I'm thinking in general terms of sending the Varimori emissary home undamaged, with a polite warning not to meddle with Balefyre's sovereignty again.

If we don't do anything at all to the Caliphates emissary, it may look like the Caliphates are responsible for grabbing the Varimori.  Nic attempted to plant that seed with the bodyguard earlier.  Not sure how effective it'll be but every little bit of misdirection helps us right now.

I’m good with either option. Not sure how long it might take a) things to die down and then b) arrange to get the guy out of the City though. I seem to remember we were working to a relatively tight deadline? (Although I can’t recall how tight)

You guys achieved a major plot milestone when you captured the Varimori emissary. The key now is leveraging that coup in order to effect the withdrawal of the Bloodforged.

I'm worried that playing this out IC will be a long, drawn-out process IRT, and I'm not sure how enjoyable that will be for all parties involved. IMHO, I'm realizing that this particular medium doesn't really lend itself very well to intrigue-style gameplay.

How would y'all feel about a little hand-waving and an off-screen resolution to the current Chapter? We could work out the details OOC, make it official with a few narrative posts in the IC, and move on to the next adventure- a more combat/exploration/problem-solving type scenario better suited to PbP.

I'm here to serve, so whatever y'all prefer to do is fine with me.

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I'm fine with fast-forwarding.  I suspect that sort of intrigue-heavy plot would be the Nic and Corros Show, with Jenna sidelined, and I'd rather not underbus Dave like that.

I'm also fine with fast forwarding.

Works for me!

OK, then, how do we play this out? First some intel. Y'all would have found this out eventually, but since we're accelerating things...

Gronk was followed from the alchemist's shop to the Vander safe house by a couple of Toesplitter's men. The Halfling crime lord wants answers regarding the Four's endgame plan. The keep rescue prompted a clampdown which has cut into his businesses even more (shutting down the Pit and the brothels) and he wanted assurances or he was going to take matters into his own hands, perhaps cutting his own deal with Kreyg.

The Vander safe house was discovered by the Bloodforged during their hasty cordon-and-search (following the kidnapping of the emissary). Gronk, Lenore, and one of Toesplitter's men fought their way clear and escaped into the sewers, Jurvis and one of Toesplitter's men were killed, and the mysterious monk was recaptured. The four Bloodforged prisoners you had were freed.

Vander's involvement in the conspiracy will be found out very soon. His elder son was going to sell him out anyway (in order to take control of the family business), but discovery of the safe house will accelerate his betrayal.

So,

If and when Kreyg realizes that he could earn the ire of Varimor, the most powerful of the bidders, he will take as much gold and loot as he can carry and ship off (literally). How can the Four leverage their hostage to force that realization?

Several city factions are ready for a general uprising too. The gangs, the Fisherman's Alliance, and the Fire Watch vets are all willing to fight. The only thing holding them back is the hostages. Kreyg would be willing to free the hostages in exchange for the Varimori emissary. However, after freeing the hostages, he would immediately take more, and probably execute more than a few this time.

You also have a concentrated batch of a very strong purgative.

Ideas, preferences, questions?

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This message was last edited by the GM at 16:24, Sat 12 Nov 2016.

Send Kreyg a message saying that we're sending the emissary back to Varimor? Piece by piece? With a note implicating Kreyg in what's just gone down?

(Obviously we won't do it because we're good guys, it's just a bluff.)
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 13:54, Sat 12 Nov 2016.

You need a nihilist to cut their own toe/finger off, then have that delivered (aka Big Lebowski).

I did think of suggesting we deliver a body part with the note (Theon Greyjoy?) but I figured it would be incompatible with our alignments (or at least Jenna's). I suppose we could always cut something off the next Bloodforged we kill after he's dead.

Something like that is certainly a possibility. The emissary (once back in human form) has a medallion to indicate his role as representative of the Varimori monarchy and a signet ring indicating his own place in the Varimori nobility. Either would serve as evidence that "The Ravens" have got their hands on him- a finger would add some urgency as well, although I understand the ethical qualms with removing one from a living person/prisoner. That said, there are quite a few red-armored nihilists about, and plenty of people looking to settle scores with Kreyg.

