The Long Road to Revolution [IC]

[Failed Phantasm]

Fort Defiance
It took weeks of preparation. Food and supplies had to be scrounged from the wilderness, weapons and armor had to be moved from safehouses and gathered piece by piece, intelligence had to be collected one scrap at a time, and the army's efforts had to be sabotaged ever so slowly, until everything finally came together late last night when, as the royal governor in Falcon's Watch was being removed from power, you and your fellow members of the resistance captured one of the largest forts in your province. It was not much of a battle. Many of the troops garrisoned there had been drawn off by your lizardfolk and bugbear allies and, as you swept through the poorly-defended fort, the remaining defenders were not able to withstand the assault for long. As the last of them were rooted out and those who had surrendered were rounded up, the battle began again as the diverted forces realized what had happened and doubled back towards the fort. But you had the advantage now. With the gates closed and hastily fortified, and as arrows and spells flew through the air, the lizardfolk and bugbears pressed their own attack from the rear, and the army beat a hasty retreat, scattering into the darkness of the night in almost every direction. Having captured several casks of ale and wine, the entire resistance cell celebrated with a loud and rowdy party well into the night.

The coming of the dawn has sobered the atmosphere in what some among you are calling "Fort Defiance," as the implications of what you have done begin to properly sink in. A handful of uprisings like yours have begun exactly this way before, and every single one of them to date has fallen apart when the king ordered a blockade of the province and a halt to trade. It goes without saying that if any of you are caught by the king's army, you'll likely carted off to the Heartlands to be tried and executed, if the soldiers don't cut you down during the ensuing battle anyway. Now that you have successfully carried out your part of the plan, everyone in the fort is awaiting Evennia's return from Falcon's Watch, hoping that she had managed to rally the people, the temples, and the city guard to have the governor arrested and removed. If this plan works, if the resistance has managed to wrest control of the provincial capital away from the kingdom, then you'll have made history, and maybe - just maybe - you'll have the momentum to keep pressing onward. All you can do for now is hope and pray that things went well in Falcon's Watch.

Evennia will be calling a meeting as soon as she arrives at the fort, and you'll be expected to attend, since all of you are part of the leadership of the Falcon's Watch resistance cell. Until she arrives, however, you have free run of the fort.

The Layout of the Fort

Encircled by a thick stone wall that has fallen into disrepair in several places, the newly-christened Fort Defiance occupies a roughly rectangular plot of land and is large enough to garrison hundreds of soldiers and little else. The south-facing gates open up to a large exercise yard, the main keep is to the west, the bunkhouses are to the east, and the mess hall is a free-standing stone building that leans against the south wall.

The main structure resembles a castle's keep, but consists only of one main room that is roughly 75 feet by 75 feet, two storerooms, a watch tower built into the keep's southwest corner, and a prison in the basement. It had been the ranking officer's command center until last night, and now some of the men are combing it for any particularly valuable intelligence that might be gained from the officer's papers.

The bunkhouses are arranged in four rows of five. All of them have two floors of nothing but bunk beds and footlockers, and are about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide, large enough to accomodate several dozen men each, if not particularly comfortably.

The mess hall is about half the size of the main keep, and had been filled with foodstuffs that were either grown locally or imported from the Midlands. The food is perhaps the fort's greatest prize as far as the resistance is concerned, and the dour elven quartermaster has chased most of the men out so he can take inventory.

[super dark33]

Seenjid Sits meditating on the main keep's roof.
He racalls visions from last night, the men he had killed, the techniques he had used.

As he meditated, he held his sword close to his chest, slowly bringing it up to in front of his face:

In the blade he saw all those the blade had touched.

Seenjid tasted the steel.

It was sweet today.

What kind of delusional idiot licks his own sword?
Or licks any sharp blade for that matter?
Anyway ill pick the Maneuvers of the day later.

[sournote103]

Lhyr lumbered out of the bunkhouses as he readied himself for the upcoming meeting. After checking to ensure that his armor and shield were not in disrepair, he decided to check to see if any of the resistance's healers could use what admittedly meager healing skills he had.

[Hamste]

Pyrom stretched his legs as he walked through the compound. He decided it would probably be best to check in the dungeons to make sure no one had forgotten to search it for prisoners, hidden doors or hiding guards and to make sure no one had forgotten to take care of them. He had to make sure he didn't take too long though, or risk missing the meeting but it shouldn't take too long. His abilities might be needed to heal others but that would have to be done later.

[Lord Ruby34]

A light wind tussled Miguel's dark hair, gentle even on the battlements. His It seemed almost incongruous with the scene before him. Blackened patches of ground were interspersed on the killing field, three scorch marks carpeted with blackened and twisted human remains.

Miguel stared unblinking at the craters, trying to sear the scene into his memory. This is the cost of freedom. These deaths and a thousand more like them. I will not let myself forget.

He lingered, taking in the imagery of the battlefield. It was being cleaned up as Miguel watched, freedom fighters taking the corpses of soldiers to a mass grave. It was a scene written in fire. Though the morrow would see the corpses gone the land would bear scars for years to come. I will not forget.

An indeterminate time later Miguel felt a slender arm wrap around his waist. He didn't need to turn, he simply returned the one armed embrace.

