the wide-eyes of the caster who clearly hadn't the interruption.  Even as the caster leaped backward, w high-pitched howling echoed throughout the warehouse and a mighty wind picked up, blowing loose hay from the bales, paperwork and loose leather flaps and straps and dust and minor sodden dirt into the air.

Introduced Scene Aspect A Mighty Dusty Wind, short-term +2, makes it... two combat rounds only.  No free invokes.



+2  Cara

• Provoke(+2.) + A Coat of Red and Black(+2) to provoke Hollis
• Hollis rolled Will(+1) to resist - failed (Cara succeeds with style)

+2 Hollis

• <Orange>Attack Cara (blocked)
• Call for Bardan to get the boys out.

+1 Daggers

• Find Etzagith, throw daggers, Shoot(+3)

"No one wants yet another brawl, you fools want the Blue Cloaks coming down on all our heads?" Cara said incredulously, raising her hands off of her knives as she tried to make sense of what was going on.  She thought she knew how Etzagith worker, but that had gone to shit about three seconds after she'd tried to improvise, and following up she'd found that she'd Barged In Without a Plan.

Hollis took a moment to take in Cara's livery, the slow thought filtering through his wine-besotten head.  "Bardan!" he shouted, his face nearly red with apoplexy.  He struggled against the sudden massicve wind, blowing dust and debris everywhere, and snarled."Get the boys out of here!  They've got a Khune Red-Coat!"

Then the little man with the daggers stepped out from whence he'd gone after Etzagith, and espying his quarry now where he, himself, had come from ,he didn't hesitate, but threw one of his daggers...


Etzagith, you're targeted with  a Shoot(+3) attack  (for someone pretty good with those things, he too didn't do so hot on the dice roll). 

On other mornings Nathan might have chuckled at Arui's wry remarks, but today he remained stone-faced as Migram's easy-come easy-go attitude to the Blue Coats manifested. He nodded curtly, ears pricking at the strangeness of the visitors to this particular warehouse in these unsettled times, and followed the Tarenti inside, into the small corridor and towards the woman being shouted at. As he walked, his cloak flared into motion in the flickering and pungent flame, the light glinting off the recognizable broach

Using this Turn to follow Arui to where Cara is, keeping his weapon sheathed. If possible, trying to Create Advantage - Air of Authority - over those who can see him to either defuse the conflict and/or encourage any nefarious types to babble and confess all their crimes

Etzagith had thought, when he charged into the spell circle, that he was ready for whatever backlash it presented.  But this was like being in the epicenter of a desert tornado.  Through burning, watery eyes Etz saw the henchman flinging a dagger his way, so he dove for cover, passing behind Hollis, and he felt one of the daggers slice through the air just behind his shoulders.

Coming up smoothly from his dive, his blackjack retrieved in the process, Etz found himself behind a drunken Hollis.  He swung the blackjack at the man's skull, screaming in fury, "He's holding Queen Jia's twins!"

12:18, Today: Etzagith rolled 3 using 4 Fudge dice.  Athletics (+3)? to avoid the thrown knife. reroll.
16:38, Today: Etzagith rolled 2 using 4 Fudge dice.  Blades(+1) + Three Sheets to the Wind(+2) free invoke)
Result (+5)  But he probably gets to tag the Dust in my eyes in his defense, since I'm not taking the extra round after all.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:14, Wed 08 July 2020.

Arui saw a dagger thrown at the one man from out of view. That meant there were more combatants.  She was unsure who was a threat, but she kept her hands on her bow in case any tried to turn on her.  Nathan was a man of authority, and he seemed just.  She would wait on him for direction.

no action

Not exactly the reaction she had been hoping for, but the man had revealed enough.  They had the boys, and were willing to kill over it.  With a moment of will, she released the first Glyph of Alacrity that she had inscribed upon her bracers with a shower of translucent green sparks.  Her Mantle thrummed with the released power, glyphs bursting to life, her form blurring as she drew both her long duelist's knives in one fluid motion and dashed across the room. Inhumanly fast, she feinted with a low thrust with the left blade, and then whipped the right around in a overhand thrust that drove the razor sharp tip straight towards the Dagger hurling man's neck.

Attack at +5

Everything happened at once.

A magical wind kicked up inside the warhouse, blowing back Etzagith and kicking up all the crap that was all over the place... flagstones littered with dust and detritus.

Etzagith adroitly dodged the flung dagger--noone else would have even seen it coming from the dhadows as it had--and scooped up the blackjack which had skittered across the floor into the center of the open space before the doors.

He spied Cara and a Tarenti warrior standing in the doorway,  He swung the blackjack at the the fat man's skull,, screaming in fury, "He's holding Queen Jia's twins!"

Hollis canterd to the side, but he just wasn't fast enough to avoid Etzagith's blow.   He was, however, combat-experienced enough to roll with the blow.

Hollis takes 4 stress

The Caster, shook hsi head as Etzagith went by, then snarled and raised a hand, curling his fingers into a contorted claw and he hissed a sibilant phrase and flicked his hands upwards, sending a blast of wind at the door, towards Cara and Arui (and Nathan)...

This isn't an attack.  You do not take damage.  It's an obstacle you'd need to overcome next round, or a detriment to actions you might take.

The guy with the daggers leapt towards the Caster, his eyes fixed on Etzagith and he called something unitelligible in the relative chaos of the small, cramped space.   The caster nodded.

Then Cara leapt the distance--inhumanly fast and came up before them both.   She feinted with a low thrust with the left blade, and then whipped the right around in a overhand thrust that drove the razor sharp tip straight towards the Dagger hurling man's neck.

He swore and dropped, but the blade sliced through his robes and tasted blood.   Cara didn't know how badly it was, but it didn't matter.  It was enough that the blades had made contact, and the contact poison on the blades would start to take effect.

Would it take effect fast enough to play a par in this fight, though?

Arriving at the threshold, it was clear that those within either had not seen him or sought conflict regardless and with solid cause, if the furious shout Nathan heard was to be believed. It was not the first time a Blue Coat went unnoticed, nor would it be the last, but he squared his shoulders and stepped into the gap left by the woman who had leaped into the fray... only to stumble and be forced back, the harsh and unexpected desert wind foiling his intent.

Shielding his face with his hands, he stood buffetted in the doorway and turned his head so that he might shout, each word enunciated and full of command, "Desist! In the name of the Queen!"

Attempting to Overcome the Wall of Wind to enter the room

12:14, Today: Nathan rolled -2 using 4 Fudge dice.  Athletics (+1) - Overcome - Wall of Wind. - -2 -> Failure.

If it makes sense, use his free invoke on <smallcapsAir of Authority</smallcaps> to stop to the conflict. Suspect that would be a second Action, though?

Etzagith suddenly realized that here he was, standing in the middle of the brightest spot in the room, going toe to toe with a much bigger man.  But this is too important.  I can't back out, now.  Anyway, it looks like that first shot got him pretty well, I shouldn't need too much more.  It was neither the first nor the last time that Etz wished he had paid more attention to those fighting lessons his father had made him take.  He swung at Hollis' head with the blackjack.  Though his heart was in the blow, his head knew that this just wasn't his strength.

21:00, Today: Etzagith rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice.  Whack Hollis with blackjack (Blades +1).
Result of 1.

the Khundari Oathsworn fought with brutal efficiency, paying no heed to any rules of chivalry.  She might not have had the refined skill or raw muscle of Rhaine, but she made up for it with a combination of speed, viciousness, and the deadly magics woven into her Mantle.  She was a brawler, through and through, and well suited to the twinned set of thickly knuckled knives which she bore.  She struck to end the fight with alacrity and lethal finality.  The blade that had tasted the rogue's blood blazed with sickly green power as the glyphs she had inscribed before burst to life.  They pulsed, and the venom in her opponent's veins answered the call, sending searing waves of agony racing through his skull just before she struck.  She used the thick blade of her left knife to batter past the man's defenses, slipped inside his guard, and tried to punch him in the nose with the nubbed iron hand-guard.

"Who in Emperor Markov's bloody shits are you?"

She hissed at Nathan, throwing him the briefest of glances as he barged into the fight.

