Book 1: Crownfall, Act 1: All The King's Men

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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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 1: All The King's Men

Post by Vardaen » Fri May 10, 2019 6:26 pm

Theodrix smiles at Gloriana, "My Lady, happy to be of service. Some times you come to these things and its all talk talk talk and nothing happens. I'm a man of action. In fact I'm looking for something, perhaps you might assist me in finding him." He lowers his voice a bit and winks, rakish like he smiles at the Lady, "Do you know of a Lord Narsius, a sailor and seaman himself. I'm certain he could show you the Double Goblin Cleat if he were here. A rather impressive lashing."
"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 1: All The King's Men

Post by ManWithDoor » Tue May 14, 2019 9:22 pm

Theodrix has been moving around the entire Senate Building like a bloodhound with a quarry to hunt, but has been doing so passively. Looking at individuals, listening to gossip. Subtly probing without revealing anything himself. Now with the ear of a powerful individual, he takes an active tack, bring up an important name in as casual a manner as possible. However, he is only a man, not a god, and cannot fully hide his antipathy. It's possible that he has given away too much, and this bold tactic might backfire.

Lady Gloriana pauses and narrows her eyes, fully sizing up Theodrix for the first time. She waves off one of her attendants, giving them a bit more space. "Lord Narsius is not a name I enjoy having spoken in my presence. You don't seem to be a sycophant or dupe of his, or I would already have had the guards throw you out on your heels. Explain yourself, or withdraw. Try to play me, and I will no longer fine you amusing." Her tone is sharp and unyielding. For the first time the nature of this Court comes into sharp focus. Despite the almost amusing social exchanges and political backstabbing, this is absolutely a battlefield. While the soldiers may be unaware of the grand vision, the Generals and Captains are absolutely waging war with deadly seriousness. Any unexpected factor must be understood or expunged, lest it lead to defeat.

Not too far away, a different battle is being waged in a quieter corner of the building. Dame Trant has been pushed to the edge of her minimal patience, and with clear hostility is confronting Aurelia. Crichton attempts to swoop in, although his intention is not particularly pointed at defusing the situation, but at making a cutting statement. He sees the pride with which she holds herself, and purposefully chooses to pretend to ignore her as though irrelevant, focusing solely on Aurelia. Her eyes go a little wild, and Crichton feels she almost took a swing at him just for that.

Aurelia herself makes an attempt at reason, explaining how Malphene is working against her own best interests. After all, why should she not fight for equality? She herself could benefit. As the only child of her noble father, she could legally inherit without worry once this legislation passes. A perfectly logical argument, which she lets stew for a minute before Trant responds. "So clever, aren't you? Thought it through so thoroughly? Clearly I'm a fool who has never used logic once in my entire life." The hot anger in Malphene's face turns into a sneer. "But you forget one crucial detail. This Princess is a pretender, a bastard. She was technically legitimized when it was clear she would not inherit, and now insists on her 'rights'. Do you think my Father or Uncles might not have a male bastard or ten scattered around the Kingdom? If we have a bastard Princess on the Throne, all inheritance laws will be weakened. I'll take my chances with what I have. I'll be damned if some literal whoreson takes away what is mine." She snaps her fingers at the two toughs following along. "Make an example of this harlot and her pimp. Try not to make a mess." She similarly pulls back her sleeves, obviously intending to join in on humbling Aurelia and Crichton.
No declared Actions from Mercutio or Bertram. Guys?
- Just having them keep on the last worthwhile Mission. Second Theft performed, the Journal. One more to go to finish (Buckler, Dagger, Fan).

Theodrix: Wanted to know a Princess skill? You cad! Handle Animal (not a hard guess since she brings her hounds everywhere), and Knowledge - Local (she has a guilty pleasure of hearing peasant gossip).
--- Bluff check (as you're trying to not divulge your real feelings about this Narsius fellow): 17 vs ?? (her Sense Motive), Failure in preventing your antipathy from bleeding through.