It was a scene writ in fire, death. But the brutality seemed somehow less important, less vivid, with Lucia next to him. And Miguel knew, beyond the barest shadow of a doubt, that for her freedom he would author ten thousand scenes far darker than the small battlefield before the gates of Fort Defiance.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Alden wanders around the fort, surveying the damage the battle has done. We'll need to repair those walls ASAP. It's good that we have a supply of food, but we'll need to find a way of getting more before too long. No complacency... His thoughts continue down this road for a while longer, as makes his way from the exercise yard to the bunkhouses, mess hall, and main building. In truth, he's looking for something, anything to do. He hates just waiting, but the other resistance members seem to have everything under control. He opts to head down into the prison area, and see if he can help with the search for intelligence. We'll need to fortify most of these areas. A few traps in some key chokepoints would help, but we'll have to find a way to convince any invading army to go where we want them to. Assuming they can get past the walls, that is. We really need to repair those first...

[Failed Phantasm]

Lhyr
You see a dwarf entering the bunkhouse closest to the gate, a silver medallion shaped and detailed into the form of a lit candle hanging from a cord around his neck. You follow him into the building and are greeted by the sight of at least three dozen men and women laid out on the beds and cots, many of them having been stripped of their makeshift armor and wearing clothes that are still bloody from last night. These seem to be the poor souls who were most seriously injured in the battle, many of them surprisingly young and others worryingly old, and none of them seem as though they have ever fought before in their lives. There are a handful of human and elven men and women here, changing bandages and washing wounds, but none of them seem to be wearing or carrying holy symbols. You see the dwarf whom you followed, his hands glowing softly with divine magic, leaning over a man who bears a nasty gash across his chest. You see your brother Hyrn here as well, tending to an elven woman with arrow wounds, though he looks as though he has not slept all night.

Pyrom
As you perform your inspection of the dungeon, you check on the handful of soldiers who surrendered last night, to ensure that they are still locked securely in their cells. Everything appears to be in order, though none of them look as though they are in the mood to talk to you. Most are asleep on the floor, while the others are sitting or standing around and pointedly not saying anything at all. As you search the entirety of the room, you conclude that there are no hidden doors or trapdoors: the entire thing is built of stone and the masonry, while worn, is still solid and well-constructed. There doesn't appear to be any place for anyone to hide in the dungeon, though, for good measure, you check the barrels stowed down here and find them empty. From the smell, they probably used to be full of apples, though only a few handfuls of loosely packed hay remain. <Search: you find nothing.>

Alden
Entering the main building, you see six or seven people already performing a search of the former commanding officer's quarters. Bundles of official-looking papers have been stacked on the tables, and small leather-bound books and journals have dumped into irregular piles alongside them. A few have been set aside more carefully, an empty inkwell set on top of them to weigh down a note. It seems as though these are the most important and valuable materials that have been found so far, but it appears as though the search is only about half-done, and double-checking what's already been examined might still reveal something that had been missed earlier: it's obvious to you that the search is being performed in haste, so that things will be ready for you when Evennia arrives and your meeting begins.

[super dark33]

After giving the blade a few more tastes, Seenjid got up and looked at the gate, waiting for her arrival.

Burnt into his mind and body, techniques perfected in the trial of time were ready to be unleashed at targets.

Ding! A single us for all the following:
Shadow garrotte
Ruby nightmare blade
Mountain hammer
Devastating throw
Cloak of deception
Shadow Jaunt

[sournote103]

Not entirely sure where his aid would be most useful, Lhyr approached his brother and said, "I've got some time. Is there anyone anyone here who needs my healing magic?"

[ToySoldierCPlus]

That won't do at all. Alden moves to over to the desk and sits down, grabbing the first stack of official-looking papers as he does so. He begins skimming over them, looking for useful information. As he reads each sheet, he either discards it onto the floor if it has nothing useful, or places it neatly into a new pile on the desk. As he finishes one stack, he simply reaches for another.

[Failed Phantasm]

Lhyr
Hyrn looks up from his ministrations, managing to look happy to see you in spite of how weary he appears. "Hello, Lhyr," he greets you softly, glancing down at his patient to see if your conversation might disturb her. When he is satisfied that she is resting comfortably, he continues quietly in Gnoll, "I'm glad to see you. I was worried about you all night. But," he pauses to give you a cursory once-over, checking for injuries before continuing, "you always make it through in one piece. Thank Vathiriel for that. No one here is in immediate danger of dying," he says as he turns back to the elf woman, "but Brother Durral and I are the only priests who are in the camp right now. We've had to reserve our magic for the most serious cases only." He looks up to indicate an open footlocker to you, which appears to hold the dwindling medical supplies that they have been using. "I should get back to my work. There are some bandages there if you want to help. And," he gives you a small grin, "thank you for coming by, Lhyr." With that, he begins to delicately apply a salve to the elf's arrow wounds.

Alden
As you sort through the first sheaf of letters, you notice that almost all of them bear the seal of the regional governor of either Falcon's Watch or Borealis pressed into wax beneath the signature; they also appear to be encrypted, as every line of text is a seemingly-random collection of numbers and letters. They are dated at regular intervals of two weeks with the most recent having arrived only four days ago; this one is an unusually-short three-line communique, whereas the others go on for a page and a half or more. Of the remainder, a handful of them are written plainly but, unfortunately, the language in which they were penned is not one you are able to read. The script, however, is very familiar to you from your days in the temple of Caelestian: it is quite clearly Celestial, which is not commonly spoken or written except by clerics. These documents do not bear any official seal or marking, nor are they signed.