Attack Daggers at +5

Tagging the free invoke on Mindfire Poison to reduce his defense against that attack
This message was last edited by the player at 04:37, Thu 09 July 2020.

When the caster gestured in her direction, Arui quickly side stepped into the room and drew her bow on her assailant.  She tipped her head toward Nathan and said, "He is the Queen's man. Do as he says."

action: overcome the wind spell

Roll: 17:44, Today: Arui rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice.  athletics +3.

Total: 4, success

Etzagith found himself in closer quarters with Hollis than he'd like.   The stink of the big man's breath was almost overwhelming with wine.  Etz caught Hollis as he was turning to run down the long corridor of sealed chests, bound for some unknown outgoing ship.

The blackjack caught Hollis in the shoulder, caused him to roll to the side, again.  Hollis winced in evident pain and stumbled, lifting a hand to try to steady himself, even as he swung his own sword back, in a clumsy, low sweep.

Hollis takes 2 shifts of damage.  He is opting to take a Moderate Consequence.

Arui and Nathan both pushed against the wall of wind.  Between the force pushing back at them and the whirling sediment in the air, even seeing clear across the open space before them was difficult.   Arui pushed through, even as Nathan shook his head and stood back.

"Desist! In the name of the Queen!"  Nathan shouted into the wind...

The guy with the daggers stood over the caster, concern etched on his face.  Ignoring his own wounds, he looped an arm under the caster's, and went to help him to an upright position.  Then Cara's vicious attack caught him square in the face, with a veritable explosion of blood and mucus.

Daggers crumpled to the ground, a cry strangled back, a hand lifted in supplication.

Wow. You fucked him up.  Daggers takes on both a Moderate and a Major Consequence. Dagger CONCEDES the fight.  He's not risking further injury.

"Who in Emperor Markov's bloody shits are you?" Cara glanced over her shoulder, eyes narrowed with focus.

The Caster though, startled by Dagger's sudden traumatic and bloody injury, looked up with absolute shock, then rage, and lifted his hand once more, curled it into a fist, lifted it palm up and flicked his fingers wide as he snarled another set of guttural words.

A wave of pure force kicked out from him.  then the ground trembled.  The very floor shook and rumbled and a pillars of pure stone erupted from the ground, stabbing upward, heedless of whoever might be standing nearby, friend or foe alike...

It was a mini-earthquake within the warehouse, and even as the wind died down, stored materials were shaking, some were falling from their shelves.

New Scene Aspects
The Ground Trembles
Spikes of Stone

From beyond Hollis, there were cries of people--a group of people--and there was a cool light coming from somewhere.  Someone had broken the warehouse walls or had opened one of the barred side doors...
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:51, Fri 10 July 2020.

Stone spiked stabbed upward, uncontrolled, pinning Hollis to the shelving unit.   He clung there, fear rimming his eyes as he looked back and forth, up at Etzagith.  "No!"  he shouted.  "Oh fuck.  They're unarmed."  he said, pleading with Etzagith.  "Take whatever you want.   Just don't kill them!"]

Hollis has formally conceded the fight.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:13, Fri 10 July 2020.

Cara's head whipped back around, and she saw the Mage's anger and fury center on what she had done.  She saw something else too, a fragment of memories long passed.  Then she was snapped back to the present, and the very real threat she faced.  He snarled, and she returned the expression with a snarl of her own.  As the first shockwave of earth magic pulsed forth, she reached into the reserves stocked within her own Mantle and and hurled power into the floor.  Her hand snapped open wide, grabbing onto the force he was pouring into the earth and diverting a fraction of it to her own needs.  Her expression of earth magic was not nearly so desperate as his, but she didn't need them to be.  The very stones at her feet shot up, hurling her backwards and away from the explosion of spikes and stones that sought to impale her.

"Ensure the children are safe!  The Mage belongs to me."

She bellowed at the others as she surged forward, dancing around the spikes within the stone to get to the exhausted Mage.

"So much as raise your hand again, and I will use the the power within your own blood to make him die screaming!  One by one his bones will turn to brittle stone and shatter within his body, until he is begging you for the release of death."

She hissed through clenched teeth as she drew near, pointing a knife at the man whose fall had drawn the desperate gambit.  Its tip still gleamed with his blood, a point she hoped the Evoker wouldn't miss.  It was a threat she had no intention of carrying out, of course, but she doubted that the man knew that.  The Khundari were believed to be utterly ruthless and vindictive murderers, and the Great Houses had no interest in letting a good reputation go to waste.

Create an Advantage at +2
This message was last edited by the player at 16:20, Fri 10 July 2020.

With a quick nod to Cara, Etzagith stepped into the back room where Hollis had been headed, instinctively stepping to the side out of the light as soon as he entered.  He coughed once, then, doing his best to imitate Hollis' deeper drunken voice, but with a gravelly roughness like someone who isn't done coughing, he called out, "Bardan, all clear. (hacking cough)  Bring 'em out here."

11:39, Today: Etzagith rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice.  Deceive (+4) Imitating Hollis.
Result of 4, Social Stress attack.

Result of 4, to create an advantage Lets his guard down
This message was last edited by the player at 16:49, Fri 10 July 2020.

Arui was knocked by the spikes, but she recovered.  She had enough of this; she shot the caster.  The other woman shouted something about children.  Arui would see to them when the caster was dead.  She nocked another arrow.

Action: attack the caster with shoot

roll: 16:47, Today: Arui rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  shoot +4.

bonuses: bigger, stronger, faster +1

total: 4
This message was last edited by the player at 22:57, Fri 10 July 2020.

It seemed like an eternity, but it was only moments before the shaking stopped, the ground stopped heaving and the stoen spikes... no new spikes emerged.

Etzagith called out, "Bardan, all clear. (hacking cough)  Bring 'em out here."  But there was no answer from beyond...

Several of the lanterns had fallen to the floor in the Caster's explosion. casting even more of the place into shadows.

Arui sighted, calmed her center and let loose.  The arrow flew true, but it bounced off of the Caster's ill-fitting jerkin, knocking him off-balance a little, as he stood.

"Ensure the children are safe!  The Mage belongs to me."

"So much as raise your hand again, and I will use the the power within your own blood to make him die screaming!  One by one his bones will turn to brittle stone and shatter within his body, until he is begging you for the release of death."

He looked out over the scene, horror and grief and shock written clearly across his face.
"You stupid stupid woman.  He's already dead."  the Caster cried. "I felt it!"

And then he simply turned and fled down the corridor, heedless of impediments, leaping over fallen boxes, into the rear of the warehouse.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:41, Mon 13 July 2020.

In the sudden stillness after, there were voices from beyond, deeper in the warehouse.

"Woah, woah woah!"   someone shouted.  A familiar voice.   "Just hold on there.   It's okay.  Your fine.  You're safe.  What in the three's name justhappened"

"Earthquake!"  someone responded, a woman's voice shrill and she said something else, [Language unknown: Sater Romun ut Esacng Nte atany hieeus!]

Other voices raised clamored, some admonishing the woman, others offering their own account.  but one man's voice cried out with bitterness.  "This is not the life we were promised!"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:09, Sat 11 July 2020.

Pushing deeper into the warehouse, the light came from the side-door... it's boards had been carfully removed by someone, and though there wa a magical circle aglow around it, it streamed with light, a glaring contrast to the darkness within.

There was a man on the floor just to the side of the circle,  a stout man with a light tunic and a shaved head.  He was alive, but contorted in a position of pain, and terror, eyes rolled back in his skull.

Just outside the doors, there were a dozen people, all of them cloaked in brown hoods and capes, like monks or penitents.   There were a couple of men, a handful of women and five children.  All of them had rough hemp rope around each wrist--but the rope were not linked... they weren't manacles and they weren't actually tied to anything... so.. they were thick bracelets?  Some of them had severe chafing on the wrists, scratched and worn by long-exposure to the hemp.

"Please, Sir."  One of the men said, his voice low and controlled, with a thick accent.  "We were waitign to load onto the Blackthorn.  Then,
This message was last edited by the player at 00:07, Sun 12 July 2020.