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I imagine sending him the signet ring along with a note saying: leave or we're sailing to a friendly port and executing home boy in full public view while wearing Bloodforged armor would get the point across.  We don't seem to have any trouble coming across armor...

Oh, Keys, I like the cut of your jibberish.  Mind if I refine that a little bit?

I know we're in the OOC thread but when I think about this in the shower, it's easier to articulate IC.  Call it an apocryphal scene if it's not the direction we want to go...

---

Nicolai steadily pans his gaze across around the ill-furnished room in one of Toesplitter's innumerable safehouses.  This particular site is the storeroom of a ropewalk, its air heavy with hemp dust and tar.  It's a completely legitimate business - and one, the once-and-future crown agent notes, that's remarkably susceptible to fire if evidence disposal becomes imperative.  But at least the floor isn't covered with canvas tarpaulins...

"Kreyg launched his gambit," he begins, "because he believed no one would oppose him.  Because Balefyre's reputation is that of the Unsettled East.  The frontier.  A lawless place."  He tilts an ironic nod to the meeting's diminutive host.  "My intent is to rid the city of the Bloodforged while simultaneously demonstrating to all the powers of the Inner Sea that the rule of law holds here."  The balance at this stage is precarious, and he pauses until he sees Toesplitter's minuscule nod - an acknowledgement that he understands business can and will continue in such a city.

"Kreyg is a mercenary.  He came here under contract, and he's ruined his company's reputation through breaching that contract.  A seizure of praxis here was a huge gamble.  He and his men are about to lose it all.  No one but the most desperate or foolhardy will hire the Bloodforged now.  His officers and senior sergeants know this and they're desperate for a way out.  It's filtering down to the line troops even now."

He sips from the goblet in front of him and smiles thinly.  "So I propose to offer them a way out.  We offer them safe passage to a destination of their choice, anywhere on the Inner Sea.  They keep their gear."  He sees Commandant Overmark's face cloud and raises a hand to quell her protest.  "They keep their gear because they'll need it to continue their trade.  They turn over any plunder taken during their stay here, and they give us Kreyg.  A gracious and forgiving Council gives them a writ acknowledging that the coup attempt was Kreyg's alone, holding no other officer of the Bloodforged to blame."

He swivels his gaze to the Vernar Vander.  "Kreyg stands trial for breach of contract.  Here, but under Tokari law, as he insisted the contract be written when you hired him."  His eyes are cold, a reminder that he hasn't forgotten who actually solicited the Bloodforged in the first place.

He holds up a finger.  "That's his first choice."  He pauses.  "Or."  A second finger rises.  "We will arrange the death of the Varimori emissary.  In public.  By Kreyg's own hand.  And we will notify the Varimori court of the deed."

His face is impassive, but he flicks an inner smile toward Corros, whose witchery is critical to the bloody side of the coin.  Wait for it...

Toesplitter and Vander are too professional, in their own ways, to rise to the obvious showman's bait. Breakwater, while a savvy businessman, is still a skeptic when it comes to the Ardani's tradecraft.  "That's a mighty fine shroud to be fittin' the albino with," he grumbles, "but he's not that stupid.  Twice not if you warn him."

"Ah, but it'll be a mighty small shroud," Nicolai returns.  "Our Varimori's already been a turtle.  When he becomes a raven..."  On its own unspoken cue, one of Nicolai's corvine accomplices hops to his shoulder and chuckles disquietingly, "and my agents here harry him into the presence of a Kreyg who's already hanging by a hair, the execution will be reflexive and terminal."

His face hardens.  "Now, they might try to flee with Kreyg.  In which case we bribe the sahuagin to interdict them.  I understand they've been cultivating Sylky Styg.  He can tell them exactly what that means."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:22, Sat 12 Nov 2016.

Nice touch with the ropewalk. One of the gangs under Toesplitter is called the Ropewalkers.