Crichton: ... I love it. Wanting to know a Skill designed to piss Trant off. Fantastic. For her, class-consciousness is huge, so it's more about the context of how you use the Skill. Bluff/Intimidate used to indicate you truly think she's a lower nobility or commoner, Appraise to try to make a comparative wealth assessment making her look poorer, or perhaps Knowledge - Nobility to bring up some ancestor or relative that makes her Family look bad.
--- Bluff check (to pretend Trant is totally irrelevant and you're here for Aurelia), 19 vs ?? (her Sense Motive), Pass. She rises to the bait!

Aurelia: Diplomacy (trying to get her to switch sides): 20 vs ??, Failure (sorry, was an excellent idea, if a long shot anyways). She is not persuaded, and is in fact even angrier for the attempt. Initiating Combat!

Combat in the Court: You are in a secluded enough area that a scuffle won't draw immediate attention from the guard. There are a number of onlookers far enough away to notice, but for them it's just delightfully interesting entertainment.
- You can Withdraw and run away. Nothing preventing that. The casual onlookers will think you ran away with your tails between your legs, and Negative Gossip will result.
- If any of the other PCs want to ditch their current conversations / missions to join in, they can go ahead.
- Fisticuffs and non-flashy spells will go unnoticed for a long time, but drawn weapons or obvious evocations will get the guards called within a few rounds. If lethal wounds are dealt out, you better hide the bodies fast.
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 1: All The King's Men

Post by JohnnyWeird » Wed May 15, 2019 12:17 am

In his service to Strephon Vernisant, Crichton had been beaten repeatedly, normally as an ersatz punishment for his master's failings. He knows how to take a hit. At the same time, he knows an opportunity when he sees one.

Interposing himself between Aurelia and the Trant party, words tumble out of him, his posture almost stooped but his voice carrying. Gone is his smooth demeanor, in its place the stammering, pitiful bravery of a mouse before an avalanche.

"I b-b-beg of you, Dame Trant, let the young lady g-g-go. If you m-m-must loose your ire, it should b-b-be on m-m-me."
Crichton is bad at non-stabbing combat. Instead, let's use Bluff to be the most pathetic possible target for folks watching, making Trant look every inch the bully. For now, character assassination will have to replace actual assassination, but just wait until I can branch into prestige classes...

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 1: All The King's Men

Post by Zorbeltuss » Wed May 15, 2019 6:38 pm

"It's got to be a better way to do this" Mercutio mutters, filching isn't his main strength, distraction on the other hand? Now that was more like it. He scans the vicinity to see what might work best.
Options:
Fascinate bardic ability on any potential witnesses.
Strike up conversation, do a little "he said you were ugly"-routine to start a fistfight.
Just assist by chatting up potential witnesses, but I guess fascinate might be used with that to make it more powerful?

Whatever is the most effective, maybe try all of the above?

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 1: All The King's Men

Post by Grimbold » Wed May 15, 2019 8:00 pm

"I shall try a distraction again." Bertram whispers to Mercutio. If the man agrees, Bertram will engage some people close to the next object in a conversation, speaking too loudly and only about ales and beers, sometimes swaying and coming a bit too close to them, almost spilling his drink on one of them.
Aid Mercutio by doing a distraction.

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 1: All The King's Men

Post by Vardaen » Thu May 16, 2019 2:26 pm

Theodrix's face is stone, he too goes sharp, "If you thought me a sycophant of that bastard then I would take great insult with you Lady Gloriana. I am about as far from that as possible." He glances about at the others, and motions for the Lady to follow him a bit, to distract listening ears. "That man, if we dare call him such, is a rake, a scoundrel and an ass. I have a bone to pick with him, a score to settle, and one that will not end well for him unless he's more depraved than even I think he may be. No Lady, what I want with him is not the sort of thing you speak openly about in polite company."
"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 1: All The King's Men

Post by GuyWithSword » Mon May 20, 2019 9:50 am

Aurelia acts quickly. Stepping back to where she isn't in the toughs' immediate reach, she starts chanting. "Yes, we are too pathetic to waste your time or the time of your toughs on. You want to just leave instead." She hopes the arcane energies will infuse Trant's head, and make those thoughts her own.
Cast Sow thought on Trant.

