Book 1: Crownfall, Act 2: Lost in History

As the political scene in Taldor explodes into chaos, heroes take on the mantle of agents, advocates, and saboteurs working for Princess Eutropia to help secure her claim to the Imperial throne and prevent the Empire from collapsing in on itself in civil war. Will they grow from relative nobodies to powerful politicians and spymasters in the deadliest political arena in the Inner Sea?

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Grimbold
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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 2: Lost in History

Post by Grimbold » Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:06 pm

Brother Betram takes the scrolls offered and then readies his quarterstaff waiting to go on.

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 2: Lost in History

Post by ManWithDoor » Tue Mar 10, 2020 5:43 am

Cleric Zubari brightens up at Mercutio's philosophical argument, and tries to strike up a conversation digging into the ramifications of the commodification of all mortal interactions. Should Mercutio let this go on, rather than being turned off by the dry comment, he is certain that the Cleric could talk his ear off for the several hours.

Imistos is happy to have a protector, and glues himself to the warpriest's side. "Let me be useful, mistress. I could carry those scrolls for you, and perhaps anything else you desire? I can hand them to you lickety-split, no matter the situation. Anything you need."

Weapons are fashioned and handed around. Malphene seems quite happy with a hefty chair leg, brute force very much her style. The Cleric and the other minor nobles get something, and even little Imistos is now sporting a shard of broken glass wrapped with ancient linen, basically a makeshift shiv. It gives everyone something to do while the door out of here is being picked. But eventually the rusty mechanism gives way, and the path north is open.

-----

Pristine glass display cases stand along the walls and in the center of this immense rectangular display room. The area is more than sixty feet wide and forty feet long, with the outer walls covered in glass displays of armor, save near the two northern doors and along the southern wall. Two rusted and decayed suits of armor stand separate, protected in glass cases. Tarnished and discolored weaponry fills the cases in the center of the room. Circles of various sizes have been scratched into the glass and drawn on the walls with chalk and paint. These circles appear similar to the ones before. Random chalk drawings, with no real mathematical or arcane meaning.

The weapons and armor stored here hail from a dozen different historical eras, and have been labeled with faded and crumbling tags tied to each with twine. Each of the glass cases appears extremely fragile, and would likely break with a single firm blow. One obvious case holds a finely crafted light crossbow whose brass fittings still glint like new. A simple brass plaque inside the case labels it "Dignity's Barb."
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 2: Lost in History

Post by Vardaen » Tue Mar 10, 2020 5:04 pm

"Oh nice..." Theodrix sort of looses his caution at the look of the nice crossbow. He walks up to the case its in and leans over studying Dignity's Barb. He has no ranged weapons on him, and a twinkle in his eye says he kinda likes the look of that. "Anyone care if I borrow this for a while? I mean, we shouldn't let it go to waste down here right?"
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 2: Lost in History

Post by Othniel » Tue Mar 10, 2020 10:39 pm

"By all means," Astraea comments. "Bows are more my style anyway."

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 2: Lost in History

Post by Zorbeltuss » Wed Mar 11, 2020 2:26 pm

Mercutio halfway suspects that the cleric just wants to bore him into yielding to compensating for his services against the alternative that his stick is implanted so high up his ass that he can't even look sideways, however, pretending to take his philosophical argument seriously is a great fun. Besides, getting him to pull his own weight does sound like a good idea. And Theodorix is like to grow very frustrated listening to it, so twice the fun.

He also suggests that maybe they might want to double back to where they came from to get the lady and her entourage properly equipped if it wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience?
Could throw in a diplomacy+9 against cleric for "we're in this together" means the services of getting his ass out of the fire should be "acceptable payment" for his spells. Also Bluff+10 for philosophical trolling, making him drone on and on without realizing that Mercutio is tooling him.

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 2: Lost in History

Post by ManWithDoor » Thu Mar 19, 2020 5:08 pm

Cleric Zubari is not a bad man, simply one looking at his philosophy from a purist standpoint rather than the practicalities of being stuck in freaking ancient catacombs, trying not to die. Mercutio makes good points on exceptions to the laws of supply and demand, where the whole economic system could collapse when threatened by chaotic situations that upend the order that stable economies require to function. And also, if they die down here then that money is worthless as it can't be spent. The Cleric begrudgingly concedes the point, making concessions to aid when absolutely necessary, and give steep discounts outside of that. The dashing dandy then manages to get the man expounding on and on about production possibility curves and asset equilibriums, filtering it out as white noise.

Theodrix approaches the labeled case and looks more closely at this "Dignity's Barb". Brass inaly and Taldan military symbols adorn this masterwork darkwood light crossbow. An inscription bears the name of General Gerefein of the Seventh Army of Exploration. For those with a good grasp of national history, his most famous act was turning the tide of a vicious battle with a Kellid warlord. Through a chaotic blizzard, General Gerefein shot practically blind, yet his bolt struck a lethal blow, dashing the warlord from his mammoth mount and breaking the enemy's charge.

He gently lifts the glass covering and pulls out the crossbow. The darkwood is clean and pristine even after all these years. Theodrix is not adept in the arts of the arcane, but Aurelia can feel a strange magical aura coming from the crossbow. It is not enhanced by simple enchantments or transmutations spells, put down by a single wizard for a specific end. It is as though thousands or even millions of people left an imprint, although that has faded to almost nothing now.
Image

Dignity's Barb counts as a masterwork darkwood light crossbow. The wielder is touched with the luck that bore the General to great victories. Anyone firing Dignity's Barb reduces any miss chance from concealment by 5%.
A minute after the case was disturbed, the two decrepit suits of armor in the display cases slowly animate. The rust and decay inhibit their movements, but they seem to be almost glacially moving to break the glass and assault the disturbers of the Museum of Conquests. At the rate they're moving, it will take them several minutes to even move over to the unwelcome guests.
Mercutio: Great ideas!
- Diplomacy Check: 16+9 = 25, Success! Will help out with needed healing in combat and the like for Free, and a 50% discount on utility or other spellcasting needs.
- Bluff Check: 13+10 = 23, Success! He is appropriately Trolled.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 2: Lost in History

Post by Vardaen » Fri Mar 27, 2020 6:53 pm

Theodrix scoops up the bolts left along with the new crossbow and he quickly starts to load it. "I guess we can test this thing out now." He then considers, and grabs his small badge with the noble house icon on it, "Stop in the name of the house <insert name here>!" If the things don't stop he levels the loaded crossbow at the nearest one, tilts his head, and fires.
OMG I totally forgot the name of the house with the badges we used to teleport here, sorry
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 2: Lost in History

Post by Grimbold » Sat Mar 28, 2020 10:52 am

Bertram grasps his quarterstaff as the "knights" approach. "We could move away quick." he adds.

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 2: Lost in History

Post by Zorbeltuss » Sat Mar 28, 2020 8:30 pm

Mercutio tilts his head in amusement once it turns out that these animated armors are of little danger. Then he figures that it would be funny to grab a pole or something to see if he can topple one, would it crawl? flail on the ground?
Dunno if anything like that is available, or if a roll is required to make it happen

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 2: Lost in History

Post by Othniel » Sun Mar 29, 2020 12:09 am

"We should just move on. They're slow enough, I think."

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