Just to clarify, Kreyg didn't break a contract when he took control of Balefyre. He did it because he believed that the city had broken its contract with him. They had put him on retainer to take out the pirates and/or reopen the mines but when the Five/Four did both jobs, Balefyre pulled out of the deal. He felt he'd lost other jobs while waiting so, in a fit of pique, he decided to seize the city and hold it for ransom. Basically, he's trying to do three things:

Recoup potential losses
Make some significant profits
Teach prospective employers not to think about reneging on a contract

Still, Teg is right that Kreyg doesn't want to be stuck with the reputation that they can't handle their shit, and killing or allowing a bidder from a major polity to be killed would certainly be a blot on their rep. Varimor is a major employer of merc companies in times of war- screwing them over means losing a major customer. Like I said, if he thinks that he can prevent himself from being framed for killing the Varimori envoy by leaveing the city, he'll do so forthwith- but only after plundering it for all that it's worth. The idea of using the Sahuagin to recoup some of that treasure is quite clever. Sylky Styg- last seen in the sewers after breaking out of the keep- is currently on the lam. If he can be found, he'd prolly make a deal to coopt the Sahuagin, however, he'd ask for a hefty broker's fee, and there's no guarantee that he and/or the fishmen wouldn't just keep all the loot for themselves.

I'm fine with transferring Teg's post to the IC to serve as a jumping off point for the plotting. What say the rest of you?

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I am Keys, and I approve of this plan

Fine by me.

Rae, did you want me to update my post with your corrections noted above and post it to the IC thread, or were you wanting to make the tweaks yourself?

Whichever works for you.

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All of the "if there's going to be a fight" stuff in the last turn post doesn't mean necessarily mean that there's going to be one.

I hope that you find this "twist" kinda cool instead of shitty. I was hung up on the game and it just sort of came to me. I gave the scenario a bit of thought and decided to go ahead with it. I couldn't think of a quick and easy way to bring Teg's setup post into fruition without a lot of rather dull exposition and/or IC talky posts. Also, I figured that Kreyg's informants/spies would have been able to trail at least one of the parties present to the meeting at the ropewalk, especially since the albino was desperately looking for pretty much everyone there.

So, feel free to play this however you'd like. You can try to talk it out or you can kick off a big rumble. Kreyg's not likely to commence hostilities while you've still got a hold of the emissary.

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This message was last edited by the GM at 20:28, Sun 20 Nov 2016.

In reply to Raellus (msg # 191):

I'm fine with it.  There's no reason we can't still use our plan.  The only real difficulty is Corros only gets two spell slots so if the ambassador saves we're screwed from a spell caster perspective.  Still, I'd rather avoid a bloodbath if possible.

I'm happy going along with whichever way Keys and Teg want to play it.

Well, we only need Corros' spell slots if negotiation fails.  And this way, we can immediately force the issue with Kreyg's underlings.

@Rae, who currently has inspiration?

@Keys, what are Corros' Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion bonuses?  Nic's are, respectively, +8, +2, and +5.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:24, Sun 20 Nov 2016.

In reply to Nicolai Romanelli (msg # 194):

+7, +4, +4
Unless I missed the proficiency bonus to +4 in which case his persuasion is +8

Nic and Jenna, if my records are to be trusted. And I think Corros' actions clever and unconventional spell use during the emissary ambush deserve an inspiration point as well.

So, all of you have an inspiration point to spend.

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I think our proficiency bonus is still +3.  That's what my scores are calculated from, anyway (Nic has the rogue class ability that doubles his proficiency bonus for Deception and Stealth).

If we have to go to dice, I suspect Persuasion will be key.  Mechanically, if both of us are talking, it'll look like one Persuasion check and one Help action - which will provide advantage to the primary speaker without using inspiration.

I'm thinking we play this like "fuck off and go home because the entire city is about to rise up against you, and even if you win the fight your surviving troops will have a reputation for massacring civilians.  Also," (whispering) "we'll pin the Varimori's death on you personally in front of all these witnesses."

Or we could have Gronk challenge him to single combat, but that seems somehow unfair.