The letters in the second stack are written in Common, and appear to be correspondence between this fort's previous commanding officer and those of other garrisons in the area. Many of them are requests by the more outlying outposts for assistance against the local lizardfolk tribes — something has been provoking them into increasing their skirmishes lately — while others are simple status reports about the disposition and morale of the men and the state of their supplies. While the authors avoid giving exact numbers and details in their letters, it appears as if things are proceeding as usual for the Far Wilderness.

[sournote103]

While not the most adept healer, Lhyr felt that he needed to do all that he could given the situation. At his brother's direction, he took the bandages and began to apply them as best he could.

Heal check, should it be needed: [roll0]

[Failed Phantasm]

The sun begins its slow ascent into the heavens, the gentle pink hues of the dawn sky giving way to the clear golden-white of mid-morning. The fields where a battle had been fought only the night before was slowly resolving into clarity, the dead lying charred and broken and battered upon once-green grasslands. The resistance continued its work in spite of the absence of almost half its leadership, tending to the wounded, digging graves for soldiers, taking inventory of what the fort contained, scouring the cryptic communiques of the military. Irthos and several of his kobolds spilled out of a bunkhouse they had appropriated and converted into a workshop for themselves, carrying all manner of strange devices and tools with them into the exercise yard. A few curious onlookers, probably having joined the resistance only recently, came closer to watch; those who knew better gave them a wide berth.

Soon it was midday, and the quartermaster was at the door of the mess hall, fending off men and women with a broom in one hand and a rolled-up sheet of paper in the other, the grumbling of the hungry and the irate exclamations in Elven carrying throughout the fort. The kobolds were arguing with each other in the yard, and a young man had to be taken to the clerics after a misfiring trap lodged a spike in his shoulder. Suddenly, there was a alarm call from the watchtower, followed by a surge of bodies up towards the wall, an anxiety mixed with fear evident on the faces of many. Had the army regrouped and returned to reclaim the fort? As they scanned the rolling and rocky hills that surrounded them, they finally spotted the small group - not more than five - on horseback, riding hard for the fort. There was a collective sigh of relief, more figurative than literal, and the resistance returned to its work. She was late, but she'd finally made it back.

Evennia and her escorts, all of them human, rode in through the gates, fifteen minutes after being spotted, and she was striding off towards the main building almost the moment she had dismounted. One of the women and one of the men who had been riding with her bore the sword of Arion quite plainly visible around their necks, and a young elf came up to them to escort the pair to where the injured were being treated. The other two men followed Evennia into the keep, one of them carrying a bulging satchel with scrolls and papers sticking out of the top while the other was keeping pace with her and they appeared to be discussing something urgently. Without needing to be told, some of the men and women in the fort start looking for Seenjid, Pyrom, Miguel, Lhyr, and Alden: their meeting was about to start, no doubt to plan out what the resistance's next move would be.

[super dark33]

Just as Seenjid saw Evennia, he started climbing, jumping and tumbling his way down into the courtyard from the roof he was meditating on.

He walked up to her and said:

Welcome back Evennia. How was the road?

Takeing ten on all checks, as funny as failing might be, we dont have time for this.

[sournote103]

Hearing of Evennia's return, Lhyr took a few moments to finish bandaging the wounds of the resistance member he was currently aiding, then proceeded to meet Evennia and Seenjid, though he did not initially say anything or do much more than meet their eyes before turning his gaze downward.

[Lord Ruby34]

A soldier found Miguel standing on the battlements with his wife a few minutes after Evennia returned, and told him so. Miguel let out a long sigh, seeming to let some of his doubts out along with it. He thanked the soldier briefly, then dismissed him before turning to his wife.

"Will you wait for me? I will find you after Evennia finishes talking my ear off so we can get something to eat, and find someplace quiet to eat it?" Miguel spoke reluctantly, without letting his arm fall from Lucia's waist. He wasn't ever enthusiastic about Evennia's war councils. There was often entirely too much planing about details far down the road, and in Miguel's experience planning too far ahead was just folly. Fate did what it willed.

Still, he supposed that it was necessary to plan out the immediate future. After all, they couldn't really afford to waste the momentum they had. Not that that made the meetings any less tedious.

Disclaimer: Any views expressed in the above writings are not necessarily those of the author. :smalltongue:

Also, if something sounded wonky, it's because I'm terribly sleep deprived.

[Hamste]

After staring awkwardly at the prisoners for a couple of minutes Pyrom decided it should be time to leave and check if the meeting was starting soon or not. He shuttered a bit as he slowly climbed that stairs. His knees weren't what they used to be he wasn't feeling very well at all. He hoped the meeting went well for them.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Alden looked up from the stack of correspondence he was sorting through when the soldier told him of Evennia's return. He thanked the soldier, replaced the stack had been sorting on the desk, grabbed the stack of valuable correspondence, and headed out to join Evennia and the others for their meeting.