"Damn it!" Arui cursed as the caster ran off.  She was ready to give chase, but the clamoring voices got her attention, and she remembered there were children in peril.  She hesitated for a moment before deciding that the needs of the people were more important than her personal issue with the spell caster.  She followed the voices to where the people were.  "What happened here?!"  She knelt down by the man and looked for signs of his ailment.  "What happened to this man?!"

Action: overcome using knowledge to gain medical information on the fallen man

Roll: 13:51, Today: Arui rolled -2 using 4 Fudge dice.  knowledge +3.

Bonuses: none.  I have nothing that will help with this.

Total: 1

DELETED BY MISTAKE.   -- GM
Thought I quoted it, apparently, I hit "edit" instead.

Cara emerged, warned everyone not to speak of the three (the Gods of Knune), then asked them what had happened.     She then asked Arui who she was to draw blood in this conflict...
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:57, Mon 13 July 2020.

Etzagith continued deeper into the warehouse, looking for Barden, the boys, or whatever is going on in the back.  As always when feeling confused and out of place, the rogue kept to the shadows and moved as silently as a cat.

19:41, Today: Etzagith rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice.  Stealth (+4) to create an advantage  There's nobody here, after all.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:33, Mon 13 July 2020.

Battered aside by the stone spikes that emerged, Nathan gasped in pain and ignored the question thrown at him by the Oathsworn women - he recognised her garb of black and red enough for that. As she in turn ignored him to cast her fury at the evoker, he shook his head to clear some of the dazedness from it and watched blinking as the mage slipped past him into the corridor. He clambered to his feet though, drawn to the childish voices and pushed deeper into the warehouse behind the Tarenti who had proven herself

Whilst Arui saw to the wounded man, he stepped forward to confront the woman who had declared herself to House Yisil. He spoke softly, but with authority, "I am Nathan Serule, an bound investigator of the City Watch and the Sigiled Fist. This woman acts under my authority in this raid. It is I, in turn, who would know why this fight even occurred?"

Arui was examining the man on the ground when Cara approached and asked, "And who are you to lend aid to this fight?"

She looked up and replied with a shrug the Tarenti idiom, "when the wildcat strikes."
Which was an abbreviated form that people acquainted with the Tarenti would understand

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
"When the wildcat strikes your herd, it doesn't matter what other herd it attacked."  Which roughly translates to "in an emergency, personal claims are less important."

---

She stood, brushed off her skirt, and acknowledged Nathan when he entered.  She offered a salute to Cara, showing her open palm, and said, "I meant no offense, I am Arui, daughter of Tagama, Sentinel of the Tarenti."

@Arui

The crumpled man at the door wore an orderly set of light armor.  He was likely employed as another of the guardsmen in the warehouse.  Possibly, this was the man the fat man had called to?   Bardan?

the wounds on the side of his face weren't terrible, they'd probably end up more like a bad sunburn after a day or two.   A quick once-over of his body also found a sizable goose-egg on the back of his head.   And that's enough to give her the insight that, whoever he was, he'd been hit on the back of the head--hard.  and he was unconscious probably because of that.

One of the cloaked figures took a step forward,.  He was about to answer when Cara stepped into the open doorway.   He didn't answer, but it looked like he'd had something to say to Arui.

He had a dark face, tanned and weathered, and wore a delicate silver chain along hi forehead.  a diadem, though not on the level of ornate or intricacy of the types monarchs wore.


OOC:  Knowledge(+3) is more than sufficient.   It looks like the magical circle was set-off, and then he got hit in the back of the head.   

As Cara stood on the lip of the Blue Sails Warehouse, right in the middle of the spent circle still sputtering the last glow of it's burst of energy, one of the cloaked figures looked up, startled to hear Taal spoken by someone not among them.

A ripple of fear and shock went through the crowd--almost visible and palpable.

"I spoke not of such!  someone called out.  "But of Demeris, he who--"  But she was cut off.  The cloaked figures --there were perhaps a dozen of them--clustered, some evincing obvious and abject fear.  Then, thankfully, The Oathsworn turned her attention to one of her own associates.

[three men, four women, five children]

"We are free men and women."  One of them, the one who'd approached Arui, said, and there was a hardness to his voice. "We fled a structure that was falling down about us.  Would you have had us stay inside and die, Sarkani?"

Side note: Sarkano is actually real-world Latvian for "of the red"...  I thought it seemed appropriate and sounded nicely exotic.  But it's your call whether it' an honorific, an insult or simply a recognition.

"Forgive me, Ser."  A child, dark-skinned and curly-haired, with bright emerald eyes that would have been prized in Khune for their rarity, pushed through and stood just a little ahead of the crowd, hands together, as if she were pleading with Arui.

"Is Master Bardan all right?   I know he didn't mean to set off the circle...  he... he was trying to hurry for us..."

"Bound Investigator Nathan Serule..."

Cara called out.

"... will you and your agent see that no one leaves, and perhaps gain some insight into what was occurring here?  I swear that myself and my companions...."

She looked about, and saw only then that neither Etzagith nor Manaolana was anywhere to be seen.

"... have an explanation for what we are doing here, but it is not one that can just be shouted out to a crowd, and I do not wish to lose these potential witnesses."

Her already furrowed brow deepened as she stared hard at the shattered remnants of the Ritual Circle.

"Are you skilled in such things, Sentinel?"

She asked, gesturing vaguely towards the circle.  She had a strong grasp of some of the magic of this land, but much of it was still foreign to her.

"Does anyone know what this circle was intended to do?"

Describe the Action:  Try and gain some insight into what this Ritual Circle was for.

Roll the Dice:  15:28, Today: Cara rolled -3 using 4 Fudge dice ((-1, -1, 0, -1)).  Ouch

Determine Approach:  Lore (+4), so total of +1

Choose an Action:  Overcome?
This message was last edited by the player at 22:34, Mon 13 July 2020.

Etzagith made his way around the shelving unit to where he could see the gathering crowd.  He looked out on the mass of people from the best hiding place he could find that had a full vantage.  He desperately searched for the twins among them.  I didn't expect to find the twins here, just something that might lead me to them, but maybe it was just that simple.

There are twelve cloaked figures gathered just outside the Blue Sails Warehouse, in a small clearing between building on the north side of the warehouse.  This is the same door through which Etzagith had removed several boards and entered, earlier.

There are five small ones among the cloaked figures.   One of them has approached Arui to ask after Bardan, the body at the doorway (which explains why he didn't respond to Etzagith's faked Hollis call).

There are still four more children-sized people among the cloaked figures.

The little girl who'd approached Arui looked back at the cloaked group and one of them, a female, nodded.

"It was Bardan, Ser." She said, with the deference only a young child could manage, trepidation touching her voice, "He was trying to disable the circle before opening the doors."

Not actually an answer to Cara's question, but at least it identified the body Arui was tending to.

The magical circle... The sigils look like the kind associated with making noise, a distant location, and some sort of mark or curse, probably associated with lightning.

So, a motion-alarm with a zapper on it.

Watching the Tarenthi with the wounded man for a moment, Nathan studied the Oathsworn woman. It was a question of trust and courtesy, which was already strained by the fight and the remarks about her companions. His eyes met the woman's, "It would be easier to accede to your request if your companions made themselves known..."

His fingers twitched, and he called out to the huddle of cloaked men and woman ... and children, "You are under my protection whilst I conduct this investigation, mine and the nomad Arui who tends to your man"

He turned back to Cara, "Once I have my explanation, and if I am comfortable with your intent, you may question them"

Cara had the decency to shrug with a somewhat sheepish look on her normally hawkish features.  It was a strange interplay of emotions.  She looked back the way she had come and shouted out.

"Manaolana?  You missed all the action, you there?"

And waited for a response.  Regardless of if it were forthcoming or not, she withdrew a piece of chalk and began inscribing a small Ritual Circle upon the floor.

"Do you mind if I ensure that what I say is not spied upon?  I will be sharing words that in truth would be better left unspoken, but I don't have much choice in the matter."

If he agreed, then she finished her working and answered his questions as best she could while standing within it.  Her voice was muffled as she spoke, carrying to just his and Arui's ears as if she were simultaneously a great distance away and whispering directly in his ear.