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Re: Book 1: Crownfall, Act 1: All The King's Men

Post by ManWithDoor » Wed May 29, 2019 3:34 pm

Lady Gloriana Morilla takes in the hostility, the body language, and the words themselves. She takes her time, then slowly nods. "I believe you. You may be a person I could come to respect and admire, stranger. A friend of mine was taken in by his false words, and left much the worse for wear. I have not had the leisure to hunt him down myself, but various associates of mine have been keeping an ear to the ground." She taps a foot on the ground, looking at Theodrix in an odd way. After an extended silence, she continues. "There are those amongst the nobility that consider themselves to be the highest in creation, owing nothing to those they rule. Others of us think differently, that we owe much on our end in this social contract to the lower castes. 'Lord' Narsius is a stain upon the name of all nobility. ... Perhaps you would care to associate with some who care about this class divide of ours?" She winks. "Ever met a Princess before?" She gestures towards Eutropia, clearly offering an introduction. "Although it would help if I knew your name, before announcing your presence."

In a somewhat more private setting, a bit of a scuffle has broken out. The bully Lady Trant has ordered her minions to give a lesson in humility, communicated through a solid bludgeoning. The rest of the group gathers to get involved in one fashion or another according to their strengths and weaknesses.

Crichton dives forward a blubbering mess, looking every inch the non-threatening dandy. The two toughs with Malphene oblige him, and start giving him a thorough whooping. They first work his belly with their fists, and then kick him to the floor. His clothes have been ripped, and he hits the ground with a thud.

Sadly the effect on the crowd is stunted by the distraction given by Mercutio and Bertram. Not having the time to coordinate on a strategy, they instead thought to give cover to whatever horrible things that the others would do to these schmucks, and instead are accidentally giving cover to Malphene and her bullies. Whoops?

Aurelia has billed herself to the others as some sort of enchantress, or perhaps some sort of wizardly student? You haven't known each other long enough to get the full story. Regardless, she intones arcane formulae and makes elaborate gestures in the air while speaking with Lady Trant. No ghostly apparitions appear, and nothing explodes. All anyone sees is the aggressive noble standing opposite pause in her steps, her expression on of a heavy internal struggle.
Sorry for the extended absence. Head/Chest Colds suck. Glad to be back in action.

Theodrix: Your candor has impressed Lady Gloriana. Not only has this given you another Success on Influencing her (moving her to Friendly), she offers a personal introduction to the Princess. Assuming you're interested, to save time in the PbP feel free to post what you would start the conversation with. You'll be springboarding off a vague but glowing introduction that I'll post later.

And in the other corner ... Fight! Fight! FIGHT!!!

Crichton - the two toughs punch you up. 2x 1d3+1 (non-lethal) = 2+3 = 5 non-lethal damage.
- You are at 5/10 Hit Points.

Bertram and Mercutio - Distraction working well. Far fewer people are paying attention to the scuffle going on.

Aurelia - casting Sow Thoughts (DC 15 Will) = 12, Fail. Leaving without teaching a lesson is somewhat against her nature, but not enough for her to entirely dismiss. She wastes her Round struggling with herself, and neither attacks nor retreats.
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 1: All The King's Men

Post by Vardaen » Wed May 29, 2019 6:43 pm

Theodrix can only smiles, "I am Theodrix Dewmore of the Cassomir Dewmores." He lets that hang there, perhaps the woman knows his family's history, perhaps not, they were a rather middling noble family even at their height. "I do hope we will be able to work together." He leaves that there, this is far too public of a space to start speaking about assassinating nobles even nobles as slimy as Narsis.

"A princess you say? Who would not wish to meet with Princes Eutropia, I would be honored." He wonders if he should take the Lady's Morilla arm or kiss her hand, but that seems to flowery, so he remains in his more martial and stoic stance for the moment.
"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 1: All The King's Men

Post by Grimbold » Sun Jun 02, 2019 6:23 pm

Brother Betram notices Chrichton being beaten, so he grabs his mug of ale and moves up to one of the bullies. "Two against one, that seems a bit unfair to me." He says as he attempts to slam the mug into the side of the head of one attacker.
Attack thug with mug - keep it nonlethal if possible.

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