[Failed Phantasm]

Evennia gave Seenjid a polite nod as she strode towards the fort at a brisk pace, answering with a breezy, "The road was wonderful. We made better time than I would have thought." A frown tugs at her lips and she shakes her head briefly before continuing, "Politics, on the other hand... we had to install some kind of leadership after we ousted the governor, and it took all night to reach a compromise on who it should be." When she noticed Lhyr approaching, Evennia gave him a courteous nod as well, taking the last few steps to the keep's main doors, her scale armor clattering a bit in her haste. "So that's Seenjid and Lhyr. Now where are..." she murmured to herself as she pushed the door open and entered, nearly hitting Alden with the door as he was exiting. She gasped in surprise, her emerald eyes wide with shock, as she stopped herself when she noticed Alden dodge out of the way. "Oh! I'm sorry, Alden! I didn't see you there." She beckoned to Seenjid and Lhyr, as well as the other two men behind her, and then craned her neck to see past them. "Hmm. I don't see... oh, there's Miguel. Now where's Pyrom?" she murmured to herself, before shrugging and continuing in a more normal tone of voice, "He'll turn up, I'm sure. IRTHOS!" she shouted across the yard, her hands cupped around her mouth, "GET YOUR STUBBY LITTLE TAIL OVER HERE!"

Evennia turned and entered the keep, the men and women who had been searching the room were already starting to head for the exit without needing to be told - surely they heard her shouting - and she found a table with enough free space for her to deposit her satchel, followed by one of the men who had escorted her to the fort dropping his backpack alongside it before sketching a bow and turning to leave. Pyrom trudged his way up from the dungeons as Miguel was coming in from the outside and Evennia nodded with the hint of a satisfied smile on her face. "Good, I think that's everyone who needs to be here," she said as Irthos skittered in with a startled "Yeek!", his claws clicking and clacking on the stone floor, "so let's jump right into it. It looks like you managed to take the fort without too much difficulty, and hopefully without too many casualties," she begins, leaning back on the table behind her. "We'll start with my debriefing first, though I imagine you won't find it nearly as interesting as last night's battle. Then we can start discussing our immediate future," she stated as she swept a few loose strands of her mahogany-colored hair back over her slightly-pointed ears.

"The operation in Falcon's Watch went smoothly, though there was only one slave in the city who needed to be freed and the long-term stability of the city is something I think we need to be concerned about. The uprising started at just after sundown in the marketplace, with several hundred citizens rallying to our cause including several sympathizers who are also influential leaders of their community. We marched down a circumspect route along the edge of town to the governor's residence, rather than travel straight through the city proper and risk alarming the watch into thinking that we were rioting. However, with the influence and support of the clergy, we actually managed to bring the city watch over to our side. With their help, we arrested the governor and removed him from power in fairly short order. That," she said with a heavy sigh, "was the easy part." She shook her head forlornly, then turned around to extract a letter from her satchel. "Right now, there is a council of..." she began as she rummaged through her pack, "...eight," she continued after a moment, having found what she had been searching for, "eight citizens who are the temporary leaders of Falcon's Watch, sympathizers and the disinterested in equal measure. It took almost all night to negotiate who should be on the city council, and while I'm confident they can manage the day-to-day business of running the city without any trouble, I worry that they'll crumble under any sort of pressure," she said with another shake of her head. "The council lacks unity, and we haven't even gotten to the hard part yet. Overthrowing the governor was trivial. Maintaining the city's independence from the crown will be difficult indeed, if the king's army decides to retaliate. And most difficult of all is the task of winning the full support of the common folk. They may be willing to risk their lives to defend their homes and their families, but it will be far harder to convince them to do so for the sake of our ideology, for the idea that no one should live their lives enslaved and the idea that King Hadrian lost his legitimacy as a ruler when he made slaves of his own subjects." She breathed another heavy sigh, before looking back up, her eyebrow arched inquisitively, and asking, "Questions?

[super dark33]

What is our mission in this?

Seenjid stroked his SORD.... with his hand unnoticed.

[Lord Ruby34]

After saying a quick goodbye to Lucia Miguel made his way through the heavy oaken doors of the meeting hall and slouched against the wall as Evennia began to speak. As he expected she immediately jumped into least important matters.

"You think about things that we cannot control, Evennia." Miguel said with a shake of his head. "The people will see us, and they will either see our cause as an example, or they won't. We already treat them more kindly than the empire ever did. They will come around in time. Or they won't." Miguel shrugged. "It is not in our control."

"As for the defense of Falcon's watch, well, I have no doubt that is what we are here to discuss."

OOC: If this post doesn't make sense, blame sleep deprivation. There are likely grammatical errors, please point them out if you see them.

[Failed Phantasm]

Evennia merely arched a slender eyebrow at Miguel, fixing him with a searching gaze, her expression unreadable. After a pause lasting several long moments, she then looked towards Seenjid and clarified, "Mission? In Falcon's Watch? There isn't one." She paused and tilted her head before adding, "Not yet, at any rate. We'd be badly overextending ourselves if we were to garrison the city and this fort, and trying to supply both with what we have now would be impossible. We have more immediate concerns to worry about, to say nothing of how delicate the political situation is there. I'm not about to march into the city and risk the new council members, sympathizers or not, feeling as though we're trying to subvert their authority or strongarm them into doing what we want." She shook her head emphatically before addressing the others again, "Though I imagine we'll be needed in the city before long. I bring it up only to keep you appraised of the situation there, as I assumed you all would have wanted to know how the other half of the operation proceeded last night. It was, as I said," she said, briefly glancing askance at Miguel, "a debriefing. Make of it what you will," she concluded with a slight shrug. As no one else had spoken up, Evennia continued, "Capturing the fort has given us a proper base of operations, but little else, I imagine. We're still in desperate need of almost everything," she stopped for a moment, considering her words, before adding with a slight grimace, "and I've no doubt news will be reaching Mintharos before too long. All it takes is one mage to send a message from the Midlands to the capital. I doubt the army will waste any time in mobilizing a response, so neither will we."