"I can't speak the whole truth, which will do little to appease your suspicions, but I will do what I can.   Someone has taken action against the Queen's inner circle, in a manner both subtle and extremely dangerous.  A pair of her closest advisors have gone missing, and any attempts to trace them with Magic has been for nought, despite the wealth of sympathetic connections available to some of the most skilled Diviners in the kingdom.  A simple warding would not be enough to block such effort.  I do not know if you are aware of the implications of that, but it means that someone has altered the pattern of their essence, breaking the bonds of sympathy.  Fate Magic, extremely dangerous Fate Magic.   A ritual intended to empower that kind of Fate magic could only take place in a concentrated locus of power, a nexus, of which there are currently three in this city.  The first is currently within the Merchant's Quarter, and under the jurisdiction of the College.  The second is here."

She gestured to the broken Ritual Circle, but did not speak of the third.

"As you are likely already aware, this warehouse in controlled by the Ember Blades, one of the many crime families that operates under the Blue Cloak's noses.   I'm guessing that's why you are here?  It seemed a likely place to begin our investigations, and so we started here.  I had thought my companion..."

Again she looked around for Etz, and seeing nothing shook her head dismissively.

"... was to to employ his supposedly great talent for stealthcraft to sneak into the warehouse while I provided a distraction.  Instead he barged in like a bull, and started a brawl.  Now I know not where he is, evidently his knack has finally kicked in."

She sounded irritated, but it was hard to tell if that was just her normal voice or not.

"Not that I have yet displayed any badge of authority to deserve such, just words, but I would hear what you were doing here as well.  You mentioned a raid. Perhaps our purposes are connected?  Then I would tend to the man I cut down before he bleeds out, or the venom I put in his veins takes him."

Describe the Action: Create a Ritual Circle of Shrouds to block any magical or mundane scrying or eavesdropping attempts.

Roll the Dice:
10:03, Today: Cara rolled 2 using 4 Fudge dice ((0, 1, 1, 0)).

Determine Approach: Lore, so total of +6

Choose an Action: Create an advantage.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:07, Tue 14 July 2020.

Etz slipped up closer, as Cara was talking to this new stranger.  The stranger carried an air of authority, which Cara seemed to be acknowledging.  At the very least, he was holding the cultists there, so if the boys were among them, they were at least safe for now.

Cara withdrew a piece of chalk and began inscribing a small Ritual Circle upon the floor.

"Do you mind if I ensure that what I say is not spied upon?  I will be sharing words that in truth would be better left unspoken, but I don't have much choice in the matter."

Hearing that Cara was looking to block any eavesdropping, Etzagith knew he had to be inside the region around which she was protecting if he wanted to be involved in the discussion.  He dropped the illusion ritual that made his cloak appear to be that of Churthen's ducal guard and noted, pleased, that his reversible cloak had its fine side out.  He settled in only a few steps behind Cara, on top of a set of sturdy-looking wooden crates the contents of he did not bother to guess.

He listened to Cara's explanation of the Fate magic and the loci of power.  When she continued on to chiding Etz for barging in like a bull, he nearly spoke out, but decided to let her finish.  Finally she wrapped up with a challenge to the stranger, and then a softer request to tend to the man she had stabbed.

Not waiting for the stranger's response, Etzagith dropped down from his hiding place, just far enough out of reach of either Cara or the stranger that they would not immediately stab him in an alarm reaction.  He held his hands out, to show that he is not a threat.  "Cara, when you thought you were providing a distraction, I had already been inside the warehouse and out again."  He shrugged to indicate that he never needed a distraction.  "When I was in here the first time, I found proof of Duke Churthen's involvement in this action against the Queen's inner circle, and I heard further evidence that THAT man ..." He indicated Hollis.  "... is acting as the Duke's agent.  In his drunken haze, he implicated THAT man, Bardan, though I'm less sure of his role."  With the second accusation, Etz pointed to the unconscious man near the door.

Using the Lurking stunt to have been inside the range of Cara's Cone of Silence Circle of Shrouds and hear her whole speech.  I'll mark off a Seek Shadow point.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:23, Tue 14 July 2020.

A single eyebrow raised when Etzagith materialized from nowhere, and she made a gesture of introduction towards him with her right hand.  She bared her teeth when he chastised her, though it wasn't clear if it was a smile or a threat.

"Ah, see, and here I was so sure I was the one following the plan, and just watching it go to shit.  I stand corrected, and doubly refuted on your skill at stealth besides.  Well done."

She dusted herself off, reaching into her boot and withdrawing a small knife.

"If you're back, then I am going to attend to the man I felled, the one who was trying to murder you.  Call to me if you wish for assistance interrogating the Duke's Agent or Barden.  Unless..."

She paused, her gaze falling on Barden, and then the little girl by Arui.

"... is he still alive?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:48, Tue 14 July 2020.

Arui took a knee by the child and offered a reassuring smile. "Barden took quite a knock, and he needs to rest, but he'll be alright.  You said he was hurrying you, where were you going?  Do you know if there were any more people going with you?"

The little girl looked up at Arui, innocence and trust blatantly obvious in her expression.   One of the the other cloaked figures--the man who'd spoken back to Cara's admonishment--looked on warily, but neither he nor the woman clutching his side, made any move to interrupt.

"I heard shouting."  the little girl said. "Bardan let us out of the lower chambers.  He wasn't supposed to, but the earthquake!" the girl's eyes went wide. "He was trying to get us outside.  It was really scary.  I like him.  He was nice to me."

"Jacinda."  the woman--possibly the little girl's mother?-- called out. "Come here, honey."

Cara stepped out of the small Ritual Circle she had fashioned, smudging it with a foot as she did. Her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for her people among them.

Describe the Action: Looking for any who might be Khundari in the assembled group.  Specifically looking for "Color and Clan."  Black (but no red) for Great Houses, Midnight blue for Merchant Clans, grey and silver for soldiers, scouts, caravan guards, and warriors, orange for Clanbound, colorless for Clanless.  Any attached to a Clan would have their Clan Sigil displayed somewhere.

Roll the Dice:  22:16, Today: Cara rolled 3 using 4 Fudge dice.

Determine Approach:  Notice, for a total of +5

Choose an Action: Seems like a simple Overcome in case any are trying to hide themselves from me.

Listening to what the Oathsworn woman said - Cara, her unnamed companion had called her, when he appeared as if born from the shadows - Nathan's shoulders twitched from something else, and his eyes were for the huddle of cloaked figures

"You spin a pretty tale, an indigo-flavoured one", he observed softly to both of them, watching their easy banter and speaking as Cara stepped towards the edge of the circle, "Perhaps that flavour comes from the same hidden source; the same veiled source"

He smiled, thin-lipped, as she broached the pattern scrawled upon the dirt, "We breached a similar nexus this morning, but nothing came of it"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:18, Wed 15 July 2020.

As Cara scanned over the group from her vantage point, she'd notice that virtually all of them, male and female alike, old and young, were clothed in simple brown linen robes and cloaks.  There were scant ornaments among them:  the man who'd spoken back to her, called her Sarkani wore a very light silver diadem.  He had a dark face, tanned and weathered.  Hi features could <I.very easily</I> be placed among the commoners of Khune.

However, none of them wore colors or displayed any sigils of any houses.

Also, there is no response from Manaolama.

That might simply be because he's over 100 feet away and beyond a corridor & wall...

Seeing that the people are terrified, Etzagith makes a special effort to move calmly and gracefully, doing nothing that would be perceived as threatening.  He puts on the persona, one that doesn't actually feel real to him, of a member of the nobility, a calm assurance that there is nothing to fear, here.  It's just a role, like any other.  Etz spoke to the stranger, not asking permission but just informing him, "I'm going to go check on the children."

He turned and strode towards the crowd with an air of confidence that he didn't really feel, maintaining the non-threatening air.  He looked at the little girl with concerned eyes.  "I believe he will be ok, little one," he said in that way that adults give platitudes to children.  Squatting by the man, he touched the side of his neck, checking for a pulse, but his eyes were scanning the children, searching for the twins.  Etzagith didn't really know enough medicine to help the man, but he knew just enough to play the role of one who knows what he is doing.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:05, Wed 15 July 2020.