She paused to take a breath before continuing. "If we are to start building on the momentum we've gained," Evennia lifted a hand and began ticking things off with her fingers as she said them, "we need to establish stable sources of food, medical supplies, clothing, weapons, and armor. That," she said emphatically, "is what the five of you will be doing, since I imagine you'll want all the interesting missions for yourselves," she said with the hint of a smile - tinged, perhaps, with a bit of wistfulness - playing about her lips. "Torak, Slaan, Irthos, and I will be searching for new recruits, training the ones we do have, and working on getting this fort out of the sorry state it's in. That includes repairing the fortifications and setting traps in the surrounding area," she said with a nod towards Irthos, whose reptilian face lit up with something approaching a mix of cunning, eagerness, and pride. "Ryssa will be in the field, scouting out objectives and keeping a watchful eye on the army's movements in and around the province. She will be the only one of us who can regularly assist you out there, since the rest of us are likely to be busy with our own duties here and elsewhere. As an aside, though..." Evennia paused to give Lhyr a look that bordered on apologetic before continuing, "I don't remember the pair of you ever having worked together before, but she will likely want to deal with you, Lhyr. Ryssa relates better to other Gnolls, because she... hm, how did she say it?" Evennia paused, her brow furrowed as she thought. "She finds human and demi-human facial expressions 'confusing' and doesn't have the best grasp of Common. If nothing else, you will need to translate some things for her."

"Back on topic, however," Evennia turned around again to snatch a piece of parchment from her satchel, straightening it out with a flick of her wrist. Turning back to you, she says, "We're always keeping a eye on the province for potential resources, but since we've typically operated in much smaller, much more dispersed groups until we captured this fort, we haven't needed to act on them until today. Some look quite promising," she said as she quickly skimmed down the length of the parchment, her eyes darting back and forth as she did so. "Since food is one of our most pressing needs, I'll start with that one and work my way down the list."

"There's a town, about four days from here on foot, called Stormhaven along the Broken Shores to the south, which has the twin fortunes of being on some of the most fertile land in the region as well as being one of the only safe harbors in the province. It also takes in a good catch of fish each season, in addition to being one of the only ports of call for trade ships from the West, which makes it one of the Far Wilderness's only lifelines to the rest of Gaernland. We found a stack of letters in the governor's manor in Falcon's Watch: apparently the mayor of Stormhaven has been requesting military assistance for some unexplainable terror from the seas that has been sinking ships attempting to enter or leave the harbor. Details, unfortunately, are a quite sparse, coming as they are from the lips of drunken and half-drowned sailors, which is gist of the reason the governor gave for declining to send the army. There's no denying that ships are being sunk, however." Evennia looked up to emphasize her next words, "While the town can survive on the crops it harvests, it's the imported goods from the West that make it prosperous. Stormhaven would be an incredibly valuable ally if we could persuade them to join our cause, and assisting them at a time when the army will not should go a long way towards putting us in their good graces."

"This next one involves an old kobold mine —" "Kobold mine?" "Hush, Irthos. Let me finish. — an old kobold mine in the hills to the northeast that the kingdom seized years ago, but for whatever reason has been mysteriously abandoned within the last two months. The kobolds chose it for its gold veins - gold, I should add, which would go a long way towards buying or trading for what we need from the west - and the king's army seized it for the same reasons, but all of the miners and everyone else working in or around it seem to have suddenly vanished. There were letters in the governor's manor, and, I imagine, here in this fort," she indicated with an idle wave of her right hand, "that prove the mine sent out weekly progress reports to the governor, but they stopped abruptly and without reason roughly six weeks ago. I took a look at some of those reports myself, and the foreman didn't mention any signs of trouble that would indicate what went wrong..." Evennia trailed off, biting her lip thoughtfully as she stared up into empty space. "But in addition to the gold within the mines themselves, our kobold allies have expressed interest in reclaiming it. The tribe who lived there were forcibly ejected years ago, and they would very much like to return to their homes and begin working again. Retaking it would strengthen our relationship with them, and perhaps prove to the bugbears, gnolls, and lizardfolk that we are serious about returning their ancestral lands to them."

Lowering the parchment, which you can quite clearly see has more than two things written on it, Evennia looks up at each of you and asks, "Do either of those interest you, or shall I keep reading?"

[super dark33]

Keep reading. All weaknesses must be explored before a strike.

[sournote103]

Lhyr was somewhat torn on the issue. On the one hand, he felt that establishing a stable source of food was the most important issue, and if they had to defeat a monster that was harming innocent people to do so, then all better, but he was unsure of himself subsequent to Seenjid's observation. After a moment, he thought better of speaking until the other options had been read, as he assumed that the others' assessments of the situation were likely to be more apt than his own.

[Lord Ruby34]

Miguel returned Evennia's gaze steadily, but kept quiet while she spoke. It seemed that the important matters had finally come up.

"Worthy though those missions are I agree with Seenjid. I would see all the options before us before deciding." He shrugged his shoulders. "After all, some might lie in the same direction, accomplishing two at once would prove be ideal."