Some of the tension went out of Cara's shoulders when Nathan mentioned the word "veiled," and she shot him a knowing look.

"Did you now?  Well that certainly explains what you are doing raiding here. That's quite the feat, though I would be curious to know who you upset with such a breach?  Neither the College nor the Nobles are particularly well known for their hospitality, and I would be pleased to learn who I don't have to offend yet should this prove unsuccessful."

She turned back to the crowd, her gaze narrowing.

[Language unknown: "Ch ei wion evbe dinersardsheoer onpl, olfo K eve tepeut Ilas not Wasshenti adsi sa.  Men lat Ressprof herli?  Sa ol Beenlaen t Teethi Undtinera, fo enasek'albe all i ndearters."]
This message was last edited by the player at 14:44, Wed 15 July 2020.

The male with the silver diadem took a step forward, laid a hand on the little girl's shoulder, trying t push her behind him, a protective gesture.

he said slowly, carefully, pronouncing each word as if the Taal tongue was difficult for him.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:30, Wed 15 July 2020.

Cara tilted her head to the side, her eyes narrow slits.  She switched to the local tongue, her voice sharp and cutting.

"From where do you hail, Robert?  By your face, you could easily have been born to a Steppe Mother, and you know enough to name me Sarkano.  Yet you are far away from those lands, Clanless and unnamed, and you speak Taal like a Greenlander."

With the recognition that sparked within their eyes at his coded remarks, Nathan's shoulders relaxed a touch and he watched them work from where he stood: Cara with the apparent leader, and the rogue with the children. His own eyes flicked to where Arui tended to the wounded man, "Is his stable?"

Robert's expression was guarded, wary even.   "I am told that my family came from Lysander Grove.  You would call it Muslen's Retreat."  he said.

A valley north of Lac Lis, arguably in the Scarred Lands.  Once a fertile valley reputedly known for a special nut harvest and a thriving quince fruit. The results post-cataclysm were less engaging, though this region was also rumoured among Kumlbaren nobility to be where the addictive fruit, Pashen, came from.  Muslen's Retreat had been under Khunic protection for generations.

Cara's face hardened, which was quite a feat all things considered.

"Live, so that they did not die in vain."

She added with solemnity.  While she doubted the refuges from the Scarred Lands would appreciated the Khunic expression, they would likely understand the consideration with which it was given.  Those of Fallen Khadid had seen horrors like no Greenlander had ever imagined.  While as a people they had fallen, any survivor of that calamity deserved at least a modicum of respect.  She nodded once, and turned to face the others of the Veiled Hand.

"How do you wish to continue the investigation?"

It wasn't clear if she was addressing Arui, Nathan, or Etzagith.  Any could answer.

"I will want to see to my man, and hope he has not bled out.  I need him hale."

She thrust her pointed chin in the direction of the room from which she had initially emerged, from where the fight had originated.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:04, Thu 16 July 2020.

Etz was frustrated that he didn't get a good enough look at the faces of the children.  I would think that the twins would speak out, if they're here, but what if they're brainwashed into whatever this cult thing is they have going on?  I need to get a better look without scaring them off.  He stood up slowly and calmly.  "The man is not in immediate danger, that I can tell, but we should get him to a healer."

Etzagith started by smiling at the girl who seemed a little braver than the others, and touched her gently on the shoulder.  Then he stepped very calmly, still smiling, towards the other children, and reached out for them as if to comfort.  He knelt in front of each child and patted their hand.  If a child made a real effort to hide their face, he reached forward to wipe away their tears, moving the face enough to see.  Could this be something altogether unrelated going on?  Maybe this whole scheme has nothing at all to do with the twins, and we just stumbled into it.

Nodding once, mostly likely to Etagith's report on the wounded man, Nathan then watched him tend to the children. Everything else was ignored, his eyes boring into the hand that wiped away tears, his own expression warring between a turmoil of emotions. His eyes glistened, wet with unshed tears, and one hand slipped to an empty belt rung

When he spoke, his voice was colder, dispassionate, "Deal with them, then... the bloodied man" and his eyes finally sought the leader of the refuges, Robert of the Grove, "You were borne here, Embers upon the wind? You owe nothing to those whose flame fanned beneath you"

Cara saw that Etzagith was checking each of the children to see if any were the twins, and turned to walk back deeper into the warehouse.

"Not to discount your wisdom a second time, but I did poison the blade that cut him. Do any of you have any talent for piercing through veils, seemings, or illusions?  We need to be absolutely certain that those who we seek are not hidden by some sorcery."

She moved back to the man whom she had cut down, hoping beyond hope that he had not crawled away.

@ETZAGITH

The adults in the group were cautious and protective, but not to the extent that they prevented Etzagith from doing anything as he walked among them.

The second child he checked was of the same age, a young boy with pale skin, and pitch black hair shorn roughly across the brow.  The guardians closest ho him were obvious Cyreni--from the island just outside Druvir.

The third child, though, was definitely Lucas, the younger prince.   The woman standing nearest was ancient, bearing Khadiden tattoos of the Medallon cult.  But she wasn't serving to protect him... And she didn't show much any any concern or agitation upon Etzagith getting on the children's level.  In fact ,she looked on encouragingly. The third child, near Lucas, was also just as obviously Liam.

They didn't seem brainwashed into any kind of cultist fervor, but they did seem overly docile.  Neither moved unless prompted, and did not evince much n the way of emotion.   They each stood--rarely more than a few feet from each other--eyes downcast and quiet... and without a shred of recognition.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:44, Fri 17 July 2020.

Although he had hoped to find the princes here, and half expected it, Etzagith was surprised that it had really happened.  He kept the shock off of his face, however, and looked around at the number of adults surrounding him.  They all have that dreamy cultish look, but who knows what that could turn to if their cult master orders them to violence.  He leaned closer to Liam, using the boy's hood for privacy, and whispered "Prince Liam."  He leaned back just enough to see the boy's eyes, to see if there is any recognition or if he is too far gone.

Standing again, still moving slowly and calmly, Etz continued to hold Prince Liam's hand.  He looked across the crowd of cultists for any that don't have the dreamy look, ones who are more aware, and maybe getting worried about his close interaction with the prince.  He looked also at the bystanders, knowing that if there was someone controlling these cultists, they possibly have disguised themself that way.

Etz locked eyes with Cara, speaking without evident concern, "Cara.  The Queen's business we were concerned about -- I have the solution in hand right here."

She'd made it maybe a dozen steps when Etzagith's first words stopped her, pausing to let him speak his piece.  By the time he finished, she was already striding back, sheathing the small knife she'd drawn back into her boot in a practiced bow.

"Do you now?"

She said as she stalked back, her voice low and cautious.

"Then you have the lead, how do you want us to play this?"

Her gaze fell on Nathan and Arui, sweeping to also capture the assembled refugess of Fallen Khadid, the children whose hands he grasped, and the warehouse that surrounded them.  If any new threat struck, it was clear she intended to be ready for it.  She had not drawn her blades, but her hands had most assuredly moved to the hilts.

Arui shook her head when asked about sorcery. "I know the ways of common folk, not those of magic," she told Cara.

Cara hadn't gone a dozen steps when her companion spoke of the queens business which halted her.  This caught Arui's attention.  He had spoken of the Queen's sons earlier. Cara had her hands on the hilts of her blades again.  Arui's bow was still nocked, but held loose in her left hand,  She gave Nathan a look to get his attention, then looked quickly over at Cara again, then Etzagith, and casually took a step back.  Something was about to happen and she wanted room to shoot.

moving to 3G

With the two princes brought forward, hands clasping those of the rogue of shadows, Nathan's eyes narrowed. His focus narrowed, discarding the rest of those surrounding the two boys and studying them intently. Upon his brow, a frown emerged and then deepened as he took in their vacancy. Beneath, his eyes tightened, a mix of fury and sorrow, that spilt into his taut voice as he asked as softly as those raging emotions permitted, "What have they done to you"

Such was the restraint needed, it was hard to tell if it was a question or not, and to whom it might be addressed. Certainly, it seemed he expected no response as he continued to speak, kneeling to ensure his eyes were at the same level as theirs. One hand he rested upon the shoulder of each as he continued, "Lucas. Liam. Tell me what happened?"

Almost off-hand he pitched his voice to the others, "We must take them to their mother, swiftly and without commotion"

He said nothing of their titles, nor that of their kin

Cara let out a sigh, staring at Nathan as he let the secret out.  Then she was moving, striding past them to place herself bodily between the group of hooded refugees and the twins.  It put her at an awkward angle, as she had to keep looking over her shoulder to try and keep Arui and Nathan within her line of sight as well.  Trust was hard earned, it seemed.  Between the two, she was more worried about the Aren with the bow.  Her Mantle still thrummed with power, but she didn't know if it would be enough should things quickly go to hell.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:54, Sat 18 July 2020.

When Etzagith whispered Liam's name, the boy cocked his head to one side, his eyes  showed a spark of recognition, but it was more like a polite interest rather than an awakening.

When Etzagith brought them forward, and Nathan questioned them, neither Lucas nor Liam offered anything by way of response.  They simply stayed with Etzagith, went where led.  They recognized when they were spoken to, but they did not speak.  Only turned to face whomever it was who addressed them.

"We must take them to their mother, swiftly and without commotion" Nathan said.

"Robert!" the woman with the little girl said sharply, her voice stressed.  "They're going to take the boys!"

"But, their mother entrusted them to my care."  Robert said.   He was not aggressive, but he was very clearly not just letting these strangers (you) take two of his group away...  "She claimed she'd be dead in a couple of weeks and wanted them to avoid the orphanage."

You may, if you wish roll, to see if your character believes Robert is lying.  It's a Mediocre(+0) target.  If you Fail, you believe he's lying.  Act accordingly.  If you succeed you believe that Robert believes what he's saying.  I see drama in either direction.

Cara made sure she stayed between the crowd and the recovered children.

"Bound Investigator."

There was a hint of a question at the end of her words, but the harshness still made it more a statement.

"While I agree with you that we need to act swiftly on what we have found, these people remain the key to how this occurred.  I have no authority here except by reputation, as the nature of my service has always been Veiled, yet you possess it in great abundance.  Given the urgency of what has occurred, I suggest we divide our forces.  There are four of us here, you and either myself or my companion remain here to question these people."

She looked back at Robert and the group, making sure none fled.

"And the Aran and the other return the children to their family."

Her hands had never left the hilts of her two long knives, but she chanced a glance backwards to Etz and Arui.

"Do we have an accord?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:24, Sun 19 July 2020.

When Etzagith heard Robert claim that Queen Jia had entrusted the twins to his care, he stared at the man in disbelief.  That isn't possible.  Why would Stefan have pulled us into this whole intrigue?  The note I got that brought me here was from Jia, I'm sure of it; it had our own code.  And yet, he thinks he's telling the truth.  Clearly he's been deceived.  He spoke to the man, "I appreciate all you've done for the queen, but I am going to see these boys returned to their rightful place.  Something is not right, here."

Etz looked at the man Cara referred to as "bound investigator."  He had said that he wanted to return the twins to their mother.  Keeping good hold on both boys, he continued to move towards the man, counting on Cara to guard their backs.  Etz nodded to Cara, adding, "I'm staying with the twins.  I agree that all these people need to be brought to their homes, but my duty is to the Queen, first."  It pained the rogue to leave Cara in charge of people who might be escaped slaves, but it did not seem as if she was looking to pull them back into slavery.

The rogue looked down at the odd bracelets that all the cultists wear.  Looking at Cara, he asked, "Do you think there's some ritual bound into these bracelets keeping them all docile?  There's still something fishy going on, here."

Still concerned about what could happen if these cultists are turned violent, Etz kept a tight hold on the boys and walked them through the warehouse towards the office.  He did not avoid the two new strangers who seemed to be aiding, but he wasn't going to hand the boys over to them, either.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:16, Sun 19 July 2020.

Cara nodded, the motion tight and strained.

"Cover me while I look."

She said at last, moving beside Etz and dropping down into a crouch.

"Let me see that, my friend here is going to make sure you're safe."

She said to Lucas, gesturing for him to raise his arm.  She tried to avoid touching the thing, instead withdrawing a pen knife from her coat.  Removing her left glove, she pricked her fingertip, drawing a drop of blood.  This she used to hastily trace a glyph upon the top of her right glove, the blood disappearing into the blackened leather.  Once she was done, she closed her eyes for a moment, extending her right hand over the bracelet without making contact.  This close, Etzagith could feel the power radiating off of her mantle as she tried to detect even the barest whisper of what had happened to the twin.

Describe the Action:  Casting a Ritual Divination to detect magic.

Roll the Dice: 20:42, Today: Cara rolled -2 using 4 Fudge dice ((0, -1, -1, 0)).  Ouch

Determine Approach:  Notice, which brings my total to +0

Choose an Action:  Looks like Overcome to Notice any magic.

Nathan hesitated, eyes haunted something more than the manner of the twins. For a long moment, as Etzagith walked away with them he remained where he was crouched upon the ground. Words washed over him - the Oathsworn's - but she moved on without waiting for a response to crouch as he had, with the twins, and so he stood and turned to the man who had claimed the Queen's demise

"Describe their mother", he began, head cocked to one side and eyes intent. His tone was weighed by his broach and his cloak, the authority of the city

"No."  Robert said to Etzagith in a soft voic that nontheless carried the weight of certainlty and command behind it.   as he attempted to take the two boys away from the group.  Robert reached out and clasped Etzagith's arm in a firm grip.  It wasn't painful, and there wasn't any other intention but to stop Etzagith from moving away.  "The boys stay.  With their family."

Robert faced Nathan, "They were entrusted to my care." he said plainly.  The was no aggression, only grounded certainty.   He glanced at Cara, already busy with her circle. "I made an oath.   I may not be bound by blood rituals and eat souls for breakfast, but my honor is just as important."

"And you, sir,"  Robert addressed Etzagith "Will you identify yourself, please, so I may address this grievance with the proper authorities."
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:34, Sun 19 July 2020.

Lucas lets you remove the hemp bracelet.  He makes no move to stop you, and nobody else evinces any concern whatsoever.

Cara extends her senses but there just isn't anything worthy of note...  the bracelet was made of hemp, still vaguely oily, or possibly imbued with Lucas' sweat...  but  there ere no signs or symbols, no aura, nor even the suggestion o energy wound into the fibers...

As Robert sands his ground, Bardan moans low and soft. "Sweet Mother." he whispered.  "That was brutal.   Feels like I went three rounds with a cave-lice sow." 

Then he stopped, his eyes flickered to Arui, then the Nathan and the others.  He closed his eyes, and Arui was close enough to see him swallow back a big gulp of emotion. "Oh no... no.  Tell me everyone made it out all right.  "


I figured, you could use someone on-scene who could actually answer some of your questions...

"Your honour is not under question, Robert", spoke the investigator plainly, picking his words carefully, "But I know their mother and these boys, and I fear you have been misled"

"Tell me - us - how they came into your care", he urged, his focus on the man, "Tell me who you sat and had tea with"

Arui looked down at Bardan on the ground.  "Good.  You're awake.  No-one else here appears to be injured.  Are you recovered enough to answer some questions?"

To Robert she said, "this warehouse is run by thieves and liars. They tricked my people.  They may have tricked you too."

Etzagith was somewhat heartened that Bardan's first thought was for the safety of his charges.  It reduced his need to get away immediately.  Etz did not try to shake off the strong grip on his arm, knowing that to try and fail would be far worse than not to try, but he did not release the boys.  Rising to his full height, he took on the role of a member of nobility, adjusting his speech to an oratorical one, and using a noble's accent.  "I am Etzagith, son of Baron Rugulus of Harvisborough and nephew of Leguraff Truminsen, Duke of Uxuria.  I act on behalf of Queen Jia Eldrian the mother of these two boys, Prince Liam and Prince Lucas.

"You will unhand me, now.  You already face charges of High Treason against the crown.  Pray you do not make matters worse by obstructing our recovery of the boys and their return to the Queen."  Even though every word was true, Etz still felt himself a fraud, claiming nobility in such a dramatic and public way.  He could only accomplish it by playing a role, one that felt outside of himself.