[Hamste]

I would like to hear more option as well. Though I would suggest going for the mine first from what I have heard so far. Making friends with the tribes would be quite helpful. Plus by the time we are done, we might actually know something about the other job.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

Alden finally spoke up, for the first time since Evennia's arrival. "I'll hear the rest of what you've found, Evennia, but I disagree about going after the mine before Stormhaven. Unless there are more objectives in the same direction, we'll need the food that Stormhaven can supply before we need the gold the kobolds can."

[Failed Phantasm]

"If any of these missions lay in the same direction, I would have suggested them first," Evennia remarked wryly, "but this is a vast land and there is little here that is near to something else, this fort being a rare exception." Turning back to her list, she began to read again. "A few weeks ago, I sent word to some of the better-equipped resistance cells in the Midlands asking if they could spare any supplies for our attack on the fort. Although I did receive several promises of aid and the assurance that we'd be getting those supplies discreetly and in a timely manner, the caravan that had been sent was due to arrive four days ago and we haven't seen any sign of it along our usual smuggling routes coming from the west and southwest." Frowning slightly, she added, "I doubt they've run afoul of the king's army - they barely have the men to patrol the main trade road leading to Falcon's Watch - but neither have we had the men to spare lately to scout out the trails leading over the wilderness. All of my reports about those roads are outdated, so I can only wonder at what's keeping them..." Tilting her head thoughtfully, she pursed her lips and said nothing for a few moments before shaking her head once and continuing, "They won't have been carrying a very large shipment for us, in the event they were caught and searched: we were promised mostly some food and medical supplies, along with a few simple weapons and maybe a handful of suits of leather armor if they could be spared. It won't be nearly enough to keep us supplied in the long term, but the food and medicine will help us stretch our current supplies by a few days or so if we ration carefully. I'm hoping the caravan was just delayed by poor weather or a broken wagon wheel, but still, I don't like the idea of those supplies falling into anyone else's hands."

Evennia paused to take a breath before launching into the next item on her list. "Although this is about nine to eleven days due east on foot, depending on how deep and difficult the snow has been this month, we might be able to make good progress towards three of our current short-term goals if you decide to pursue it. Further east, near what we call the "edge" of the Far Wilderness, there are plentiful growths of pristine forests and meadows that usually host an abundant amount of game, since only the gnolls claim such places as their hunting grounds and they don't hunt enough to thin the animals' populations dramatically. They should have plenty of elk and moose hides, tanned or not, that they would be willing to trade and perhaps even some smoked venison they would be willing to part with, though I'm told it's been a lean winter for them. I don't think we have anything that they would consider valuable enough to be worth trading, but you might be able to strike a bargain with their chieftain to give you some of the hides and meat they've got in exchange for some service you could provide for them. Much as with the kobolds and their mine, we need to show that we're willing to build and maintain good relationships with the native people of the Far Wilderness, since their good will and patience have their limits and it has been a hard winter this year. Certainly, the hides and the meat would do much to solve our problem of needing armor and foodstuffs, though we'll need to find a skilled leatherworker to make something useful out of all those hides, and I'm not sure how much food we could acquire from the gnolls."

"The rest of the items on this list, while intriguing, are ultimately just rumors and hearsay, and they need further investigation before you go off after them," Evennia stated decidedly, "since we have no time to waste chasing shadows and getting nothing in return for our trouble. Our current situation is too dire." Neatly refolding the letter into its original state, she looked up calmly continued, "You should be able to do all of these eventually but we need to get off to a running start, so you should carefully make the choice of which of them to do and in what order. Which will be you be pursuing first?"

[sournote103]

While largely unsure of himself, Lhyr still thought that a stable source of food was the most pressing concern. Attempting to speak up as much as he could given his nervousness that someone else might offer an opinion more valid (in his eyes, if not others') than his own, he said, "I think we should go to Stormhaven, probably." After a moment, he added, "I might be wrong." After offering his thoughts, he sort of shrank back to let the others discuss without what he considered his unneeded interference.

[Hamste]

I know something about tanning and preparing hides but I am not nearly as good as my Dad was. Unfortunately, I can't remember anything on making armor or anything from that leather. Also showing the other races we can be trusted is important and the city has enough food that as long as we help them before the city starts to degrade from not being able to trade they will still be happy. Another problem with the city is that it was mentioned that the thing causing trouble is a "Terror of the Seas", I don't know about you guys but I can't swim and would much rather put off going on to a ship to hunt down something or somethings that is able to sink enough ships to make a sea faring city trapped. I still like helping the kobold’s with their mine. It would give the nation some trading leverage if we open up a trade route. Plus, I have heard kobolds are great at making traps and the ability to make traps would be quite useful if we need to use guerilla warfare on invading soldiers. Pyrom said.

[super dark33]

I am more in favour of investigating the mine, the kobolds may assist with food once we befriend them.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"I still believe Stormhaven would be more useful to us in the short-term than the mine. Either that, or we could investigate the gnolls. I found some correspondence indicating increased skirmishes with the lizardfolk in the area; whatever's got them spooked might be a problem for the gnolls as well, which means we may be able to solve two problems at once."