Cara's face went stony as Etzagith finished what Nathan had started, pulling rank and giving the game away.  It might have been the right call, but they wouldn't know until after they'd gotten everyone out.  She spent a long moment staring at the crowd, making sure no one bolted or tried to pick a fight in response to the revelation.  Only when she was sure that everything wasn't about to erupt into pure pandemonium did she stalk over to Hollis, who had largely been ignored since the fight had concluded.

"I think you are beginning to understand just how much shit you are in."

She said as she drew her right blade, taking him about the shoulder with her left hand and keeping the dagger tip pressed up tightly against his ribs.

"You and I?  We're going to go check in on your friend with the daggers, and while I'm working to make sure he doesn't die from the venom these little blades of mine hold?  You're going to sing me a pretty little tale of everything you know.  Aren't you Hollis?"

Describe the Action:  Intimidating Hollis into spilling the beans

Roll the Dice:  17:34, Today: Cara rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice ((1, 0, -1, 0)).

Determine Approach:  Provoke, which brings my total to +4

Choose an Action:  Would that be an Attack or an Cvercome?  He's conceeded, so I'm not sure.

"Are you recovered enough to answer some questions?"

Bardan nodded, lifting a hand to his scap, then checking it for blood...  There was none.  But he winced as he moved.

Robert flciked his eyes at Arui, but didn't say a word, too intent on his standoff with Etzagith.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 04:35, Mon 20 July 2020.

In fact, the crowd was a little thinner than it had been a couple of moments ago.  Some of the cloaked figures had already made off around the side of the building, around the corner, don some far alley...  There were maybe a little over a dozen when she came upon the scene, now there were ten?

mine hold?  You're going to sing me a pretty little tale of everything you know.  Aren't you Hollis?"

Hollis grinned, and there was blood in his mouth, staining his teeth.

Cara rolled 0 + Provoke(+4) to attack (command)
Hollis rolled 3 + Will(+3)

Hollis succeeded by 2-shifts.  Is it worth the fate-point to invoke an Aspect?

@Cara inside with Hollis (ZOne-1)

Hollis gritted his teeth and tried to laugh, but it came out as a series  of wheezing squeaks.  "You're not half as scary as the stories.  By Bilary's balls, You're just a girl.    You wanna eat my soul?    Wanna save me from the Inquisitor's pen?   Hope what you came to steal is worth it.  'Cause it might mean the end of everything."

After a moment where Hollis strained with his brathing.  "Acton's not dead?  Demeris said you killed him.  They were bond-mates...  Silly twits, both of them..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:32, Tue 21 July 2020.

@Nathan, Etzagith, Arui
Outside (ZOne-5) with the princes, linen cloaks...

"The woman met me at the Harpy's Last Note. Two days ago." Robert met Nathan's gaze.   "Said she was dying of some disease or another.  Said her  body wasn't benefitting from the food she ate.  She was barely more than a walking skeleton.  But she had the same eyes as the boys.    We take in strays.  There's hardships enough before and after. "

Cara's grip on the man tightened, and so did her jaw.  She tried to let the sleight roll off of her, like she had been taught by Yisil's House Mother, but those had been the lessons she'd been the worst at.

"I'm not supposed to scare you."

A little bit of edge crept into her words.

"You're talentless, there isn't a drop of power in your blood for me to claim."

She dragged him over to the prone form of Acton and pushed him down on the opposite side of the man as she knelt down beside him.  She sheathed the heavy duelist's blade, and again withdrew her boot knife, using it to start cutting away the man's clothing around the neck where she had stabbed him.  She withdrew a small stoppered glass vial, and with the blade carefully pushed some of the man's still wet blood into the vial.  Only once this was done, the vial stoppered and put away, did she begin tending to his wounds.  She traced two fingers of her left hand through still more of his blood, cleaning a patch of his chest with his torn shirt and using her new canvas to begin inscribing runes of neutralization and disruption.

"But your saving grace is that you know things, so I suppose you're not completely useless to me.  End of everything you say.   Is that what you were trying to do here?"

Describe the Action: Neutralize the Mindfire Poison currently in Acton's system.

Roll the Dice: 12:08, Today: Cara rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice ((1, 0, -1, 1)).

Determine Approach: Lore?  I'm disrupting a magical poison.  Brings my total to +5

Choose an Action: Seems like I'm attacking the poison's stress track.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:10, Mon 20 July 2020.

Arui didn't really know who was right, but if Etzagith was here to return them to the Queen, then they would be admitted into the castle to do so.  And if she helped rescue the Queen's  sons, it would reflect well on her and her people petitioning the royal court, and if Etzzagith was a charlatan, his deception would be proven if the boys were sent away.  "It speaks well of you that you take in strays," she said to Robert, "but if they are the Queens sons, then they aren't strays.  Then, they were taken from her."  She indicated Etzagith, "If this man is true then he can get into the castle to return the boys. We can go with him to be sure.  If the Queen doesn't accept the boys, then you can take them with you, but if they are her sons, then they deserve to be with her.  Either way we will know the truth, and honor will be served.  Does this sound fair to everyone?"

Nathan watched Robert's response, his shoulder's itching as they remained here debating the matter. He would not muddy the waters with further words, but nodded encouragingly at Arui's

Etzagith nods at Arui.  "Even if we believe this man's tale, someone has engineered this kidnapping.  He and his associates need to be taken into custody, but the most important is that we get the boys back to the castle safely.  We don't know whether or not the mastermind is here, possibly pretending to be a bystander, and he might have thugs with him.  I would welcome you and any available city guard as escort.  Can you command them?"

@Cara

"Really?"  Hollis said. "Is that what you think?   She got you so blind that you don't know there's a war?  We don't end it now, it's over.  All of it.  We're not trying to end everything.  We're trying to stop it, you bloody useless lizard."

--
OOC: Lizard?  No idea.  but I think I'll play with that a little...
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:58, Tue 21 July 2020.

@Arui, Etzagith, Nathan

"The huntress speaks  fairly."  Robert said, quietly.  He exchanged a glance with the woman with child he'd protected earlier.  She nodded briefly and there was real regret in her expression.

"Surely the local guardhouse should be able to verify them--and you, son of Harvisborough.  If this is so, I will gainsay nothing further and will relinquish all claim of guardianship."


OOC: The castle is some distance away... but the local city guard garrison-house should be closer...   There should be one per district..   .

Cara paused briefly from her work to favor Hollis with a weary gaze.

"The thing you Green Landers don't understand, the thing you have never understood, is that there is always a war.  It is unending, and it has always been about the end of everything."

Indeed, the thing which pulsed within her left forearm even now was a sign of it.  Utterly alien, utterly inhuman, it represented an apocalypse of such a staggering scale, greater by an order of magnitude than that which had shattered Fallen Khadid.  She could feel it writhing, shifting about for a view behind its fleshly lens, even blinded by her vambrace as it was.  She could feel the taint of its power infusing her Mantle, the foundation upon which all of her stolen and borrowed magic was built.  What would be the point of showing him?  Even if she had been willing to explain the meaning behind it, she did not expect any of Kumlar to understand the doom that her people bled and died for to keep at bay, it was not her place to try and teach them.   Instead she only sighed, and went back to work cutting up Acton's shirt and fashioning it into a makeshift bandage for the man's neck and head.

"What makes your apocalypse so important that you are willing to risk kidnapping the Queen's heirs for it?"

The secret was already out, she didn't care enough to maintain propriety.

"What doom is it you're fighting, and how does such a risk help you fight it?"

Once she was done wrapping the cloth around Acton's head and neck, she withdrew a leather chord from her belt pouch and bound his arms behind his back.

"Help me lift him, and let's see if he can walk."

She said, pragmatic as all of her people were.  Her other hand had drifted to her long knife, and her wolfish eyes watched them both unending as she moved.

That Cara had taken a stopper full of Acton's blood was not lost on Hollis.  But he was hardly in a position to do anything about it.   Cara appeared to be acting on authority of the Blue-Coat, and that meant the jig was probably up.

"Queen's heirs?" Hollis snapped. "That what you think was going on here?"       Drunk though he might've been, it was clears the wheels were turning.