[Lord Ruby34]

Miguel nodded to Evennia in apology before turning toward the others. "I say we head to Stormhaven. They're the largest group in the area, and they may be able to provide us with more than food if we manage to stay in their good graces. Besides," Miguel said "they have no interest in supporting us now, unlike the gnolls and the kobolds, and it's more important for us to gain new allies than it is to solidify the support of old ones."

Miguel glanced at Lhyr and Irthos, "At the moment, at least."

[Failed Phantasm]

At Seenjid's mention of food, Irthos uttered a wracking laugh that was somewhere between barking, yapping, and cackling. "Not food that humans eat," he said when he had calmed down to the point of being able to speak again. "[[You might eat kobold food, maybe,]]" he told Seenjid in Draconic, accented with a yipping quality that was so typical of kobolds, "[]" Irthos' grin as he finished his sentence was unmistakably mischievous.

Evennia then responded to Pyrom. "Whatever is attacking Stormhaven is doing so by sea," she began, "but we don't know that whatever is doing it is [B]from the sea itself. The lizardfolk sometimes use similar methods when they want to drive settlers away from rivers in their territory; they can certainly swim and hold their breath well enough, and they prefer destroying property, such as boats and buildings, because it's more palatable to them — a better expression of marking territory — than killing invaders outright. But, of course, the lizardfolk don't live in the water: they live on land near it. The only problem with that idea," she continued, tilting her head thoughtfully, "is that Stormhaven isn't on lizardfolk land. It never has been." She shook her head once to emphasize the point. "They prefer rivers and marshes to the sea, and the southern coast is too cold and too treacherous for their liking. They're called "the Broken Shores" with good reason. Also, the Royal Geographic Survey hasn't been out here in well over a hundred and fifty years, and the last time they were, they didn't do the best job of mapping the coast because they didn't think there was anything of value to be found and the prospects of finding another safe harbor were slim. But I think the idea that whatever is harassing Stormhaven might be based on the land is not a possibility that we can discount just yet, simply because there's too much that nobody knows about the Broken Shores. I wouldn't rule anything out until you go there and see for yourselves."

[super dark33]

Seenjid replayed to Irthos in draconic.
[D]And in this way there will be more human food for the humans, rather than human food for everyone.[D]

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"There are plenty of things that can attack from the sea, not just lizardfolk. It could be sahuagin, or a dragon. It could be raiders or pirates, though it seems like we'd probably have heard reports of ships being used in the attacks. Regardless," Alden pauses and looks at his companions, "Debating what might or might not be attacking these ships gets us nowhere. We need to decide where we're going to go from here, and we need to decide now." He places the stack of correspondence he had grabbed on the table. "There might be information about Stormhaven and its problems, as well as some of the other problems in the area, but most it's encrypted. It could take days to break through, which doesn't help us right now."

Alden rises from his seat. "It seems to me that we are divided between going after the mine, and rescuing Stormhaven. I'd like to call a vote. All in favor of rescuing Stormhaven first?"

[Lord Ruby34]

"Stormhaven." Miguel called out lazily from where he lounged against the wall. "I'd like to be in a city again."

[Hamste]

May I see those? I might have something to understand some of them though it would take some time for me to do so. It would take about half an hour to go through thirty pages of them, if there is any more than that then we will have to wait a day for me to ask my god for the ability to read more. I propose we suspend voting until the ones that I can read have been read. Pyrom said brightening up at being useful. Hopefully the correspondence would say something important and make the decision easier.


If there is no arguments then I will take the sheets and cast comprehend languages to start reading them.

[Failed Phantasm]

Pyrom
You cast your spell, pick up the stack of letters that Alden lay on the table, and begin to sort through them yourself. Even the most cursory reading of the encrypted letters demonstrates that your magic cannot make any sense of the garbled letters and numbers that comprise them, and so you set those aside. As you turn to the letters written in Celestial, you notice, like Alden before you, that they have no official seal or marking that would identify who wrote them, nor do any of them bear a signature. Your spell, however, does impart the translation of the spindly, yet inexplicably graceful, calligraphy into your mind. These seem to be one-half of a private correspondence, of which you have only the replies and not the original letters which prompted them, and they appear to be regular updates on the situation of someone's family. There are several mentions of "your wife and daughters" or "your family" made throughout, describing at length their health and financial well-being as well as hardships and difficulties such as illness or poor marks at school. The most recent letter, which arrived only last week, offers the incredibly hopeful and optimistic opinion that the recipient may be allowed to come home soon, though the author does not elaborate or offer any details that might explain why or how. The eleven letters you have do not appear to discuss anything in an official capacity — in fact, they appear to deliberately avoid mention of such things, perhaps in the event the letters were intercepted and translated to Common — and you cannot find anything in them that might help you determine what is happening in Stormhaven or anywhere else in the Far Wilderness.

[Hamste]

Well, that was pretty much a red herring from what I can read. Unless, if they had secret meanings for everything in case if it was decoded. It seems to only mention things like the person's family. Apparently, who ever wrote this had a wife and several daughters. Also in the last letter it mentioned that he should be able to return home soon. Pyrom said frowning.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

The shadow of a frown creased Alden's brow as Pyrom explained the letter's contents. "A pity. Now I almost feel bad." Then the frown-shadow is gone, and Alden wears his confident smirk once again. "Nevertheless, that's war for you. We're going to leave a lot more people grieving before this is done. So, Miguel votes for Stormhaven, as do I. Pyrom, Seenjid, Lhyr? What say each of you?"