"Kidnapping royalty is a bit above my station."  Hollis said, but his voice was much more subdued. "But it does fit the bill, doesn't it?  You and your fake Pennryn Guard going to pin this on us, then?  It'll start a war here, too..."


Earlier, Etzagith failed on a deceive roll to crate a insignia of the East Pennryn Dukal guard.   It's what tipped off the combat in the first place... Hollis recognized it as being wrong...

It was possible that Cara was still feeling a little testy about the drunkard's earlier sleight, for she spared the effort to give him a condescending pat on the back around supporting Acton.

"Look at that, the bells are finally ringing!"

Was it raw pettiness that put a little extra venom in her words?  Perhaps.

"So now that you've finally achieved some small measure of understanding of just how screwed you are, perhaps some part of you has enough sense to know when it's time to start singing.  Like you said, this is well above and beyond the sort of trouble you want to be in.  This ain't about loyalty, this is about someone fingering you for something you didn't want nothing to do with.  So what's a poor besotted drunk to do?  You can start by explaining to me everything you know, and we can see about preventing whatever war you're so twisted up over together.  Because if you don't give me anything good?"

She chanced a glance at the twins, then eyed him.

"Oh yes my friend, this does not look good for you."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:28, Wed 22 July 2020.

Etzagith looked at Arui, "to the local garrison, then?  I doubt whoever is behind this could have had the foresight and the resources to buy them off, and they will represent enough muscle to get us to the castle."  Indicating Robert, he added, "I'm even willing to have this man come with us, as long as he stays more than an assassin's strike away from the boys.  His story seems genuine, but that judgement will have to be made by a magistrate, or someone higher."

(Assuming he receives assent) Etzagith leads the boys to the nearest garrison.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:42, Wed 22 July 2020.

@ALL
Re: Robert & The Princes

I'm gonna switch to prose form for a little bit to wrap up this scene (and let Nathan go on Vacation without strings).

Robert agrees to go with you to the local garrison.  While he's been arguing with you all, though, parts of his group have been sneaking off, walking around the corner, or fading away down the myriad back-alleys in the Dockward.  Where there were perhaps twenty or twenty-two of them, there were now nine or ten.

You simply don't have the man-power to detain them all.  And the priority is on the Princes.  Robert and teh Blue Sails guardsmen appears to be one key players, so keeping them detained is a best-practices move.

Now, since Nathan is going off on Vacation, I am going to simply say that Garrison Commander does, in fact, verify that the boys are who Etzagith says they are.   Robert fulfills his claim and formally relinquishes claim of guardianship over them--but he will not do so until someone else makes a vow of guardianship.

Arui, at least, should appreciate the seriousness with which Robert takes the vow.

So... What do you want to do with Robert?

Robert can--and will willingly--give a much more detailed description of the woman who'd paid him to take guardianship of the boys.   It's an open thread for which I don't have anything defined, so if you want to introduce anything here, I'm game.  No fate-point cost needed...

Next active scene will be the wrap-up with Menkliia and Stefen.   We'll call it,... the next day.   Nathan can join us when he returns, having some obligations for debriefing among the Fist.

@Cara

"It never did."  Hollis said, his voice flat.  "You've been bleeding this kingdom for decades.    None will mourn me when I'm dead.  It was only a matter of time.  You and yours.  Your a distraction.  Always have been.  You're not the enemy.  The Fel Mondain.  They're the only enemy that matters.  And you pin this on us,...  THey may come for us first, but they'll come for you too..."

Cara stared at him blankly, looking over the only barely conscious form of Acton to do so.

"You seem to know many of the stories about me.  Good.  But if you think calling an Oathsworn a pawn is going to rile them, then you missed a few tales.  I am what I am, and I will do that which it is my sworn duty to do.  Nothing can stand in the way of that, not even the Dragon Emperor himself.  You think your Queen any more important?"

She leaned in close, whispering so that only he could hear.

"Fuck the Queen."

She pulled back, her smile grim.

"She knows what I am, and that my loyalty to her is absolute just as long as my House wishes it so.  She tolerates that because sometimes the Kingdom needs bleeding, and she knows how to play the game."

She did not hide the glance at Acton, and another at the pocket where she had placed the vial of his blood.

"Whatever game you were playing?  You lost. Your end is coming, but if the end is truly coming, then my duty goes far above and beyond any paltry task the Queen sets me yipping to attend as her snarling cur."

She grabbed his arm, her fingers squeezing hard, though she was not mighty enough to draw pain from the gesture.

"If you mean to burn it all down behind you, then I won't try and talk sense into your ale addled skull.  If we are all to die, then I will sleep tonight with a smile on my face knowing that you will die first, preferably screaming.  But it sounds to me like you're taking a fall for something larger.  Is your last act to be to go sullen and silent to your death, or would you rather have a dog nipping at the heels of Fel Mondain?  The choice is yours, I don't give enough of a damn to try and beat it out of you."

She released him, and went back to the task of coercing him into helping her drag Acton along.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:45, Wed 29 July 2020.

Etzagith decided that Robert must really believe what he is saying.  "I will take a vow of guardianship for these two boys until I deliver them to their mother, Queen Jia.  No harm will come to them that I have power and breath to stop.  I will make no detour from the path to bring them to their mother unless it is for their physical safety."  What have I got to lose with this vow?  It's what I was going to do, anyway.

Still looking at Robert, he continues, "You still have to answer to a magistrate for your part in this affair.  I will, however, testify that I believe you did not know whom you held.  That is, I will do so as long as you give all the evidence you have about who is responsible for the kidnapping."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 04:00, Wed 29 July 2020.

@Cara

Hollis winced at the pressure applied to his arm.   "Wasn't... trying to rile you.  ... Don't care enough to do that." He said through gritted teeth.  "There's nothing you can do to me.   I'm already dead.  Have your two-faced Blue-Fist look up the name Nathan Hollis.

Arui was about to offer a vow of guardianship which is common among sentinels, but Etzagith spoke quicker which brought a smile to her.  He didn't look like a sentinel, but he acted like one.  "If you will allow it, I would like to accompany you in taking the boys home."

She agreed with Etzagith to Robert, "You have acted honorably as a guardian, and I too will speak for you, and the others who came with us to the garrison.  However, I noticed more than a few snuck off before we arrived. I can not speak for them, but the magistrate will likely want to know about them."

Cara ignored the others as she walked, focusing on her prisoners.

"You are not listening."

She said, her voice low and gravelly.

"I am not threatening you.  I am giving you a chance to continue whatever work you thought was so important you risked all this for."

She gestured towards what few refuges hadn't managed to slip away.

"Do you think one of the Khundari would ignore rumors of the Mondain?  House Yisil does not do its business in Fallen Khadid, but there are none among my people who do not know what happened to Javid.  You say I am being used by them in my ignorance, help me understand, so that I can be a thorn in their side rather than their pawn."

"It's simple." Hollis said at last, sullenly. "The Mondain have been swarming Pennryn Hills for years.   Duke Pennryn has pled the crown for years.  But they tell him it's not their problem, that he's making it up, that there is no threat.

So, now, any who fight the Mondain in Pennryn may earn tenancy.   Doesn't matter where they come from or what their life was before.  All that matters is that they fight.  We arrange transport. Volunteers, all of them.  Pennryn pays.  It's not just the coin.  There are easier ways to make your weight.  Everyone on the shadow path has lost family, friends.

My son was disemboweled by an Urgach in the mountains East of Pennryn, under the King's banner.  Now, they won't even give him the honor of recognition for his sacrifice. Won't acknowledge he even existed.  Where's the justice in that, hm?   If the king won't fight to save his own damned kingdom, somebody's got to do it.

--
Duke Pennryn
Duke Churthan.  Duke Pennryn is simply a reference to title/estate rather than the individual who holds it.  Still the same person.

Shadow Path
Just made it up...  'cause "underground railroad" doesn't make sense if railroads haven't been invented yet.

Urgach
No clue.  probably some sort of Orcish type of creature.  I'm envisioning humanoid, brutish and quick.

"Make your weight"
Earn you coin.  Since "weight" is a measurement of coin (10 times a piece of currency is a weight).