[super dark33]

Then Stormhaven. Why not.

[sournote103]

His preference for aiding the people of Stormhaven already well represented, Lhyr didn't think his input necessary, though he also felt obligated to say something. This being the case, he mumbled something which, to the casual observer, could be mistaken for a word or two, but which, in reality held no meaning.

[Failed Phantasm]

"I'm sure that not everything we find is going to be a coded message to or from the king's agents," Evennia replied to Pyrom. With an idle sweep of her arm, she drew attention to how sparsely furnished the room was. "It makes sense that we would find both personal and official correspondence mixed together here, as it's likely the previous commander was reading every letter and searching every package entering and leaving the fort. The kingdom is no less wary of spies and defectors than we are," she concluded with a slight shrug. Turning her head slightly as she picked up one of the encrypted letters, she continued, "As for these, we found similarly encrypted letters in the governor's manor but we didn't have the time to read and search everything that we found there. If anyone were to have a copy of the decryption key, it would have been him; considering that, it might be possible for us to decrypt these while you're away. But," she said, setting the letter back down, "let's not waste any more time on them right now. You should get moving as quickly as possible." Addressing Alden now, she reminded him, "With you, Miguel, Lhyr — you might not have heard him speak up earlier — and now Seenjid in agreement, that's four in favor of Stormhaven, which is a clear majority."

A low, funny mumbling noise punctuated the silence after Evennia was finished speaking, and she turned to see Lhyr, who appeared to be trying to shrink into a corner so no one would notice him there. Well accustomed to this, she gave him a gentle smile that she hoped would be reassuring and said softly, "You are among friends, Lhyr. You needn't be timid with us. You know that I value your thoughts, and I would very much like to hear whatever you might want to say about this."

[sournote103]

Subsequent to Evennia's addressing him, Lhyr made an effort to stand taller. After a moment of hesitation, he said "I just thought that maybe going to Stormhaven would be good because we could try to get a good food source, probably." Despite Evennia's reassurance and his attempts to counteract his natural timidity, Lhyr was still clearly apprehensive about speaking up for himself.

[Failed Phantasm]

"Food is everyone's greatest concern here in the wilderness," Evennia concurred with a nod of her head, "and while I doubt Stormhaven alone will be enough to keep us well-supplied, it is an essential first step towards our ultimate goal. With most of you in agreement about going there," she continued, looking back at the whole group to address them again, "you should be on your way as soon as you've got your things together, since it's already past midday. It's a four-day journey on foot south to Stormhaven and you'll have to hike across the wilderness for about a day or two, but the road should be safe enough once you reach it." Tilting her head slightly to the side, she said, "As for these letters, we'll have people hard at work trying to decrypt them while you're gone. As well as repairing the fortifications. And drilling the new recruits so we're a better match for the king's army... hmm," she murmured with a slight frown. "So much to plan."

Sweeping a stray strand of hair back over her ear, Evennia added, "Just remember that there are still the other three missions to attend to once you've returned. I've no intention of letting any potential resource slip through our fingers, since we're in such desperate need of so much. However, the world's not going to stand still for any of us. The mission parameters will likely have changed after the four days it takes you to reach Stormhaven, to say nothing of how long it takes you to resolve the problem and come back to the fort. To illustrate what I mean, the gnolls are nomadic." she began, adding a nod to Lhyr, as if he would already know what she was about to explain, "Though this particular clan is currently at their winter camp near the forest, the new year is coming — and with it, spring and the melting of the snow that keeps the gnolls there. Once it's warm enough for them to travel, they'll likely be heading south towards their tribe's spring encampment, since spring means cubs and they'll be wanting to rear their young in a safer, more easily defensible place. You'll have to catch up with them if you wait too long. But beyond that," she concludes, "there isn't much left to say except 'good luck' and 'be careful'. And unless you have any last-minute questions for me, that concludes our meeting."

[Hamste]

So, anyone other than me know the spell that conjures a horse for people? I can cast it for everyone but it will drain me of all my arcane power for that day. Of course I would need to rest first so we might as well start walking until we have to rest unless if everyone wants to rest 8 hours while I get new spells and leave in the middle of the night. Pyrom said as he got up and stretched.

[super dark33]

We would better go now. You can regain your spells once we rest.

Seenjid looked at Pyrom.

[Lord Ruby34]

Miguel shook his head. "My magic lights people on fire. Conjuring horses is beyond me." Miguel paused for a moment. "If we're leaving soon you'll have to excuse me. I'll meet you at the gate." Miguel turned and strode out the door, in search of his wife.

[ToySoldierCPlus]

"Half an hour!" Alden calls after Miguel as he walks away. "As for the rest of us, gather what you need, and meet back at the main gate in half an hour. We'll get as far as we can on foot today, and we can discuss using Pyrom's spells tomorrow. Now, let's get a move on; I'm sure everyone has some last minute thing-or-another to do before we set off. Evennia, we'll keep you informed as best we can." Alden rises from his seat and leaves, heading for the barracks where he had left his stuff.

When he arrives, he inventories his bag, double-checking to make sure everything he may need is present and accounted for. He shoulders the bag, and less than ten minutes after leaving the meeting, he is waiting for the others at the gate.

[super dark33]

Seenjid jaunted shadowly out of the room.

He quickly went to pack any item he possessed that he needed to have on the road.

After finishing he went to sit on the wall atop the gate.